Priest Training and Vocations Newsletter Update - 2021

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Priest Training and Vocations Annual UpdatePriest Training and Vocations Annual UpdateThe priesthood has always beenessential to the life of the Church,from the time of Jesus until today. Inthe Archdiocese of Southwark, we areblessed to have men answering thecall to the Priesthood and Diaconateand choosing to dedicate their lives toChrist and His people.2020 was a year of great blessingswhen it came to ordinations, bothin terms of quantity and quality. Wehad 8 men ordained, 5 priests and3 deacons. The Priests ordainedat St George’s Cathedral were FrGiovanni Prandini assigned to Balhamparish, Fr Dermott O’Gorman basedat the Cathedral, Fr John Howardassigned to Canterbury parish, andFr Peter Sebastian at Croydon Westparish. Fr Evan Royston was ordainedat Immaculate Lady of Victories,Clapham.The role of a priest is to make Christpresent to people in all situations oflife. Through all the events of our lives,be they times of joy or sorrow, ourpriests are there for us. Whether it isin a church, in a hospital, at school;the ministry of the priest is to makeChrist’s love, healing and forgiveness,alive and tangible.Through your prayers and donations,you support the work of theArchdiocese of Southwark’s Vocationsteam, so they can encourage andinspire those who hear God’s calling.Your generosity also provides financialsupport to seminarians, covering theireducational and living costs duringtheir 7 years in priestly formation atthe seminary.Your investment is an investmentin our Church now and for futuregenerations.Stories from our newly ordained priestsFr Giovanni Prandini,Ordained July 2020I have beenordained for onlyeight monthsnow and it feels Ihave never doneanything else inmy life; it feelsso natural. Still,when I look backat the pastoralclasses we were given at theseminary, I wonder if you can teachpeople to be priests at all. To me,priesthood is to accompany peoplein a journey towards Christ, to helpthem get a bit closer to Christ and,in doing so, getting closer to Christmyself.Some people I have talked toremarked how strange it must be tohave just become a priest in theseCOVID-19 times. True, parishes aredifferent now from what they wereone year ago, and there are manyactivities we cannot do. And yet,any time is as good as another tomake our journey towards God, toimitate Jesus. And to me this gives acompletely new meaning to the wordsof St Paul: All things work together forgood for those who love God.One of the most significant aspects ofpriesthood I have discovered is howpersonal and yet self-effacing it is. Allthe glimpses of redemption I haveexperienced in my personal life, allthe graces I have received in prayer,and all the moments of bleakness Ihave gone through, all this is touchedby God, redeemed and recast to helpothers get closer to Christ. In everypastoral encounter, what really mattersis the journey of the other persontowards Christ. We, as priests, arethere to facilitate this encounter.Fr Dermott O’Gorman,Ordained July 2020I first felt called to the priesthood as analtar server at school. After university,and some years working, I ‘took theplunge’. I wondered how I wouldsurvive several years of formation, butI not only survived I thrived. Seminarylife and ministry have brought greatjoy in following the Lord’s call. Thisjoy reminds me of Archbishop John’swords to me on my ordination day:“Joy is a beautiful consequence oflove. When we stay in Christ’s love,His joy makes a home in us”.The other word which summarisespriestly life so far is privilege. Itis indeed a profound privilege tominister Christ’s grace to the peoplethrough Word and Sacrament,particularly the Eucharist; to standin the person of Christ to people inthe life-defining moments from thecradle to grave, Baptism to theirdeathbed. I pray that many moreyoung people will consider the callto the priesthood or religious life andshare in this joyful privilege.
Priest Training and Vocations Annual UpdateSouthwark Seminarian’s storyMatthew Donnelly, Sixth Year SeminarianI was reluctant, but it was the best thingI could have ever doneI was working in London as a BuildingSurveyor when I felt the Lord promptingme once more to become a priest. Ihad tried for the priesthood before buthad given up after a couple of yearsin seminary. Having turned 45 andhaving just purchased a house, my exfiancésent me a cut out from a catholicnewspaper advertising a retreat for latevocations. I was reluctant, but it was thebest thing I could have done. God stepped in powerfullyto let me know, through prayer and through the people Imet, that this was His will, which would result in the perfectoutcome for my life. The commitment we make to anyoneor anything should be proportionate to the love we havereceived and want to express. Where God is concerned,once I had started to live-out that commitment it was onlythen I experienced great peace and inner freedom. I wasleft in no doubt that this is what He had always planned forme, right from the beginning, and that He’d never stoppedcalling me out of His immense love.Frazer Bellfield, Third Year SeminarianWhat greatly encourages me is to know thatmany people are praying for me and mybrother SeminariansMy journey to the seminary beganin my home parish of St. Theresa’s,Biggin Hill, when our elderly andkindly parish priest encouraged meto become an altar server after myfirst Holy Communion. Fr. Flood wasa great nurturer of priestly vocationsand when I was 12 years old, he tookme on a “Discovering the PriesthoodDay” for young people at the seminaryat Wonersh. I could never have known on my first visitthat 12 years later I would end up as a student in this veryseminary.After completing my secondary education, I was giventhe chance to have an experience in Spain with a SpanishReligious Community which had connections to my homeparish. I found myself at 18 years old living in an excitingnew country, learning a new language and workingalongside the Friars in several difficult neighbourhoods.My time in Spain certainly made an impression on me, tothis day I still love a good Paella, but I felt more inclinedtowards working as a parish priest rather than being aReligious Brother, and I was not ready for in depth studyat that point in my life. After returning from Spain I workedAllan MacDonald, Fifth Year SeminarianI was born and raised in Toronto,Canada and while I was baptizedCatholic, I did not grow up in atraditional catholic family. It wasnot until I started College at 19 andattended my very first mass and I hadthe desire to become Catholic andwas received into the Catholic faith.It was shortly after my reception intothe church that the thinking aboutbecoming a priest occurred. I resisted for a long time,trying to follow my plans and not God’s. I became a teacherand immigrated to the UK, but despite my success, Godspull never left me. ‘I decided to take the step and my onlyregret has been that I hadn’t done it sooner. At this point Ifeel that I have made the right decision and I would adviseanyone thinking about this call to take the first bold step.“It is in silence that we find God, and insilence we discover our true self. And indiscovering our true self, we discover theparticular vocation which God has givenus for the building up of His Church andthe redemption of our world.”Pope Benedict XVIin a parish as a pastoral assistant. This gave me a greaterinsight into the inner workings of the Parish Priest.By the time I had reached my early 20s I was prettysure that God was calling me to the priesthood. I alwaysenjoyed travelling and got a job with EasyJet at GatwickAirport, later with British Airways. It was during this time Imet Fr John, the then Vocations Director, who helped mereach the decision that it was right for me to apply for theDiocesan Priesthood.I am in my third year of formation and very much enjoyingbeing part of the seminary community, just like “the realworld”, the seminary is a place where we are calledto serve God to the best of our ability, with all the joysand challenges that brings. It is great to be living withlikeminded guys who help and support me on my journeyto the priesthood. What greatly encourages me is to knowthat many people are praying for me and for my brotherseminarians. I would encourage anyone that feels they maybe called to the priesthood to pray about it and when thetime is right, to speak with one of our Diocesan Vocationspromoters who will be very helpful in guiding them throughtheir discernment.
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