By Józef Łopuszyński

On Saturday, eight men of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham were ordained to the priesthood together at Birmingham Oratory by His Grace Archbishop Bernard Longley at the request of the Ordinary, Monsignor Keith Newton.

During the Ceremony, the scores of priests present laid their hands on each of the new priests as part of the ordination ceremony.  

The Holy Mass was celebrated according to “Divine Worship: The Missal” the order of Mass provided by the Holy See for the Ordinariates around the world.

The event, which lasted almost three hours, was enhanced by the heavenly singing of the Newman Singers accompanied by Organist James Burke together with the rousing singing of the congregation.

Speaking at the end of the Holy Mass, Mgr. Keith Newton said,

“It’s great to have you all here, particularly the family and friends of those who’ve been ordained.  It’s a great day for us. 

"Not only is it great because eight new priests have been ordained, but it’s something of a historical event for us as well because for the first time we have two priests ordained who’ve been through the whole seminary process, Father Thomas and Father Jonathan, so that’s a really marvellous occasion for us. It will certainly not be the last, but it is the first.

“I’d like to say thank-you to all the priests present and especially those who are not members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  It’s a delight to have you and the Deacons and Seminarians, and particularly Canon Oakley who is the rector of St Mary’s College, Oscott, where our two seminarians studied, and other members of staff. 

"We’re delighted to have you here with us. I want to thank Provost and the Fathers and brothers of the Oratory.  They couldn’t have been kinder in allowing us to use this beautiful church which has such a connection with our patron Blessed John Henry Newman, and you may not know it, but  I shall tell you now that Archbishop Bernard carries Newman’s crozier today.  We pray that his [Newman’s] canonisation will not be far off. 

“But the person I want to thank most is Archbishop Bernard.  I was really delighted when he said that he would preside over this ordination for me.  Archbishop Bernard is always gracious and generous and it’s a delight to have him with us.

“I would also like to thank everybody else who has made this such an incredibly beautiful occasion, our singers, the servers, [and] particular thanks to Father Daniel Lloyd and to Mr Richard Hawker.

Archbishop Longley then spoke.

“I want to add my own words of gratitude and congratulations to the eight men who have been ordained as priests.  And I want to say, together with Monsignor Keith the warmest words of welcome to you here, to Birmingham as we celebrate together in this city. 

"To those ordained I say it is always an enormous privilege and a great joy to me to be asked to ordain priests, and today it’s doubly so to be able to ordain for the service of the Church in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  During the Liturgy today for the first time I was able  liturgically ‘to pray for and with my Brother Ordinary,’ and I’m very grateful indeed to Father Daniel for his kind assistance and his very firm steering.

“I want to say to Mgr Keith, and also Mgr Andrew Burnham and Mgr John Broadhurst, to all the priests, the deacons, the religious and the lay faithful of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham what a pleasure it is to welcome you to the city here and to assure you of the fraternal affection and the prayers of everyone in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. 

"I’m very grateful as Archbishop for the wonderful service that so many places receive from the priests and the faithful of the Ordinariate, and today I thank those who live within the boundaries of the Archdiocese.  I am certain today the prayers of Blessed John Henry Newman and maybe also of Blessed Dominic Barberi will accompany our eight new priests.

The offertory collection was for the Priests Training Fund

The new priests are:  Fathers Leonard Cox, David Pritchard, Timothy Boniwell, Thomas Mason, David Hathaway, Michael Ward, David Jones and Jonathan Creer.