Five years ago Jacqueline Drewe set foot in a church, somewhat reluctantly.
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She was with an American friend in Sydney - who is “a Jesus lover”, and she joked about whether she would burst into flames if she walked in the door.
Her friend told her “oh don’t worry about that, our heavenly father loves us all equally.” That reply got her through the door.
The single mother was an atheist but once inside she found an unexpected sense of calm and peace. Something in her soul shifted and she says it opened the door that led her to her life purpose.
Eighteen days ago she was ordained a priest and three days after that she was named the parish priest at St James’ Anglican Church in Morpeth. At 33 is one of the youngest priests in the Angilcan Diocese of Newcastle.
Now she is preparing for her first Christmas services.
“There’s a real sense of being at the right place,” she said.
The journey to priesthood hasn’t been without its challenges. She has had to cope with raising her son Lachlan – now 7, on her own, living on a shoestring budget and questioning her place in the world.
Then there are topics like the royal commission into child sexual abuse and marriage equality to navigate.
She wants to be a progressive priest, an active member of the community and help people connect spirituality with church.
“There’s a real sense that the church is moving forward and needs to move forward from some of the ways of doing things in the past that have got it really wrong. We’re navigating what it means to have a profound culture change … we need to be a church that is more inclusive, a generation ago I wouldn’t have been a parish priest,” she said.
“I’m very passionate that the gospel is for everyone. I think that young people in particular are aware that our souls are yearning for something deeper and we are actually good at talking about spirituality but we’re not very good at connecting that with church and I hope that is something people will come to understand.”
A Christmas family service will be held on Monday at 4pm, midnight mass starts at 11.30pm and Christmas Day eucharist starts at 9am.