2023
A new year is always an opportunity to reflect on the past year, and give thanks to God for the many blessings and graces he has bestowed on us. It is also a time when we have to submit our annual pastoral statistics to the Archdiocese — so we thought we would share these with you too, as has become our New Year’s tradition.
In 2023 we baptised 35 new Christians and welcomed Amelia, Elizabeth, Rose, Lucas, George, Ismael, Maximilian, David, Nikhil, Lyra, Suzelle, Olivia, Megan, Elena, Nina, Magnus, Celia, Lucas, Erin, Marcia, Clara, Rosemary, Edmund, Vivian, Claudia, Nadia, Marco, Yaraneye, Aidan, Travis, Flora, Daiana, Primrose, Abigail and Ada into the family of the Church. Soubera, Catherine, Jack, Elizabeth, Hallam, Andrew, James, Edward and David were received into full communion in the One Fold of the Redeemer. 22 couples began their married lives together at the Oratory this past year, more than the average in pre-COVID years: please pray for Benedict and Alice, Mark and Justyna, Christopher and Lala, Dominic and Charlotte, Endri and Bernadette, Christophe and Elizabeth, Peter and Elizabeth, Thomas and Tiala, Julius and Cecile, Alex and Helena, Alfonso and Libania, Thomas and Molly, James and Naomi, Thomas and Mary, Myles and Karan, Dominic and Siobhan, Hector and Saskia, Ian and Yuhan, Logan and Tania, Ian and Jiani, Samuel and Harriet, and Rajan and Adriana.
Our average Mass attendance — worked out by counting everyone at Mass on four weekends in September/October — was 930, which is one of the highest in the Archdiocese and an increase even on pre-COVID numbers. This is a testament to the love and faith of our parishioners, but also to the hard work of many: the Fathers and Brothers, our choirs and music director, our sacristan, altar-servers, flower arrangers, church cleaners, greeters, Cafe Neri volunteers, and Porters. We are always on the lookout for new volunteers for the Cafe, the Lodge and church cleaning, so if you are able to help please speak to one of the Fathers or Brothers.
The average Sunday collection has also improved on the past few years, but still lags behind what a large and busy parish like ours needs to run effectively and grow. The average weekly donation from the collection last year worked out at just £2.58 per head. There are details here on the need to support the Oratory and parish and how to give.
Cafe Neri continues to be an important part of our ministry on Sundays, providing not only refreshments after Mass, but also an opportunity to meet each other and make new parishioners and visitors feel especially welcome. The Lodge bookshop has had a record year of sales, helped by very smart new Oratory cufflinks, lapel badges and tote bags, and a brilliant selection of books and devotional items (curated by some of the Fathers and Brothers). Most successful of all has been the Oratory Prayer Book, the first print-run of 1000 copies being sold out within a couple of months. We are already a good way through the second print run, and the Prayer Book was even featured in the “Books” section of the Catholic Herald.
2022 ended with the death of Pope Benedict XVI, for whom we celebrated a Solemn Requiem Mass on the eve of his burial in St Peter’s Basilica. Not many days into 2023 we were shocked by the unexpected death of our friend Cardinal George Pell. Fr Nicholas represented the community at his funeral in Rome, and many Masses were offered for his soul in our church. There was an unusually large number of funerals at the Oratory this past year, during which we said farewell to several very familiar faces, members of our parish for many years, commending to God: Kathleen Del Nevo, Sharla Worrall, Sylvia Parkes, Fiona Brett, Patricia Barrett-Ashman, Robert Jerrett, Princess Margaret Rose Davis, Robert Mattock, Maolíosa Kelly, Nora Wilks, Baby Lucia Barrie, Yvonne Sear, Pauline Matarasso, and Dominic Welsh. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
There were many moments of joy this past year for our Oratory and parish family, beginning with the traditional visit of the Fathers and Brothers to the Ordinariate Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary on New Year’s Day. These Sisters, originally part of the Anglican community in Wantage, were received into the Church at the Oratory on 1 January 2013, and took up residence in Kingstanding in Birmingham. Each year on that day we join them for Mass and lunch, and 2023 was particularly special as it was the 10th anniversary of their reception. Later in the year it was announced that the Sisters will be moving to Aston Hall in Staffordshire in 2024. We are especially blessed to know that we are always supported by the prayers of such faithful and courageous Sisters.
