Quiet achiever says farewell

By Andrew Humphries

Rev (Deacon) Dr Andy Calder likes to joke that it’s not retirement he headed into last month.

The word he prefers to use is ‘rewirement’, an opportunity to step back and see where new directions might take him.

Whatever the future holds, the quietly spoken former equipping Leadership for Mission staff member will leave huge shoes to fill within the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania.

As the Director of Clinical Pastoral Education through the John Paver Centre, and through his work as the Synod’s Disability Inclusion Advocate, Andy has been at the forefront of pastoral care education and advocating for people with a disability.

Since taking on the role of inaugural Director in 2011, Andy has overseen Uniting CPE-The John Paver Centre’s role in providing an education and formation platform for those wanting to pursue pastoral care.

The Centre’s courses have resulted in accreditation for 80 students, while two important initiatives have been the development of an eco-ministry program, and the establishment of a program in Ballarat last year following collaboration between the Presbytery of Western Victoria and Ballarat Base Hospital.

Andy has handed over the reins as CPE Centre Director to Rev Lauren Mosso, who is also an accredited CPE Supervisor.

Lauren was ordained in 2011 after a career as a conciliator of discrimination and workers’ compensation disputes, and also served as the Synod’s Ethical Standards Officer from 2012-15 and Senior Chaplain at Epworth HealthCare from 2015-22.

Lauren was a student in the CPE program in 2011 and has first-hand knowledge of how well it equips people for pastoral care roles.

“My own experience means that I can recommend the program as part of ongoing formation and it was certainly beneficial for me,” Lauren says.

“It’s a very important program for laying down a platform for high-quality pastoral care.

“Pastoral care is really important in allowing us to listen deeply … and to give people the space to speak about what is important to them and to make meaning of their own situation.”

Andy says the role of CPE Centre Director offers a unique opportunity to build on a foundation of pastoral care which is nearly a century old.

“It’s founded on a particular methodology which started in the 1920s in the United States, which says the relationship of care is understood as a ‘living human document’,” he says.

“It’s a very rigorous process, a fact which sometimes surprises people, and it demands a level of reflection from people who may not have done so much of that in the past.

“Part of the course is about equipping people to have more confidence in their own skills and to develop a sense of where the person they are talking to wants to go, without dictating the agenda or the conversation.

“I get a huge buzz from seeing people come in, who have no real idea of what it is that they have signed up for, begin to blossom during this time, and the onus is on us to create an environment and space in which they can thrive.

“We encourage and we challenge, if we think someone can be challenged a bit.”

Andy says there are wonderful examples of how the CPE program has had a huge impact on the life of students.

“We have one example of someone who was recommended by their Presbytery and had been a volunteer chaplain at a hospital in country Victoria,” Andy says.

“They did two CPE programs with us and, on the basis of the skills and confidence they developed through that, they were then appointed to the pastoral care program in that hospital.”

Lauren says the CPE program allows students an opportunity to blossom.

“People become more their authentic self and they learn a lot about their own spirituality and how that holds them when they are holding space for someone else,” she says.

“It often involves a sense of coming to peace with the different parts of their personality, meaning they can live with a new sense of freedom.”

Andy says the pastoral care and disability advocacy roles have been a richly rewarding part of his work within the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.

“The CPE role has been very satisfying and encouraging and I had terrific support from the Uniting Church to establish the CPE Centre and then to support it as well as they have,” he says.

“It’s been wonderful to see people come into the course and shift and change their perspectives, and take responsibility and develop a sense of belief that they can offer something significant to people in their caring role.

“The disability advocacy role has been a real life force for me, focused on valuing people regardless of who they are, so they can find a place in our Uniting Church life that is free of discrimination and barriers that shouldn’t be there.

“Providing resources and a profile for people with a disability is hugely important and, again, the Uniting Church has played a vital role in seeing the vision of inclusion for people with a disability.

“Since 2000, Disability Action Plans have provided a really good framework for work plans and for getting the wider Church involved in what we are doing.

“I have also chaired the Synod’s Royal Disability Commission taskforce for the last five years, which has been rewarding.

“I feel enormously privileged to have had the disability advocacy role and cherish the fact that I have been able to be a part of it all.

“Both roles have been a huge part of my life and I know that I’m going to miss so much of the work, but I’m also ready to look at what other things might be out there for me.

“As someone else once famously said, ‘it’s time’.”