The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will be visiting St Oswald’s Church, Oswaldkirk, on Sunday 8th June to confirm eight people and baptize one person from the Oswaldkirk and Ampleforth area. Eight of the candidates as students from Ampleforth College.
Archbishop Sentamu said, “I’m looking forward to visiting Oswaldkirk and confirming people there. Confirmation is a way of affirming the faith into which they were baptized, and a public commitment to live a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ.”
One of the nine people to be confirmed by Archbishop Sentamu is Jayne Conacher. She said, “Being confirmed is part of my search for commitment that I want to make which expresses the strength of my conviction. I think this is a good time to be confirmed because I need something in my life for me. Also it is something I want to do before I am forty!”
Jayne is a regular attender at St Oswald’s Church, and has four children who are all members of St Oswald's teatime club.
The Vicar of Ampleforth, the Revd Sue Bond said, “We’re delighted to welcome Archbishop Sentamu to Oswaldkirk. St Oswald’s is a thriving church at the heart of its community, with a wonderful children’s teatime club each week.
“At the moment, we’re raising money to restore the church’s structure – we’ve got water coming in through our coping stones and decaying stonework. We need to raise £100,000, and so far we’ve raised £35,000. The people of Oswaldkirk and the surrounding area have been very generous, but we need even more money to ensure the church is in good condition for generations to come. People have been confirmed in this church for hundreds of years, and we need to make sure that can happen for hundreds of years to come!”