Meet Our Clergy

The Venerable June Hough

Bishop Bruce Howe appointed the Rev’d June Hough to be rector of ELAM, starting June 1, 2008. In May 2009, Bishop Bob Bennett announced the appointment of Rev. June as the Venerable June Hough, Archdeacon of Erie.

My family and I returned to London after moves that took us to Nova Scotia, Toronto and Ottawa. With each move I have had the blessing of ministering within diverse congregations in the Dioceses of Nova Scotia and Ottawa.

I was born in Kirkland Lake, which is a small mining town in Northern Ontario. My family moved often, but I finished high school (Montcalm) in London and attended Western receiving a BA in Phys. Ed. 

After attending Huron College, I was ordained in the Diocese of Huron in 1986. Following my curacy, I became incumbent of St. Peter’s in Dorchester. I had many blessings in Dorchester, one being it was there I met my husband.

It was in my former parish of St. John the Divine in Ottawa that I experienced much the same kind of transition ELAM has had. The parish had been built on rented land and a large increase in rent forced the congregation to make a decision to move to a higher density area in the south and hold worship in a school gym. Despite the difficulties of the move in terms of debt and loss of people, the parish recovered and moved forward. More than that, they discovered what it means to be church.

Through that, I am able to appreciate the journey ELAM is on. Walking out in faith is a courageous thing to do, yet in spite of the difficulties there is an excitement in that search for the promised land . . . then we realize it has been within us all along. 

God Bless,
June

Rev. Anne Jaikaran

Rev. Anne Jaikaran does ministry at ELAM for two days each week.  Her office hours are Mondays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., but she will also be here most Wednesday mornings and is present for the “Feed My Sheep” breakfasts on the third Tuesday of each month.  She will continue to be the spiritual advisor to the L.E.M.’s and make pastoral visits. Here is her story:

I am a cradle Anglican, actually growing up next door to my home church back in Yorkshire, England, which I still visit every year when I go over to visit my Mum. She, in fact, was the one who modelled to me that belonging to a church meant much more than attending on Sundays and encouraged me to become actively involved in all aspects of church life from an early age.

After obtaining a degree in history and archaeology and a diploma in librarianship, I moved to my new husband’s land of birth – Guyana in South America, where we lived from 1981-91. During this time my church life came to a virtual standstill, but I kept my faith intact and my life busy raising three children and volunteering in the community through Rotary. 

In 1991 we immigrated to Canada, settling first in London where our fourth child was born, but then moving to Blenheim in '93 where I started back church involvement.

After a time I began working as a supply teacher with the local daycare, but by '99 was seriously considering what I really wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to do something faith-based and my first step in that direction was to take a hospital chaplaincy training course. From there I moved on to Huron University College in 2000 to study for my Master's in Theological Studies, which I then converted to a Masters in Divinity as I finally realised ordained ministry was where I wanted to be.

After graduating in 2006, I was not able to be ordained immediately because, as a now single parent, I was not prepared to uproot my two youngest children and move them out of London. In the interim I served in two very different parishes as Pastoral Assistant. Church of the Transfiguration is a church that has gone through some difficult times and now cannot afford a full-time minister. St John the Evangelist is a big thriving parish offering many programmes. Each church offered its own opportunities and challenges for ministry and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at both.

I arrived at ELAM in the fall of 2009 as the Deacon Assistant, and since my ordination to the priesthood in the spring of 2010, as the Assistant Priest. I believe all my experiences will only help me in serving you better at ELAM and I look forward to our ministry together.

Rev. Bruce Pocock

I was born in 1938 in Florence, Ontario, as the sixth child of seven to my parents Lawrence and Patience (Pat) Pocock. Dad was an Anglican priest who was born in Quebec, but soon moved to Brockville. He was educated at Wycliffe College and served for the most part in the Diocese of Huron. I had four sisters and two brothers. I felt strongly early in my life that I had a call to ministry, but the experience of being a P.K. (preacher’s kid) soon discouraged me from following such an idea. It was very hard to live with the thought that every transgression that you ever committed was known at the rectory before you could get home and to have your children go through the same thing. I was an enthusiastic child and remained that way through my adult years. As a result many of my more enthusiastic adventure had found their way to my home. I paid for them each of them dearly.