2023 was also the 30th anniversary of the canonical establishment of the Oxford Oratory as an independent Congregation. Special celebrations were held on 27 April, the Feast of the Patronage of St Philip, the day of the anniversary. There were also special celebrations for the coronation of King Charles in May, with our parish centre and Cafe Neri full to bursting as we watched the service on television and enjoyed cream teas and sausage rolls.
The Congregation was well represented at Farnborough Abbey at the end of June, for the ordination and First Mass of Dom Stanislaus, who has been living with us for the past five years while studying at Blackfriars. Dom Stanislaus returned to the Oratory later in the summer to celebrate Mass with us.
One of the treasures of the Oratory church is the Relic Chapel, with a large collection of relics of the saints, and containing a beautiful image of Our Lady of Mercy above the altar, given by Blessed Pius IX in the 19th century as Our Lady of Oxford. That holy Pope granted a number of indulgences to those who prayed before the image of Our Lady of Oxford, but, as with many indulgences in the Church, these lapsed in the 1970s. We applied to the Sacred Penitentiary for these to be reinstated, and the Holy See granted our request in time for the feast of Our Lady of Oxford in July. You can now gain a partial indulgence for the Holy Souls by reciting the “Hail, Holy Queen” before the image, or a partial indulgence for yourself by saying the Litany of Loreto.
Brothers Vincent and Clement began their priestly studies at Blackfriars in Michaelmas Term. Please pray for them over the next five years as they prepare for the priesthood. Please also pray for Br Ambrose, who was clothed in the Oratorian habit and welcomed into the family in October. God has blessed us with four in the noviciate, a record number for the Oxford Oratory, and a sure sign that we are doing something right.
Through the generosity of parishioners and visitors, we were able to help a number of needy causes and charities with money from the poor box, including the Oxford Companions of the Order of Malta, Let the Children Live, and a much-needed altar for a church in Uganda. Our crib collection raised £876 for Aid to the Church in Need, and the Lent project for the Companions of the Order of Malta totalled £3,326. The Mission Appeal for the work of the Holy Ghost Fathers collected £1,245, and we once again sent a van load of gift parcels to the Operation Christmas Child Christmas shoebox appeal. The Oratory was also able to host the Companions of the Order of Malta Easter and Christmas lunches for the homeless and less fortunate, and we served as the Companions’ base of operations for the twice weekly evening soup and sandwich runs.
There should be some exciting developments this year in our great project to renew and redecorate our sanctuary, church and sacristies, and the plans for a baptistry and Newman chapel have finally been given planning permission. The most obvious improvement in the first few months will be a very-much-needed new microphone system, followed by some work on the murals in the sanctuary. We hope to share much more of this project with you in the coming year, and begin the tremendous task of fundraising.
And so another year begins in the life of the Oratory and the Church of God. It will have its own joys, and sorrows, achievements and celebrations. 2024 will see a concert by the London Oratory School Schola Cantorum, a visit from the new Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, and many other exciting events, in addition to the daily round of Masses and Confessions, and the annual cycle of solemnities and feasts. Towards the end of the year the Congregation will be represented in Rome for the General Congress of the Oratorian Confederation, a meeting of all the Oratories in the world held every six years. This is an opportunity to discuss the life and work of the Oratory, in the spirit of St Philip. It is to his prayers, and those of St Aloysius, that we entrust our Oratory family here in Oxford, as we rededicate ourselves to the Lord and his Blessed Mother for another year of grace.
