Last Sunday we were very pleased to welcome twenty Scholastics from the Society of Jesus to dinner with us. Fr Daniel welcomed the group, saying that the Jesuits are like spiritual cousins to us because of the relationship between our founders, St Philip and St Ignatius.

The group was very interested to see our relics of St Ignatius and St Philip, which are part of the collection left by Hartwell de la Garde Grissell. One of these is a letter of St Ignatius, bearing his signature, establishing the Society in Portugal, and is one of the few of his letters not owned by the Society.

We ended the evening by singing the Salve Regina together in the Lady Chapel.

Photography by Elizabeth Nyikos

Yesterday we were honoured by a visit from the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, who celebrated the Solemn Mass and afterwards blessed our new building.

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diokleia was also present on the sanctuary during Mass, and Archbishop Bernard invited the Metropolitan to join him in the blessing of the building. Fr Jerome has prepared an inscription for a plaque in Latin and Greek accordingly!

The Fathers are immensely grateful for all your generosity in supporting our fundraising Campaign that has made this building possible for the parish and the Oratorian community. Of course we still need to raise more to finish paying for it – and we commend this to you. Not only do the new rooms make further growth and long-term stability of the Oratory possible, but the parish centre gives us new apostolic opportunities in welcoming people to the church and creating bonds of charity.

Here is the Archbishop’s sermon from Mass yesterday:

“Look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is sitting at God’s right hand.”

“It is always a great pleasure to celebrate Mass with you here at the Oxford Oratory and to be united with you in the Sunday liturgy. There are several different purposes that have brought me to the community of the Oratory Fathers, to the Parish of St Aloysius and to this city where we witness to our faith in Christ in a real though as yet partial communion with the other Churches and ecclesial communities.

Among those Churches whose Christian living and witness the Catholic Church recognises and esteems it is the holy Orthodox Church with whom we have the closest theological, sacramental and spiritual bonds. For that reason I am most grateful for the presence of Metropolitan Kallistos Ware at this morning’s Mass and I thank His Grace for having welcomed me earlier this year to participate in the Divine Liturgy with his community in Canterbury Road earlier this year. We pray during this Mass for a deepening of the bonds of faith and affection that hold us together in Christ.

Today is also a significant day for the Fathers of the Oratory here in Oxford as we celebrate with them the completion of the first phase of their building project. It is gratifying to know that those who have been living in such cramped quarters in cellars and attics, thanks to God’s gift of increasing vocations to their way of life, will now have more fitting accommodation so as to organise their lives of prayer and service for the benefit of the parish and the many chaplaincies they provide. We also pray during this Mass for more vocations to the Oratory and for the success of the futures phases of this project.

Our Mass today affords me the first public opportunity to thank the Oratory Fathers for their generous response to the invitation to establish a new house in York, under the patronage of St Wilfrid. We shall pray for the founding members of this community as they serve their new parishioners and the pilgrims who visit the Shrine of St Margaret Clitherow.

None of these projects – our striving for the full, visible unity of the Church, the extension and growth of the Oxford Oratory, the new foundation in York – none of these would flourish if they were not founded on Jesus Christ and on faith in him which is also God’s gift to us. If we keep our focus on our Lord we are less likely to make any particular project or activity an idol for our worship or a distraction from the Gospel itself.

St Paul encourages us: “Look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth.” He is clear that Christ must be at the centre of all that we are and everything that we do so that we may become more like him. As we become more like him he can work in and through us more effectively and our lives will be fruitful in good things. In this way our projects will flourish.

The parable of today’s Gospel reading illustrates and conveys the teaching of Christ himself on the priorities that must govern our lives. Being successful in what we do is not in itself a problem but it carries a threat to our spiritual wellbeing. Whatever our interest, pursuits or work may be we must not become so absorbed in them that they become ends in themselves. The rich man of the parable is absorbed with the thought of amassing further wealth – his barns on earth become the source of his delight.

Nothing and nobody should delight us so much that we lose sight of our eternal destiny and forget the divine pattern for our lives that is the only true source of wellbeing and delight. If we can keep this in mind we can see our work and interests in their proper perspective and they can then serve the purposes of God.

