New appointment for Newport Cathedral

A familiar face is joining Newport Cathedral to take up a newly created post.

Fr John Connell will be joining the cathedral team in the Summer as Canon for Worship and Congregational Life.

Making the announcement, the Rt Revd Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, said: “This is a role that fits Fr John perfectly. It will enable him to use his immense liturgical skills and knowledge as well as his extensive pastoral gifts to the full. The wisdom and experience he will bring will help enrich and deepen the life of the congregation as well as its mission and witness. I very much look forward to working with him alongside the Dean, Canon Andrew and the wider Cathedral community.”

Fr John is currently Ministry Area Leader in Abergavenny and a canon at the cathedral and brings a wealth of experience to the role.

Very Revd Ian Black, Dean of Newport Cathedral, said: “I am delighted that John has accepted the role of Canon for Worship and Congregational Life. This is a new post in the Cathedral and John impressed everyone involved in the interviews with his liturgical and pastoral abilities. We are all looking forward to him and Claudio joining the Cathedral community in a new way in July - John is already known to us as one of our canons.”

Fr John and his partner Claudio are looking forward to moving to their new home in Newport and getting to know the city better, although they are both sad to leave the beautiful scenery of Abergavenny.

But for grandfather John, the move means he is closer to his son Adam and his wife Rachel, and granddaughter Phoebe who live in Cardiff and also his daughter Charlotte and her fiancé Josh who live in Bristol.

He is excited about the role, saying: “I am greatly looking forward to working with Dean Ian, Canon Andrew and very much looking forward to joining the Cathedral as it begins a new chapter with the appointment of a Director of Music!”

Fr John is passionate about the role that choirs and music-making plays in the mission of the Church, in bringing children and young people to faith and giving them the disciplines, skills and love of music which will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

He said: “During time spent in Wokingham, Chingford and Abergavenny I have had the tremendous privilege of working with well-established traditional choirs and in Rumney, worked alongside my new Director of Music, Nathan Bird to establish a new four-part choir there. To see children grow in faith by sharing in belonging to a choir is an absolute joy and blessing for the whole of the wider church.

“I hope that many of my colleagues, friends and former parishioners from across the diocese will join the Cathedral community and Diocesan family to pray for me and the Cathedral at the beginning of this new ministry.”

Fr John will be licensed on Wednesday 10th July at 7pm at Newport Cathedral.

Biography:

Fr John Connell was born and brought up in the heart of the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The tower of St Michael's Church, East Ardsley, where he was baptised, confirmed and where he was a server, bellringer and youth group leader is the highest point of that triangle! Feeling called to the priesthood whilst he was still at school, he was a Wakefield ordinand from the age of 16 and on leaving school went to King's College, London to read for a degree in Theology, with ordination in mind.

After graduation he remained living in south London for the next eight years doing a variety of different jobs and all of which taught him valuable lessons for future ministry. He was an auxiliary nurse in a hospice, an RE teacher, a Residential Social Worker for Barnardo's, a fundraiser for The Children's Society and finally Parish Administrator for the North Lambeth Team Ministry before commencing training at St Michael's College, Llandaff.

Fr John served his title at St Mary's Caldicot, followed by a second curacy in Risca, and then his first incumbency in Llantilio Pertholey. In 2005 he was appointed Parish Priest of St Paul's Wokingham in the Diocese of Oxford and a year later the role of Chaplain to the Bishop of Reading, the Rt Rev'd Stephen Cottrell, was added to his ministry. He then took a break from parish ministry to spend a year as Chaplain for Urgent Care at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, before being appointed Rector of Chingford in the Diocese of Chelmsford, serving again under Bishop Stephen. In 2015 he was invited to return to the Diocese of Monmouth and to come 'home' to Wales as Parish Priest of St Augustine's, Rumney, latterly serving as Area Dean of Bassaleg, before moving to take on the role of Rector and future Ministry Area Leader of the Abergavenny Ministry Area.

John is a huge classical music fan and loves nothing more than going to concerts, the opera, theatre and organ recitals as time and funds allow! He loves attending Choral Evensong whenever he visits a Cathedral city, loves history and is interested in ecclesiastical architecture. Having played rugby in his school days he now enjoys the national game from his armchair but hopes that his colleague Canon Andrew Lightbown will manage to get him some tickets for Newport home games!

A proud and doting grandfather to his (almost) three-year-old granddaughter Phoebe, he loves every moment spent with her and loves nothing more than having everyone round for a family meal, as they all tell him he's a good cook! With Claudio coming from Madeira, holidays to the island and mainland Portugal to catch up with family there are always looked forward to.