On Friday, January 31 members of the Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta were joined by religious leaders from several Benalla churches to welcome Holy Trinity’s new vicar.
Mel Clarke was the priest of Mansfield’s Anglican Church and said she could not wait to meet the community.
“I've been in the Diocese of Wangaratta for a few years and there was an opportunity to take a different role, and to do that, I had to be a little bit closer to Wangaratta,” she said.
That role was being named an archdeacon of ADW, and along with two others, was recently ‘collated’ by Bishop Clarence Bester in a service of evensong in Beechworth’s Anglican Christ Church on February 2.
An archdeacon takes a senior role in the Anglican church, making important contributions to church mission and strategy and supporting parish clergy, their families, churchwardens and area or rural deans.
In terms of her role in Benalla, Reverend Clark said she’d been a priest for a decade and this wasn't her “first rodeo”.
“There's always the challenge when you come into a new town that you have to work out your context, and meet all the people that come to church, and local community groups,” she said.
“But that’s part of the fun of it.”
Rev Clark said she had spent lots of time in Benalla and knows the town well.
“I love the Rose Garden, and I have to confess that I’ve played on the rocket park playground many times.
“I’ve spent time at the art gallery, and have had many lunches there.
“And now I’m living so close to the showgrounds and river, it’s just beautiful.”