On Tuesday, 7 August, Bishop Genieve Blackwell licensed Associate Professor Avril Brereton as a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral. During Choral Evensong, Dean Andreas Loewe installed Canon Brereton in the Chapter stall of Charles Perry.
Professor Brereton is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University. She has worked in the field of autism for over thirty years in a variety of settings. Her research and teaching interests focuses on the area of developmental psychiatry with a particular emphasis on Pervasive Developmental Disorders. She provides consultation to community health, education and welfare agencies and educational workshops for parents and professionals.
Canon Brereton is married to Professor Bruce Tonge, and her daughter, the Revd Emily Fraser, is Chaplain of our Girls’ Choir School, Lowther Hall, and an associate priest of the Cathedral. Avril and Bruce are members of St Paul’s Cathedral, where she is a reader and intercessor.
Dean Andreas said: ‘We are absolutely delighted to welcome Avril to Chapter. She brings with her significant expertise in education and training, philanthropy and community building, and is also a member of our congregation. Avril will contribute her expert knowledge and her personal insights into the life of our congregations to the Governing Body of our Cathedral. We wish her every blessing as she takes up her new responsibilities’.