20 January 2012

The Epiphany Eucharist at Holy Trinity Prestwood included the licensing by the Bishop of Buckingham, of The Reverend Teresia Derlen, a priest in the Church of Sweden, to be Associate Priest in the joint benefice of Prestwood and Great Hampden.

Teresia studied at the University of Lund in Sweden and also Westcott House in Cambridge, where she met the Rector, The Reverend Deiniol Heywood, and it was this connection which led to her being appointed on an extended placement, under the auspices of the Porvoo Agreement.

She has moved into Prestwood with her husband Mattias, a senior lecturer in EU Law, who plans to continue his research in England, when he doesn’t have to be back in Sweden for his students. They have been living in Umea, in the far north of Sweden, with eternal winters and reindeer as closest neighbours, so are looking forward to an English spring, Pimms and re-runs of Dibley!