Revd Canon Ivor Moody

Formerly Vice Dean and Canon Pastor of Chelmsford Cathedral

Ivor has served all his professional ministry in the Chelmsford Diocese. He was Curate at St Margaret’s Leytonstone, and at St Margaret’s Leigh on Sea; Vicar of St John the Baptist Tilbury Docks, Chaplain to the Chelmsford Campus of Anglia Ruskin University, Honorary Associate Chaplain of Chelmsford Cathedral, and Vice Dean and Canon Pastor of Chelmsford Cathedral.

He has undertaken the following community roles: Chair of the Mid Essex Inter Faith Forum, and member of the National Spirituality and Inter Faith Forum; Chair of Essex Mind and Spirit, a community voluntary organisation exploring and promoting positive relationships between spirituality and mental health; Chair of the Chelmsford Single Homeless Forum; Chair of the Essex Faith Covenant, part of a national initiative which sought to bring together different faiths, councils and the voluntary and statutory services to examine and promote the positive contributions faith can make to society (especially during and in the aftermath of Covid-19), and to proactively influence and support initiatives to improve the lives of the people of Essex.

Publications

Six More Songs (Austin Macauley, 2023) – explores six well known, secular pop songs and how they might be used as a resource for those wanting to understand the Christian faith, and some of the great human events and experiences which are common to all

‘Speaking Truth to Power: How and Why Cathedrals Touch Lives’, International Journal of Literature and Arts, 2021

‘A Contradiction in Terms? Assessing the Place and Importance of the English Parish Church Cathedrals’, Modern Believing: The Journal of Theological Liberalism, 2018

Songs for the Soul (Austin Macauley, 2024) – explores how we might use contemporary media (in this case six pop songs) as a ‘lens’ to better understand the Christian faith and journey; the book has been used by parishes as a focus for study groups and as a Lent and Advent study guide

Lecture titles

Cathedrals in the modern age
Especially parish church cathedrals, looking at issues of sacred space, power and powerlessness, and their role in interfaith dialogue
Finding commonality in a diverse ministry
Examining how the Christian faith can be explored and experienced in different contemporary settings, through so-called secular space, university chaplaincy, interfaith dialogue, pop songs and poetry
Liturgy and pastoral care
An examination of how liturgy, imaginatively created and used, might give understanding and expression to life’s cycles of brokenness and renewal, give meaning to the dissonant as well as the harmonious, and help us make sense of our faith in the contemporary world.