The Society is delighted to announce the appointment of its first National Missioner. Fr David D'Silva SSC, Priest-in-Charge of St. Leonard's, Scawsby with St. Luke's Scawthorpe, will undertake the role part-time alongside his parochial duties. The Society will appoint a suitable individual in due course to undertake the other half of the Missioner role.

Bishop Philip North, The Society's lead on mission, commented: "I'm delighted that Fr David has agreed to take on this exciting new role, which will refresh our approach to mission across all Society parishes. His immediate priority will be to establish and develop a Catholic mission network across the country to take forward the excellent ideas on mission put forward in Fr James Mallon's book Divine Renovation."

Fr David commented: "I cannot wait to begin working with Society parishes to find new ways to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ boldly and freshly. I know the parishes hold the treasure house of faith which we have inherited dear to them and I relish working with them to pass on that faith on to new Christians."

The Society records its gratitude to the Archbishops' Council for funding this new initiative.

The Society's Mission Strategy may be found here.

Your prayers are asked for the following candidates as they prepare for ordination. It is envisaged that attendance at the ordinations will be by prior arrangement only. Please also pray for Peter Jackson whose diaconal ordination is expected to take place later in the year. 

Ordinations to the Diaconate

Tony Lawrence at 11am on Saturday 26^th June in Portsmouth Cathedral by the Bishop of Edmonton (who is the Acting Bishop of Portsmouth)

Luke Demetri at 11am on Saturday 26^th June in Southwark Cathedral by the Bishop of Southwark 

James Walton at 6pm on Saturday 26^th June in Lichfield Cathedral by the Bishop of Lichfield

Neil Brunskill at 4pm on Saturday 26^th June in Liverpool Cathedral by the Bishop of Liverpool

James Chegwidden at 11am on Saturday 3^rd July in St Andrew, Holborn by the Bishop of Fulham

Sebastian Jones at 11am on Saturday 3^rd July in St Andrew, Holborn by the Bishop of Fulham

Jonathan Fleury at 3pm on Saturday 3^rd July in Ripon Cathedral by the Bishop of Leeds

Edward Gunn at 10am on Sunday 4^th July in Durham Cathedral by the Bishop of Durham

Matteo Zambon at 10.30am on Sunday 4^th July in Blackburn Cathedral by the Bishop of Burnley

David Talbot at 7.30pm on Monday 5^th July in St Katharine, Southbourne by the Bishop of Richborough

Ordinations to the Sacred Priesthood

Fr Ross Brooks at 5pm on Saturday 19^th June in St Stephen’s, Wolverhampton by the Bishop of Ebbsfleet

Fr Glen Thomas at 12pm on Saturday 26^th June in St Werburgh’s, Burslem by the Bishop of Ebbsfleet

Fr David Povall at 5pm on Saturday 26^th June in St Paul’s, Clapham by the Bishop of Fulham

Fr Josh Delia at 3pm on Sunday 27^th June in St John’s, West Worthing by the Bishop of Lewes

Fr John Blackburne at 7pm on Monday 28^th June at All Saints, Notting Hill by the Bishop of Fulham

Fr Alan Rimmer at 7pm on Monday 28^th June at All Saints, Notting Hill by the Bishop of Fulham

Fr Matthew Austen at 7.30pm on Tuesday 29^th June in St Thomas, Brentwood by the Bishop of Richborough

Fr Robert Eloff at 6pm on Saturday 3 July in Manchester Cathedral by the Bishop of Beverley

Fr Ross Copley at 7.30pm on Tuesday 6^th July in All Saints, Lincoln by the Bishop of Richborough

A selection of prayers for those to be ordained, for an increase in vocations and for our Deacons, Priests and Bishop.

The Archbishop of York's office has announced today that Bishop Glyn Webster, the Bishop of Beverley, will be retiring on the Feast of the Epiphany, 2022. The Chairman of The Society's Council of Bishops, Bishop Tony Robinson, commented: "Bishop Glyn has ministered to Society parishes across the Northern Province with great distinction over the last eight years. The Society joins many others in wishing Glyn a long and happy retirement. We pray that the appointment process for the next Bishop of Beverley can be concluded promptly and successfully."

The Society encourages all of its parishes, and indeed all Christians, to participate in the Thy Kingdom Come initiative which this year runs from Thursday 13 May, Ascension Day, to Sunday 23 May, the feast of Pentecost.

The Ascension of the Lord marks a new moment in the life of the community of Christ’s followers. Jesus returns to the Father in order to send upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so, from earliest days, Christians have used the days following Ascension Day to wait in prayer for the renewing, reviving gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

This time of expectant waiting echoes the experience of the Apostles who gathered with the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer before the Spirit came upon them.

This period of prayer is often referred to as a ‘novena’, which is an ancient practice of the Church to spend a series of consecutive days or weeks in prayer for a particular theme or intention.  In praying this novena, we are uniting ourselves with the ancient tradition of the Church.

In recent years, this period has been given a particular focus through the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative; a global ecumenical movement that invites us to pray for strength in conviction as we live out our faith in our daily lives and as we strive to draw others into a lively relationship with God in Christ and in the fellowship of his Church.

It is very welcome that, unlike this time last year, we are now able to attend church services in person. If you feel able to do so safely, we ask that you pray in church during this special period of Christian witness.

In doing this, we seek to join our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church in looking to place attendance at the Sunday Mass at the heart of our lives in what we hope will soon be a post-pandemic period.

There are also lots of resources on the Thy Kingdom Come website as well as our own resources from previous years.

Parishes of The Society running events as part of this initiative are encouraged to use the hashtags #TheSociety and #ThyKingdomCome when promoting them on social media.

+TONY WAKEFIELD

The Rt Revd Tony Robinson

Chairman of the Council of Bishops