Meet our leavers: Laura Faturoti

This summer, we’ve sent out 52 ordinands, independent students, and research students, and we look forward to the ways in which God will use their preparation here for his purposes. Below is one of our leavers’ stories.

Laura Faturoti had spent fifteen years working in Chatham, the second most deprived area of Kent, as a probation officer with forty to fifty people on her caseload. ‘The rewarding thing was when people wanted to change, and being able to give them the skills to change and move on—it’s providing a valuable service both to them and to the community they’re from.’ But increasingly Laura felt like she was only doing half a job; she wanted to help restore people’s souls along with their life skills.

Just before she learned that she had passed her BAP, Laura found out she was pregnant. Because she and her husband already had two older children, they didn’t want to delay the process, hoping to be settled in their curacy location before the children started secondary school. Laura gave birth to her youngest son just two weeks before beginning at Trinity, and the newborn attended a full course load with his mum for the first term.

‘We came to Trinity, and specifically wanted to do a residential track, because we wanted this to be a time for the whole family’s formation,’ Laura says. ‘It was my calling, but it involved them. I realise now that we could not have gone through this as a family without the community at Trinity. So much has happened in our lives, and the community has been standing with us, and has pulled us through tough times. I hope I can hold on to these lessons, that my church would be a place where people will feel comfortable to come, to be themselves, even when they are struggling.’

Laura, her husband Ebun, and their three children will be moving to Dartford, where Laura will be working as a curate in Christ Church. They are excited about the church’s outreach and care for its neighbours through a food bank, winter night shelter, and community assistance programme, among other ministries. ‘College has made me ask questions, helped me see what I didn’t know, so I’m leaving now wanting to keep learning, and looking forward to continuing that process in the context of my curacy.’