Westminster: deacon to be ordained at Heathrow Airport
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor will ordain Westminster's first permanent deacon in many years on 23 July at Heathrow Airport. The ordination of Robert Levett, who has been a lay chaplain for many years, marks the re-establishment of the permanent diaconate in Westminster. Levett, who is married with grown-up children, works as a teacher and counsellor in a local state school. He is the first Westminster student to complete the Wonersh programme for the formation of permanent deacons. Also attending will be Canon Pat Browne, the parish priest of Holy Apostles, Pimlico, who has care of permanent deacons in the Diocese. There has been a surge in vocations to the permanent diaconate in recent years in England and Wales. There are currently 778 deacons working in England and Wales. Westminster has four. There are eight Westminster men, including Robert Levett, in the process of training for the permanent diaconate. Source: Archbishops' House