Our Ministers

Nenagh Union of Parishes has one stipendary Priest as Rector and three Licensed Lay Ministers. 

Two of the Licensed Lay Ministers have been admitted to the Office of Lay Reader and can lead Divine Worship and preach under their own direction both within the Union of Parishes and elsewhere within the United Dioceses, whilst one is a Parish Reader who can lead Divine Worship and preach under the direction of the Rector within the Union of Parishes only. (She is a regular visitor to the Union of Parishes who is also a Licensed Lay Minister in the Church of England and to whom the Bishop has permitted an equivalent ministry within the Union).

The Office of Lay Reader should not be confused with someone who reads the Lessons of Scripture at services who are properly called Lectors. Modern Readers trace their origin to the reign of Elizabeth the First who found herself with a church whose clergy were so poorly educated that they could barely 'mumble the Mass' and did not understand enough Latin to be able to read the Bible and preach from it.  At her insistence, Archbishop Parker of Canterbury sought 'university men' who could conduct non-sacramental worship by 'Reading the Offices' whilst a drive was instituted to properly train clergy at universities. By the end of the Seventeenth Century so many clergy were well educated that the need for Readers diminished and the Office died out until it was revived again in the late Nineteenth Century.  Their Office bears testament to the Anglican belief in the necessity of what became known as a 'learned clergy'.