Parishioners in Tongwynlais and Taffs Well will be welcoming a new vicar and his family this week and part of his role will be to train other clergy across South Wales.
Revd Dr Anthony Rustell will be inducted as priest-in-charge of St Michael and All Angels Church in Tongwynlais and SS Mary and James, Taffs Well by the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, on September 1. He will also be licensed as Director of Ministerial Training for the Diocese of Llandaff.
His appointment as priest-in-charge follows the retirement of the Revd Dr John Payne.
Born in Guildford, Surry, Anthony, 34, has served as a priest in rural and suburban areas in the Oxford area for the past 10 years. Before that, he read Maths at Christ Church, Oxford, and was head server at the cathedral there. He met his wife, Georgianna, an American, while doing a DPhil in church history at Keble College. The couple now have an 11-month-old daughter, Katharine.
As well as running the parish, Anthony will organise training for clergy in Llandaff Diocese to help them keep their skills up-to-date. Helping people develop and reach their full potential was what attracted him to his new role.
He said, “Until recently, once a vicar had served as a curate that was the end of their formal training. However, while the Gospel of Christ does not change, the context in which vicars work changes all the time and now the Church realises that it is important our skills are renewed and adapted throughout our ministry.
“It will be my job to help people develop and build on their skills so that they can respond to the challenges they face today. Ideally then they will be as keen and fresh at 60 as they were at 25.”
Anthony caught the bug for training while mentoring three curates in his previous parish. He said, “It’s a real privilege to see people grow in their ministry, to guide them as they make their theological training become real in the workplace and to help them become what they have been called to be.”
The Archbishop said, “We’re really looking forward to welcoming Anthony and his family as he takes on a new parish and the important post of helping to train clergy for ministry. He bring the gifts of youth, experience, pastoral sensitivity and intellectual rigour to the two posts.”
Anthony trained for ministry at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and was ordained as a deacon in 2001 and as a priest a year later. He served at St Barnabas and St Paul’s, Oxford, from 2001-2004 and following that was appointed Priest-in-Charge in the parish of North Hinksey w. Botley, Oxford St. Frideswide w. Binsey and Wytham and Rector of Osney.
His hobbies include cookery and cycling.
