Canon Denise Acheson appointed to post in Lisburn Cathedral

Thursday September 8th 2016

The Rev Canon Denise Acheson.

The Rev Canon Denise Acheson, former Dean’s Vicar at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, is to take up a new temporary position with the clergy team at Lisburn Cathedral.

Denise, who lives in Lisburn with her husband Terry, will begin at Christ Church Cathedral on October 16 in a part-time capacity.

Denise took extended leave from St Anne’s in October 2015 to care for her daughter Ruth who was terminally ill, and resigned as Dean’s Vicar earlier this year. She remained nominally on the staff of St Anne’s with the Bishop’s licence, but without duties, until she was able to take up a new position.

It was great sadness that the Cathedral community learned of Ruth’s death in April.

Speaking of her new appointment, Denise said: “In some ways I am ready to go back, in other ways I am not, but if I just wait I will never be ready.”

Denise added that she was looking forward to ‘getting back into the swing of things.’

“St Anne’s was an incredible experience and was very different to what I am going to be coming back to,” she said. “Lisburn would be more community parish based, so it is going to be a very different experience.”

Welcoming news of Denise’s appointment, the Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann said she had made a very important contribution to the life of the Cathedral over the course of more than two years. “Her steady presence and total commitment have been exemplary, and many have benefited from her ministry, not least in her support and encouragement of the other clergy,” Dean Mann said.