Meet Gemma and Frederik Le Mesurier 

Both Frederik and Gemma grew up in religious households. Gemma’s father is an Anglican priest and she remembers church life as a big part of her childhood. ‘As a child, I used to pretend to play Eucharist with my brother and sister,’ she says. ‘I made them pretend to be at church, and I'd break pieces of bread and have water with red food colouring. But that wasn't something I actually thought I aspired to as I grew up. I thought I was moving towards editing and publishing, hence the job with the crosswords.’ 

Gemma continues: ‘But it was when I went to Taizé, it was while I was there that I thought, I think I've got something else I need to be doing. I was doing the washing up one day, by myself in the kitchen at Taizé, and thought that religious community was such a meaningful and important thing for me, and that I felt that I was meant to have a role in leading it. At the time when that thought entered my head, it really scared me. I thought, no, not me, that's too big. And then it grew from there.’ 

Frederik had a similar feeling of wanting something meaningful from life and wanted to build on his religious upbringing. ‘My parents are both faithful churchgoers in the Netherlands, and, for me, I always wanted more. I thought just Sunday mornings was never enough. I needed something bigger.’ 

This feeling is what drove Frederik to the monastery, but he never intended to become a priest. ‘I remember when I was quite young, I would've been seven or eight years old, going through that thing, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" A policeman or a teacher or a fireman and whatnot. My mum, at one stage, said, "No, no, you'll become a priest." I thought it was ridiculous at the time. Then when I was 18 and went to the Taizé community, it wasn't because I wanted to become a priest, it was because I felt a call, a strong sense of vocation, but I didn't know what it was. That didn't come until I came to Australia.’ 

Gemma and Frederik’s shared passion for theology and their desire to keep learning and exploring their faith led them to Trinity College Theological School, where they concurrently began their theological education. 

The couple were living in Hobart at the time and the priest at All Saints South Hobart recommended online study at Trinity College. The couple agree it was a good recommendation, saying that once they started studying, they both wanted to do more, progressing from diplomas of theology to bachelor degrees in theology, including an intensive on campus in Melbourne, which made them appreciate how invested Trinity’s staff are in their students. 

‘I remember when we came up for our intensive, we'd seen a whole bunch of names of lecturers,’ says Gemma. ‘After a ‘normal’ university experience, you assume that you're just a name. But when we came up, I guess because the Trinity Theological School is a bit smaller, I remember a lecturer saying, "Oh, it's you two!" and knew us by name and introduced us to people. I was thinking, wow you actually know who we are. It was quite a surprise.’  

Despite studying most of their classes online, the couple say that their experience has been positive, with many interesting classes. Gemma calls out her New Testament Greek classes, saying ‘I thought learning a language, not to mention a non-activity language, online would be difficult, but the teacher was amazing’.  

Frederik chimes in, saying he was pleasantly surprised by a subject he took on mission and ministry with Fergus King. ‘I thought, oh, this will be a thing I've just got to get done. And then I really enjoyed it. It was just that good and that interesting, which I hadn't expected’ He continues: ‘I've then taken a whole series of classes with Scott Kirkland on ethics. Again, I never thought I'd enjoy ethics. It's one of those units, when I'm in it, I find it incredibly difficult, and you really have to stretch your brain to the absolute limit. But once you get out on the other end, you're like, this is fantastic.’ 

The couple’s study led to ordination, with Gemma and Frederik both deaconed in late 2020, then they became priests the following year. After finishing their curacy, the duo were appointed co-priests of the Parish of the Newell.  

‘Coming out of a monastic experience, I look at a parish as a little bit of a dispersed monastery, where people gather on Sunday morning, but their life at home continues and the community at home continues,’ says Frederik. ‘I'm excited to share that sense of community.’