The Canonries to bring the College of (ordained) Canons up to full strength.
Bishop Paul has invited five of our clergy to join the College of Canons at Liverpool Cathedral. 
They are:
- Revd Amanda Bruce
- Revd Simon Fisher
- Revd Stuart Haynes
- Revd Crispin Pailing
- Revd Kath Rogers
Bishop Paul said “I am delighted to be able to strengthen our College of Canons through these appointments. Amanda, Simon, Stuart, Crispin and Kath will bring wisdom and insight to the Cathedral, and it is a pleasure to be able to honour their contribution to the life of the whole Diocese alongside their work in our parishes and sectors”.
Each new canon will be installed in the Cathedral over the upcoming months.
About the new Honorary Canons
Rev Amanda Bruce
In a former life, Amanda studied molecular biology, worked in a histopathology lab and trained as a primary school teacher. She taught for 10 years, during which she came to know Jesus. She spent time with YWAM on the Anastasis in West Africa, then worked as a Deanery Youth Officer in the Cotswolds before training for ordination.
Ordained in 2008, she served her curacy at St Mark’s in Haydock and then a first incumbency as Team Rector of the Sutton Team in St Helens. Alongside these roles, she served on Diocesan Synod, Bishop’s Council and the Diocesan Board of Education. In 2016, Amanda was appointed as the vicar of St Luke’s Church in Crosby, whose 300+ people embrace a variety of traditions and theologies. She is also a tutor in Mission & Evangelism for the All Saints Ordination Course. She shares life with her dog, Poppy, who loves squirrels and walks.
Rev Simon Fisher
Simon was born in Lincolnshire in 1980 and educated at St John College Durham and Ripon College Cuddesdon. After ordination he served in the dioceses of Bath & Wells and Peterborough before coming to Liverpool I’m 2011.
Since then Simon has been vicar of St John’s Tuebrook in West Derby Deanery, and since 2015 also Assistant Area Dean of West Derby.
From 2016 Simon has also been Bishop’s Planning Officer, working with the Diocesan Mission & Pastoral Committee and with our team of archdeacons to implement the pastoral reorganisation, and helping deaneries and parishes to plan for their future mission.
Simon is married to Katryn, and they have five (!) children aged between ten and one: Charles, Lucy, Bertie, Sebastian and Hester. Simon’s mother is an honorary canon of Lincoln Cathedral, and he feels he is, at last, catching up with her!
Rev Stuart Haynes
Having thought he would only have the role until his ordination in 2010, Stuart has served as Director of Communications for both diocese and cathedral since 2008 and over the last 2 years has also worked in the capacity of Assistant Diocesan Secretary. A southerner by birth, Stuart first moved to Ormskirk in the late 80's for his degree and has effectively lived in the area ever since. After a career in communications in the housing sector, he moved into diocesan communications. Alongside the comms role, Stuart has an active ministry as a self-supporting minister at Ormskirk Parish Church where he and his family have worshipped for over 20 years.
Stuart said "this a real an unexpected honour. It is a privilege to serve our diocese and cathedral in two distinctive but complementary ways and I look forward to continuing this in any way I can."
Rev Crispin Pailing
Crispin grew up in London and, after degrees in Classics and then Theology, did post-graduate research on the 20th Century theologian Karl Rahner. He was ordained in 2003 and served in Birmingham Diocese for eleven years, most recently as Vicar of Perry Barr. He moved to be Rector of Liverpool in 2014 where he ministers in the heart of the business, commercial, tourist, and civic districts of the City. He is a trustee of about ten charities, mainly concerned with addressing poverty and opportunity in the region, and is Chair of both Mission in the Economy and also the Royal Albert Dock Charitable Foundation. He has a particular interest in music and the arts, and this year has seen both a golden car installed on the Church as the first winner of an annual sculpture competition and the arrival of an orchestra in residence. As part of his civic work in Liverpool, he leads on interfaith work in the Diocese.
Fr Crispin said, “I am delighted and thrilled by the invitation to become an honorary Canon. I hope it will be a visible statement of the warmth of relations between the Cathedral and the Parish Church: there is so much in both mission and ministry that we share.”
Rev Kath Rogers
I worked in the NHS for 20 years before resigning as Chief Executive of Sefton Family Health service authority to become a Resources Officer working at Church House for Bishop David Sheppard then Bishop James Jones with a variety of responsibilities. I was called to priesthood and served my curacy at Holy Trinity Formby before becoming the priest in charge then vicar at All Saints with St Frideswyde a newly created parish. During my 7 years here we have created a community hub in our reordered and extended church which is an inclusive church in the evangelical tradition.
It has been a privilege and a joy to serve Liverpool Diocese over 25 years with a fabulous team of lay and ordained disciples of Christ.
Honorary Canons at Liverpool Cathedral
Honorary Canons are those lay and ordained who make a particular contribution to the life of the church. They have few formal functions (apart from electing the Bishop, where they may only vote for the candidate nominated by the Crown) but much informal influence.
The College of Canons meets twice a year, and all members of the College will receive an invitation from time to time to contribute of their wisdom and experience. In our diocese all Area Deans become, by virtue of their office, a Canon while the Bishop has discretion to appoint others.
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