Today, the fourth of August, is the annual feast day of St John Mary Vianney, the Curé d’Ars. I recall his memory today because he is the patron of all pastoral clergy and because of the clarity of vision with which he saw the purposes of God as the true source of our happiness and success. In his Catechetical Instructions St John Vianney reflected on the teaching of Christ that is before us today:

“Consider, children, a Christian’s treasure is not on earth, it is in heaven. Well then, our thoughts should turn to where our treasure is.

Man has a noble task: that of prayer and love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of man.

Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvellous light. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax moulded into one; they cannot any more be separated. It is a very wonderful thing, this union of God with his insignificant creature, a happiness passing all understanding.”

May this union with God be the goal and the fruit of all the projects that we commend to his loving mercy today.”

Here is the Archbishop, Metropolitan Kallistos, Fr Richard and Kate Allison, our parish and Campaign secretary, in one of the new bedrooms:

The Archbishop blesses the Library:

Blessing of the Parish Rooms:

The Metropolitan adds his own blessing:

Fraternal greetings between East and West:

His Grace cuts the beautiful cake prepared to celebrate the occasion:

Photography by Elizabeth Nyikos

Congratulations to Philip Prince who was ordained Permanent Deacon on Sunday afternoon at St Chad’s Cathedral. Philip and his wife Susan have been coming to our church for many years and teach the Parish First Holy Communion Course each year. Fr Daniel, Fr Anton, and a number of our parishioners went up to Birmingham to share in their happy day.

Philip’s own grandsons got to vest the new deacon with the dalmatic. His granddaughter did the second reading.

Out of the five deacons ordained on that occasion, Philip was chosen to minister at the altar.

Here are some of our parishioners with the Archbishop at the reception following the ordination.

Philip will be exercising his diaconal ministry up the road at St Gregory and St Augustine’s; we are delighted that he and Susan will continue with the First Holy Communions in our Parish.

Fr Jerome has just returned from leading some of the Brothers of the Secular Oratory to Ars – the parish of St Jean-Marie Vianney, patron saint of parish priests. The Brothers form part of our Secular Oratory: that group of laity whom St Philip first drew to himself to teach them holiness and prayer, and for which the Fathers of the Oratory came into being. Brothers meet again in the autumn, every Tuesday at 8pm for prayer, instruction and recreation.

The Fathers of the Oxford Oratory are pleased to announce that they have accepted an invitation from the Bishop of Middlesbrough, Rt Rev. Terence Drainey, to come to his diocese.

Bishop Drainey has entrusted the care of the Parish of St Wilfrid in the centre of York to the Fathers of the Oratory.

St Wilfrid’s is the mother church of the City of York. The parish also has the care of the shrine of St Margaret Clitherow, martyred for her Catholic faith in 1586 during the Reformation.

The Congregation of the Oratory was founded by St Philip Neri in Rome in 1575 and brought to England by Bd John Henry Newman in 1848. There are already three Oratories in England, in Birmingham, London and Oxford, and a fourth being set up in Manchester. All the English Oratories have the care of a parish as their main work, but Oratorians also undertake work as chaplains in hospitals, prisons and schools provided that it does not take them away from the community life.

Fr Richard Duffield is to be the Parish Priest of St Wilfrid’s, starting at the end of October. Fr Richard was born in York in 1963 and brought up in the city. He joined the Birmingham Oratory in 1986 and transferred to the newly founded Oxford Oratory in 1991. He was ordained priest in 1992. He has served as Parish Priest of St Gregory and St Augustine’s and St Aloysius’ in Oxford and as chaplain to a number of prisons and detention centres. He was Provost of the Birmingham Oratory from 2009 to 2011, a period which included the visit of Pope Benedict XVI for the Beatification of John Henry Newman.

The Fathers of the Oratory would like to thank Bishop Drainey and the Middlesbrough Diocese for their generosity and confidence and look forward to starting work in Yorkshire.

