The Rev’d Canon Mara Di Francesco, the energetic former parish priest at St Martin’s Campbelltown, has been appointed the new Anglicare Chaplain in the north of Adelaide.
Mara resigned in May 2023 from St Martin’s Campbelltown. She wanted a good break but eventually to find part-time work. Mara spent seven months on Long Service and other forms of leave including some unpaid leave to allow herself some time to “smell the roses” and work out a new direction for herself.
With too much energy to consider retirement, she no longer wanted to work as a parish priest and was looking for another direction in ministry and a new opportunity presented with Anglicare and its dynamic team along with many ministry possibilities to both Anglicare workers and volunteers.
“I think this next phase of ministry suits me,” she says. “I am excited to be able to provide practical, emotional, pastoral, or spiritual support to AnglicareSA employees and volunteers in the Northern Metropolitan area and I certainly have a passion for the work.
“I am also looking forward to networking by making strong connections and strengthening Anglicare SA Programs and with the wider community. I am also happy to be completing a Diploma in Pastoral Supervision in 2024, filling some Sunday worship gaps and the occasion midweek service that does not clash with my chaplaincy role for colleagues on leave.
“I just feel this is right for me and I am thrilled to start my new job in January 2024 after five months of travelling to the Holy Land, Scotland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Prague and Doha which was an experience of a lifetime.,” she says.
“I am now ready to work renewed. It will be a busy 2024 but things in 2025 will be much more balanced and a welcomed new direction again!”
