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.

At 0900 hours on 26 September, Fr Daniel:

…and Br Oliver:

…will jump out of an aeroplane at an altitude of over 10,000 feet.

When the parachute opens, they will be plummeting to the ground at a speed of 120mph.

Sponsor them by visiting www.justgiving.com/Oratory-Jump or in person at the Porter’s Lodge. All proceeds going to the fundraising Campaign, to pay for the new building.

Today the Wednesday Morning Group travelled to Lichfield and Stone in the footsteps of St Chad, the Patron of our Archdiocese.

We visited Lichfield Cathedral first…

…But not before a stop for coffee and cake!

Plenty of time was had inside the Cathedral.

And, of course, there was time for a bit of shopping.

Especially interesting was the raised side-chapel which used to contain the relics of St Chad. On feast days, his head, encased in gold, was displayed for veneration on this balcony outside the chapel.

After lunch, we visited the old Augustinian Priory of St Michael and St Wulfad in Stone, Staffs. It is now the Anglican Parish Church.

The Group was given a talk by the son-in-law of one of our number who lives by the church.

St Wulfad was a son of the King of Mercia. St Chad converted the boy to Christianity. The King was furious and killed his son at Stone, making him a martyr. In atonement, he had the original church build here in honour of his martyred son.

In 2011, in Cobham, Surrey, the seal matrix of this Priory was dug up in a field. Quite how it got there is a mystery. The seal matrix was used to make all the official wax seals for the priory’s documents and so was a very important find.

After being fed tea and cake, the Group was sent off back to Oxford. Everybody agreed it had been a most enjoyable day.

Fr Dushan Croos, S.J. came to preach for St Aloysius’ Day at the Solemn Mass.

Afterwards we were able to use our new building for the very first time. There was a bring-and-share supper in the parish rooms – using the new kitchen and bar.

Parishioners were able to tour the whole of the new building, including the boiler house:

The library:

And some views from the windows:

A new initiative by our parish Society of St Vincent de Paul is to collect fruit from parishioners to make available at the Gatehouse – a drop-in centre for the homeless and poorly-housed, opposite our church at St Giles’ Church Hall. The first collection was held on 2nd June, and as you can see from the above picture, there was an excellent response. We will be collecting fruit on the first Sunday of each month from now on.

Once the new parish centre is opened, very soon, it will also be possible for the Food Group to prepare sandwiches and soup in the new kitchen as another way of helping the homeless and vulnerable.