A letter from the Right Reverend Terence Drainey, Bishop of Middlesbrough, to the Parish Priest of St Wilfrid’s:

As you know I have been in conversation with the Oxford Oratory for the last year regarding the possibility of them coming to the diocese and specifically coming to St Wilfrid’s. I have consulted with my Council, listened to the Council of Priests and the Chapter and been informed by letters from interested parties from within the, and without the parish of St Wilfrid’s. I then formally invited the community of the Oxford Oratory and they have accepted the invitation. Father Richard will come to the parish at the end of October this year to take over from you as Parish Priest. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you, Michael, for your dedicated, inspired and fruitful ministry at St Wilfrid’s.

Father Richard Duffield was born in York on 6 September 1963 and baptised at St Wilfrid’s. He was brought up in York and educated at Ampleforth and St Anne’s College, Oxford. In 1986 he joined the Birmingham Oratory, transferring to the new community in Oxford in 1991. His studies for the priesthood were at Blackfriars, Oxford, and the Angelicum, Rome. He was ordained priest on 11 July 1992.

Fr Richard was Parish Priest of SS Gregory & Augustine, Oxford, from 1993-8, and Parish Priest at St Aloysius’ from 1999-2008. He was Provost of the Birmingham Oratory from 2009-12, during the period of Newman’s Beatification and the Papal Visit.

The Oratory comprises the priests and brothers who live according to the way of life of St Philip Neri. They are secular priests and brothers (i.e. they are not Religious like monks, friars, clerks and canons regular), which means they do not take any vows, but choose to live together as a family following the pattern of life and ministry of St Philip adapting it to wherever they have their home. They each have their distinctive ministry in the house, parish and city, and come together each day to pray, eat and find refreshment in each other’s company. Each member comes with the intention of remaining until death in the same house. Each Oratory is independent, so can adapt the charism of St Philip to its own area and people. Members are attracted to a place and to a community, and that is the scope of their life and work, which will be moulded according to the pattern of St Philip.

Secondly, it comprises of the lay-people who attach themselves to the community. St Philip founded a lay organisation, with not much more intention than that. He involved lay-people in sermons, music, liturgical celebrations, recreation, pilgrimages, devotions, conferences, and so on, and so brought many thousands to God in pleasant ways. This is the Oratory which the clerical members serve, following the same sort of pattern that St Philip did in 16th century Rome.

I commend this moment to you and the good people of St Wilfrid’s as an opportunity of growth, building on the solid foundations of generations of collaborative ministry of both priests and people. And I would be grateful if you could read this letter at each of the Masses over this coming weekend 20/21 July.

After sixteen months of banishment, the Hopkins and Pritchard Rooms were open again after morning Masses last Sunday:

We now have an attractive and welcoming venue for hospitality after Mass – and we hope that the new facilities will be used by a whole host of parish groups. Certainly the response was enthusiastic on Sunday.

We are sad to learn of the death on 13th July of Father Antonio Dario of the Verona Oratory, in his eighty-seventh year, of which sixty-three were spent in the Congregation. Fr Dario was Provost of Verona for thirty-three years, with three brief interruptions, and at the General Congress of 1982 was elected Procurator General of the Confederation of the Oratory, which he remained until 1994. On his election he said, “I accept with the same enthusiasm with which Jesus mounted His Cross: I do not seek this office, but I take it in a spirit of service and availability for the good of the Confederation”. As Procurator, Fr Dario signed the decree of 27th April 1993, which established our house as an independent Oratory of Pontifical Right.

May he rest in peace.

On Saturday we were honoured by the visit of His Most Eminent Highness Fra’ Matthew Festing, Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, for the Solemn Profession of one of our parishioners, Fra’ Julian Chadwick, as a Knight of Justice.

The Knights and Dames of Malta gather outside the church:

The Grand Master is received at the door:

During the ceremony, Fra’ Julian took the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and was presented with a sword as a token of his willingness to defend the faith.

He was also struck on the left shoulder with the flat of a sword, as a reminder of the final humiliation of death:

Fra’ Julian was clothed in the habit and “stole” of the Order of Malta, depicting the instruments of Our Lord’s Passion:

The Order of Malta performs charitable work in more than 120 countries, helping many millions of people every year.