My dominant trait (at least from my point of view) is curiosity. I have always loved to learn things. It is a blessing and a curse. Instead of only wanting to learn, I continued to learn many things. When you know how to do many things, I find you are expected to put those skills into practice. It has kept me busy.

Education was a rocky road for me. High marks came easy in Hespeler Public School in what is now Cambridge and Ealing Public School in London. When I went into secondary school at Sir Adam Beck Collegiate Institute in London and then Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute, I found that I had many other interests such as sports, hobbies, girls, dances, extracurricular activities which took me away from my books. My marks fell sharply, but I didn’t care. When I was in grades 11, 12, and 13 at the same time, I decided that I was wasting my time and my family’s money and told my father so. I dropped out and went to work at the Royal Bank. I stayed there for five years, then went to Huron College as an adult student and spent four years there. After a particularly serious illness in which I lost three months recovering and nearly missing my whole year, I dropped out again.

It was at this time that I met Patricia. We were engaged and then married in 1966. She was a nurse in Windsor. I went to work for the Ontario Government (Community and Social Services). I was with them for about five years until I was fired. It was a difficult time for me. I very angry because I was betrayed by my co-workers who had hung me out to dry after the work I had done bargaining a contract gained for them a 36% increase in pay. It was that experience that helped my understand what it means to forgive a person and how that forgiveness can save you from wallowing in hate and anger. That firing turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. God gave me a boot and said start working on your real career that I have chosen for you.

I went back to the University of Windsor and got my bachelor’s degree with honours. I went to work with the Ministry of Housing (Windsor Housing Authority) first as Community Relations Worker and then as a Property Manager. It was during the training for that work that God called again in no uncertain terms. It is a long story, but it boils down to the fact that the word came that I could no longer deny what I had felt when I was a child. I had to face the fact that my sons, Lawrence and David, would have to learn to be a P.K.s. as I had.

I finished my Master’s of Divinity at Huron in two years. Pat had become the Director of Perioperative Nursing in St. Joseph’s Hospital in London. I graduated with my M.Div in 1978 and spent my first two years in ordained ministry as the Assistant Curate for Bishop Cronyn Memorial Anglican Church in London. In March of 1980, I became the Rector of Holy Trinity, Lucan with St. James’, Clandeboye and stayed there until the end of June 2003 (the longest serving Rector of that parish.) It was a great love which continues even to this day. I loved the country and loved being a “country parson”.

After I retired, my son and I designed and built a house. I call it “Bruce’s folly”. It adds to the list of my many accomplishments. I have worked as a farm labourer, a warehouse receiver, a lineworker at Chrysler’s, a tunnel maintenance worker, an aircraftman with the RCAF (Radar), an Officer with the Canadian Army (I have enough time to be a veteran although every unit I belonged to was closed down by the government), a medical attendant on a psychiatric ward, a teacher in nursing schools and a community college as well as community worker, a property manager and a banker. I always felt God had taught me well for the work of ministry, but I have never resolved the lifelong conflict that I have had with myself: “Am I the world most successful failure, or the world’s most failing success?”

After retirement from active ministry, I didn’t want to be a weight around the neck of the new rector in Lucan, so I came to the then-new East London Anglican Ministries (the original name of Church of the Ascension) to serve for Rev. Michael Johnston and stayed on to serve Rev. June Hough when she came. The three of us had all been at Huron together. I have been with ELAM ever since.
I guess having come into the ministry at such a late date, I still have much to do to catch up to the years I spent apart from the work that the Lord had called me to so long ago, but if the truth be known, I love ministry, I love the people, I love the message, I love the Lord and it is my honour to serve as an Associate Priest here, and a genuine privilege to serve you all.