Starting over

Five others who have found a new beginning

Father figure

Reverend Fergus Macartney, 55, is married with three daughters. Nine years ago, he gave up his job as Professor of Paediatric Cardiology at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, to become an Anglican.

"By the time I was 34, ridiculously young for such things, I was one of the top 10 paediatric cardiologists in the world. I had a consultancy and a professorship and was paid pounds 35,000 a year, a sizeable sum in those days, to run my own department at Great Ormond Street. My work - treating heart defects in babies in the first days of their lives - was highly innovative, and I was frequently flown first-class halfway round the globe to speak at conferences, a gesture that I found immensely flattering and which, I must confess, went to my head.

Originally, I'd taken up medicine because, as a committed Christian, I believed that was what God wanted me to do. But now I was wholly driven by ambition and fame. I spent the next few years wrestling with my conscience and seeking guidance from God and my weekly bible-study group. I took a sabbatical in Cambridge and, while attending St Barnabas Church in the town, I was approached to "take selection" to join the ministry.

My father had been a priest and, having seen how demoralised he'd become, I had fought all my life against becoming a clergyman. So I said to myself: if I passed selection, I would take it as a sign from God that this was his chosen course for me. To my utter dismay, I got through.

We moved from Dulwich, south London, up to Cambridge, and for three years I studied the priesthood part-time and commuted between Cambridge and Great Ormond Street. Then, by chance, I heard about a Christian community in north Devon which was looking for pastoral workers. After interviewing me, the priest suggested I come in a more senior capacity, as a lay chaplain, on a five-year contract. It put me in a quandary because I'd decided against accepting fixed-term contracts - I didn't want to be back on the job market at the age of 50.

I went down to the small beach chapel and prayed for guidance. Afterwards, my wife, Jacqueline, told me that she'd had this vision of us walking towards the crucifix and the arms of the cross coming out and enfolding us. I took it as a sign that God was calling me and that, if I trusted him, I'd have nothing to fear. I drove back to London and resigned from Great Ormond Street.

Some colleagues thought I was mad, others expressed envy. But my years in the community in Devon turned out to be the most beautiful of my life. In my last year there, I was ordained as a priest. Recently, I was invited back to St Barnabas to work as a non-stipendiary lay chaplain.

There's nothing driving me anymore, just the gentle call of God. I feel at peace with myself and have no doubt that the radical decision to leave medicine was the right one. This is where I am meant to be." David Cohen