Tributes paid to pioneer woman priest and KGH chaplain Canon Rev Lesley McCormack who has died
Tributes have been paid to pioneer woman priest and KGH chaplain Canon Rev Lesley McCormack who has died at the age of 75.
Lesley served as lead chaplain at Kettering General Hospital, where she was also known as a spiritual and pastoral care co-ordinator.
Ordained deacon in 1988, she was priested in 1994 in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in the first wave of female Church of England priests.
She went on to a wide-ranging ministry, particularly in healthcare chaplaincy and parish life first in Suffolk and then Northamptonshire.
Alison Booker, Archdeacon of Oakham, said: "Lesley was known as a faithful servant of God and an extraordinarily generous colleague. She had a gift for presence and compassion with a willingness to help wherever she could.
"She was someone who seemed to know everyone in the community she served. Her ministry touched countless lives across the Diocese and she will be deeply missed.”
For many years, Lesley served at Kettering General Hospital, alongside this, she ministered as chaplain to Cransley Hospice.
Known for her pastoral care and leadership, in 1999 she was appointed advisor on hospital chaplaincy, a role she fulfilled with dedication for many years.
Lesley was made an Honorary Canon in 2003, later becoming Canon Emeritus in 2018.
Following her retirement from Kettering General Hospital in 2009, she continued her ministry, serving as assistant priest at St Peter and St Paul Church in Kettering.
She co-founded the weekly free meals ‘soup kitchen’ provision in 2015 in response to the rise in hunger and homelessness in Kettering.
In recent years, Lesley held ‘permission to officiate’ in the benefice of Higham Ferrers with Chelveston-cum-Caldecott, where she was a ‘much-loved and familiar presence’.
The congregation paid their own tribute, saying: “To us she was Lesley, a much-loved colleague, priest, fellow villager and friend. We are the poorer without her but the richer for knowing her. She touched all our lives in many different ways and we will always remember her.”
A spokesman for the Peterborough Diocese said: “Although her ministry spanned many places and roles, her heart always remained with St Peter and St Paul, Kettering, where she continued to provide generous support during the current vacancy. Two years ago, she also became Rector of the Peterborough Chapter of the Society of Catholic Priests.”
Lesley's Requiem Mass will be at St Peter & St Paul in Kettering on Tuesday, July 7 at 11.30am, led by the Dean of York, The Very Revd Dominic Barrington.
She will be laid to rest at St John's Chelveston, near to her home, in a private service later in the afternoon.
Canon Revd Lesley McCormack, died on June 12, following a short period of illness.