Called As We Are Exhibition at St Albans Cathedral Celebrates Disabled Church Leaders November 2026

Em Coley hopes a stranger will stand in front of her portrait in St Albans Cathedral and stop seeing a limitation first. The Revd Canon Em Coley, an IME2 officer and disability adviser in the Diocese of St Albans, is one of twelve Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent leaders pictured in Called As We Are, a photography exhibition that opens in the cathedral's North Transept on 10 November 2026. Her hope, shared by the diocese, is that visitors will realise how God can use people regardless of disability, and that ministry is often enhanced by the very things others call limits.

The exhibition runs until 26 November 2026 and features twelve portraits by photographer Ruth Samuels, the diocese reports. Each photograph is accompanied by a personal reflection from the person pictured, sharing insights into their life, their faith, and the adjustments and support that helped them flourish in ministery. Audio descriptions and British Sign Language interpretation will also be available, so the show itself practises the welcome it preaches.

Called As We Are St Albans Cathedral Exhibition November 2026

Called As We Are is produced by the Church of England's Disability Project in partnership with Art and Christianity, the diocese reports. Its aim is to celebrate the gifts and contributions of Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people in the Church, while encouraging greater understanding and inclusion. The portraits show leaders in ordained and lay ministry, not as exceptions to be admired from a distance, but as people whose experience of disability, deafness or neurodivergence is part of their faith journey.

Em Coley's words sit at the centre of the St Albans showing. She said her hope is that people attending the exhibition will realise once again how God can use us regardless of our disabilities or limitations. Indeed, she added, the ministry we exercise is done not despite our limitations but is so often enhanced because of them. That sentence reframes the whole visit: the question is not what a disabled priest cannot do, but what their way of seeing the world lets the Church notice.

John Beauchamp, Disability Ministry Enabler in the Diocese of London, put the same idea in starker language, the diocese reports. He said the exhibition brings Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people in ordained and lay ministries into focus, and explores how what is often regarded as human woundedness is in fact a doorway to a greater revelation of Christ as crucified and risen Saviour. Visitors are invited to explore the exhibition during cathedral opening hours and reflect on the diverse ways people are called to serve God and one another.

Melissa Carter Blind Rector and Helen James Disability Project Portraits

The Rev Melissa Carter, Team Rector in Dover, is one of the most quoted faces in the exhibition, and her story gives the show its colour. Carter is visually impaired and registered blind, the Church of England reports. She said the portraits were more than just pictures, because they were about the stories of the people taking part. For her, light and colour carry a weight most sighted people never stop to consider.

"For me, being registered blind, light and colour are quite important, I have a little bit of residual sight, so for me I love the image of the rainbow, the light is split up into a spectrum of colour, and just like us, God uses us in all sorts of different ways."

Carter's reflection turns a familiar symbol into a working picture of the Church. A rainbow is one light broken into many colours, and none of the colours is an error. In her telling, God uses people in all sorts of different ways, whoever they are and whatever their abilities are, so the Church can shine with a depth that comes from different people coming together. The portrait of a blind rector talking about light is the kind of detail a visitor carries home.

Others featured include the Rev Alice Kemp, Dean of Women's Ministry in Bristol, the Rev Neil Robinson from Salisbury, the Ven Pete Spiers, Archdeacon of Knowsley and Sefton in Liverpool, the Rev Vanessa Thornborough from London, and the Rev KT Tupling from Oxford, the Church of England reports. Helen James, who features in the exhibition and oversees the Disability Project, said many Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent priests and ministers are proclaiming the Gospel, but often their contribution is unseen or unrecognised as a gift to the Church.

The show launched at York Minster in July 2026, and has toured Exeter, Liverpool and Chelmsford, the Church of England and the diocese report. St Albans is one of the final venues before the tour concludes at St Giles Cripplegate in London in early 2027. The exhibition was launched days after the General Synod held a debate on affirming neurodiversity within the life of the Church.

Readers can follow related stories in Latest: Southwell Minster Could Close in 2027 as 900 Year Old Cathedral Runs Out of Money, 3000 Relics Displayed in Kilkenny on All Saints Day as Parish Opens Veneration, Pope Leo XIV Says Holiness Is for Everyone at All Saints Angelus November 1 2026, and Thousands of Australians Making Space for the Bible This November in Global Bible Month.

When the twelve portraits leave St Albans on 26 November, Em Coley's hope will travel with the tour to London. The next person to stand in front of a portrait may be a young person wondering whether the Church has room for someone like them. If the exhibition has done its work, the answer will already be hanging on the wall, in a face that looks back and says, without apology, that God called them as they are.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.