Diocese of York / News & events / News

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, licensed the Revd Canon Michael Kavanagh (who served in this Diocese from 1987 to 2005) as Prisons Chaplain in a service at Lambeth Palace yesterday.

Canon Michael was formally recognised as Archdeacon to HM Prisons and Chaplain-General, a role he has been serving in since 2013.

During the service Archbishop Justin spoke of the importance of prison ministry, and how much he appreciated “the challenging and often invisible work” of prison chaplains. As Chaplain-General to HM Prisons, Canon Michael is tasked with ensuring that multi-faith chaplaincy is delivered across all parts of the prison service.

The service was attended by a range of HM Prisons faith advisors and National Offender Management Service (NOMS) senior managers, who later met with Archbishop Justin at a roundtable meeting to discuss their work and explore the issues it raises.

Michael was ordained Deacon in 1987, and served as assistant curate at St Luke's Clifford and Chaplain to Martin House Hospice until 1991, when he became incumbent of St Nicholas Beverley. In 1997, he became Archbishop David Hope's Domestic Chaplain, and Director of Ordinands, until he became Chaplain at HMP Full Sutton from 2005 to 2008.

Pictured l-r: Archbishop Justin, Bishop Richard Moth, Canon Michael Kavanagh and Bishop James Langstaff, at Lambeth Palace, 13 October 2014.