ONE OF the first women to be ordained priest in the Church of England has retired on health grounds. The Ven Helen Cunliffe, who was Archdeacon of St Albans, stood down from her post on New Year’s Eve after suffering a breakdown last year.
The Bishop, Christopher Herbert, said he was sad to be making the announcement but made a moving tribute to her work in the diocese.
“Helen was a loved and respected Archdeacon. You only had to be with her in any of the parishes of the St Albans Archdeaconry to see that. She brought to her task, wisdom, sensitivity, a most generous and loving pastoral heart and a gentle but tough concern for the development of the mission of the Church. We shall miss Helen enormously and assure her and her family of our prayers for her well being.”
Archdeacon Helen suffered a breakdown last year.
She became Archdeacon of St Albans in 2002 and her career spanned parish and cathedral ministry and university chaplaincy.
She was one of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England, in 1994, and served as a deacon and a deaconess before that.
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