In the first of her annual lectures as Canon Theologian, Professor Elaine Graham will address the role of lay people in the Church. Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, which emphasised the secular calling of the laity as the embodiment of the Church in the world, are we any closer to really affirming the priesthood of all believers, or does the Church remain largely clericalised in its understanding of ministry? This lecture will survey some of the main thinking over recent years across the denominations regarding the relationship between ordained and lay ministry, and consider what the future prospects may be for the laity in Church and society.

Elaine Graham was appointed the Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester and joined the University of Chester in 2009 where she is the Grosvenor Research Professor of Practical Theology.

The event will take place at 2pm, on Saturday 7 February 2015 in the Nave in Chester Cathedral. The event, which is free, is organised by the Chester Theological Society