St John's Seminary

On 12 January Valentine Erhahon was ordained to the diaconate at St Joseph’s Church in Bromley by Bishop Patrick Lynch, auxiliary bishop in Southwark. We offer Rev Valentine our congratulations and prayers.

Three more of our former Anglican students have been ordained to the priesthood recently.

Frs Nicolas von Malaise and Stuart Meyer were ordained for Southwark archdiocese in their cathedral on 19 January.

Fr John Gilbert was ordained a few weeks earlier for Plymouth diocese on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in Penzance.

Congratulations to all three. We pray that they will enjoy many years of fruitful and joyful ministry.

Here are some pictures of our recent Ordinations (also noted in the post Advent 2012). Congratulations to Revv. Sam, Simon, Tom, Paul and Harry – and thanks to Bishop Kieran Conry.

On 18 October Cardinal Godfried Danneels gave a lecture at Southwark Cathedral, marking the beginning of the Year of Faith and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The whole seminary community was able to attend, and we also had the privilege of celebrating Mass with the Cardinal. In the lecture, entitled “Vatican II – A Council Unlike Any Other”, he reflected interestingly on his own experiences of being at the Council and on its ongoing significance for the Church.

The seminary year ended in the usual and wonderful way, with many members of the community taking significant steps in their journey towards priestly ministry. It reminds us of the reason why we are all here and fills us with hope and thanksgiving to God.

Our congratulations go to:

Colin Groombridge and Mark Wharton, who received the ministry of Lectorate;

Thomas Bakulumpagi (right), John Browne, Ross Bullock, Philip Carroll, Colin Groombridge, Mark Higgins, Jacek Kostuch, Dermott O’Gorman and David Pearce, who received the ministry of Acolytate;

Samuel Davey, Simon Dray, Harry Heijveld, Thomas Lynch and Paul Keys, who were admitted to Candidacy for Holy Orders;

Revv. John Gilbert, Nicolas von Malaise, Stuart Meyer, Matthew Bemand-Qureshi and Nicholas De Keyser, ordained Deacons;

and finally Frs Kurt Barragan, Oladele Craig, Chris Dobson and Alan Sharpe (not pictured), ordained Priests (also to Fr Alan Burgess, who received priestly formation at the Beda College in Rome and was ordained with Frs Kurt and Ola).

St John’s Association is the alumni organisation of the seminary. For this year’s event we were delighted to welcome Mgr Keith Newton, the Ordinary of Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who presided at Mass and also gave a fascinating address about the identity and work of the Ordinariate.