Anna Chaplain breaks new ground in St Albans

St Albans' is the first full-time paid post for an Anna Chaplain in the country!

We are delighted that St Albans has welcomed its new Anna Chaplain, Maggie Dodd. She has lived in St Albans for more than 20 years and is an active member of her Anglican church community, St Stephen with St Julian, St Albans, where she is assistant warden and deanery synod representative.

Maggie is the first Anna Chaplain in Hertfordshire and will be employed full-time by Hatfield Road and Marlborough Road Methodist churches in the city, initially for five years.

She lives with her two young children, husband Geoff and 88-year-old mother-in-law Alma. Her own mother Jenny, who is living with dementia, lives a short drive away.

The newly formed Anna Chaplaincy will be working with the ministry teams at both Methodist churches in St Albans, and ecumenically with churches in the local area. Maggie has a passion for care home ministry, and during lockdown has been maintaining a worship service presence in her mother’s care home in St Albans, via Zoom. She is looking forward to working with the churches to see how ministry to older people can be developed during the coming months, and where support and pastoral care can be extended to older people on the fringes of their community.

'It’s a challenging time for many in our community', she says, 'after a terrible year of isolation and illness for many. I am looking forward to listening to older people’s voices in St Albans about how Anna Chaplaincy can care for them and support them spiritually.'