Proud undertook a Master of Arts (MA) degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, from 2001 to 2002.
At Petertide 1981 (28 June) he was ordained a priest by Roderic Coote, Bishop of Colchester, at St Andrew's, Halstead.
From that point until 2001, he was rector at St Mary's, East Barnet, Greater London, before he returned to university for postgraduate study.
While there, he was made an assistant to the bishop for the Horn of Africa area in 2004 and a canon of All Saints' Cathedral, Cairo, in 2005.
[1] Between 2007 and 2011, he was the area bishop for a new episcopal area (called the Horn of Africa, consisting of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somaliland and Somalia)[2] in the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East Diocese of Egypt[3] (based in Addis Ababa).