A FORMER rector of St Mary’s Church in Ross-on-Wye met with the recently appointed Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Dame Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace.

Bishop Sean’s Semple, who left Ross in April 2024 to become the Bishop of Cyprus and The Gulf, which includes Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Yemen and Iraq, met with Dame Sarah Mullally bringing the greetings and prayers of the clergy and people of his Diocese.

Bishop Sean also brought the archbishop a gift—a tile from Jerusalem commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Diocese with the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic—and in return he received a gift of honey from the bees of Lambeth Palace gardens.

During their time together Archbishop Sarah and Bishop Sean discussed the impact of war in the region on the countries of the Diocese, as well as positive developments and challenges in the mission and ministry of his parishes.

And they prayed together—for the Diocese, for peace, and for Archbishop Sarah's ministry.

Prior to his appointment to the Herefordshire diocese in 2015, Rev’d Sean had worked in the Presbyterian and Anglican Churches in South Africa, and in the Anglican Church in Cyprus.

And during his time in Ross, he’d become concerned with the cost-of-living crisis that the country was facing and reflected on how the congregation would support the church as the benefice was essentially living on a hand-to-mouth existence as a charity.

He said that the clergy were committed to doing what it could for the town of Ross and pointed out that during the pandemic, the clergy carried on as front-line workers conducting funerals and keeping up connections with isolated people; and that they also took a leading role in Ross’ Platinum Jubilee Celebrations and the town’s mourning for the late Queen.