Teacher Jo Morris has completed her training and will be ordained deacon in Derby Cathedral on Sunday 5th July at 1045am by the Bishop of Derby, Dr Alastair Redfern. She will then serve as a Curate in the Alfreton, Ironville and Riddings areas of Derbyshire. 

Ordination to the diaconate means that the new clergy serve as deacons for a year before then being ordained into the priesthood.

Jo, 48, lives in Brimington with her husband Phil and son Matthew, but will live in Ironville from this month.

She has been a teacher all her working life mostly with children and adults with learning difficulties. For the last two years, Jo has travelled to Birmingham each week where she has been a weekly boarder at The Queen's Foundation for Ministerial Education.

Jo and other candidates for ordination to the diaconate and priesthood begin their retreat on the Wednesday prior to the big Sunday service. The retreat will be led by Canon Flora Winfield, Secretary for Inter-Church and Anglican Relations at Lambeth Palace.

Jo has been a leader with Girlguiding UK for the last 27 years and is looking forward to getting to know the girls in the local units. She has completed the Great North Run four times for charity. She enjoys reading and singing, and in the past she has been a member of three different choirs.

Jo and Phil have set up a very successful second hand book and coffee shop at their previous Church. She is very much looking forward to the move and beginning her ministry.

Previous Ordination Story: Val Billings >>