Archbishop Nichols ordains eight priests at Westminster Cathedral - full report

In a service at Westminster Cathedral on 29 June, The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, ordained eight men to the Priesthood: Oscar Ardila, Jeffrey Downie, Fortunato Pantisano, Giles Pinnock, Martin Plunkett, Jeffrey Steel, Martin Tate and Mark Walker. The ordination took place on the vigil of the solemnity of Sts Peter & Paul.

In his homily Archbishop Nichols reflected on the importance of the love of God and its importance for the Priesthood: “Such love in practice is, of course, at the heart of the priest’s life, of these men ordained today.

Everything that you do for your people, in all the years of your priesthood, will be an expression of your love for the Lord. If it is not, then it will soon become a burden and immensely tiring. Stay rooted in the Lord each day, then the work you do will be your strength and joy.

Two particular tasks will be at the heart of your priestly ministry: to help keep us all rooted in Christ; and to help keep us all united in Christ.”

Archbishop Vincent also stressed the importance of the Priesthood for the Catholic community and the greatness of the commitment which the new priests were undertaking:

“You are also to be visible signs of our unity in the person of Christ. You come from such diverse backgrounds and circumstances. Yet today you express that remarkable unity of mind and heart which is such a gift of our faith. You are as one in the life-long commitment you are about to give: a commitment to the people in service; a commitment to the Church in obedience; a commitment to Jesus in love. In the light of this commitment and your service in the unity of the Church, you know that the imposition of personal preferences has no part in your ministry, just as the fostering of personal favouritism must be avoided. All is for Christ, not for self. All is within obedience to the mind of the Church.”

Mgr Mark O’Toole, Rector of Allen Hall, the Diocese of Westminster’s Seminary, said: “It is with great joy and a deep sense of the generosity of God that we celebrate the Ordination of these eight new priests of the Diocese. We give thanks to God for all those – family, friends and parishioners – who have helped to bring them to this important moment. I know that they will be faithful servants of the Gospel and devoted Shepherds of the people to whom they are sent. May their example and witness encourage many more to follow Christ more deeply and to give themselves whole-heartedly in His service.”

Three of the new priests wrote about their vocations:

Fr Oscar Ardila

“It was the year 2001. I was 24 years old. After seven years training and working as an actor in Colombia – where I was born and raised in a normal Catholic home- I came to London planning to further my career. An actor lends his body in order to impersonate characters who speak words written by playwrights. I had hoped that by doing this I could move people to feel or reflect on meaningful things: the beauty of being human or the marvel of being alive. In London, I discovered that this hope was drawing me to a deeper realm. It was not to be a play: it was the Mass. There Christ was calling me to lend my body to the Church in order to act in His own person; to proclaim His Word and to see how the Holy Spirit worked renewing humanity, moving it to experience a beauty, so profound, that not even sin can disfigure it, a life so marvellous that not even death can take away any of its fullness. Encouraged by the advice and prayers of family, friends and priests I eventually found the communities of the Neocatechumenal Way in the parish of Guardian Angels, Mile End. They helped my vocation to mature and to be incardinated in the Diocese of Westminster.

As a recently ordained Priest, I am very grateful to the Lord for having called me to share in this wonderful mission! My hope is that I shall be granted grace never to distrust the One who has been so merciful to me.”

Fr Jeffrey Downie

“I grew up in Liverpool, initially as 'Brethren', but baptised in the CofE as a teenager. My Christian faith has always been central to my life, and my main involvement at first was musical, learning to play the organ and singing in choirs. After university in Chichester I came to London to work in an Anglican parish in the east-end as a pastoral assistant, in order to discern better the sense of vocation and calling to ministry which I was experiencing. During that time my questioning led me to explore Catholicism and I was received into the Church at St Anne's Underwood Road in 1994. I was at Allen Hall from 1995-1997, but at the time things didn’t seem right and so I left, working in music and also retail management for many years.

During all of that time I felt this nagging sense, like a voice speaking gently to the heart, that God wanted more from me, but I never felt able or confident enough to respond. For several years I was a parishioner at St Mary's Cadogan Street and it was really there that things came to fruition. As I became more and more involved in the life of the parish, so my sense of a calling to the priesthood grew. With the support of Canon Wilson and the love and encouragement of the people I was finally able to discern and respond fully to God's desire that I spend the rest of my life in service of Christ and His Church as a priest.

Returning to Allen Hall a few years ago I found a happy and supportive place and as a deacon I was sent to serve full-time in the three parishes of Welwyn Garden City. These last 10 months have been a particularly blessed and rewarding time, as I was embraced warmly and fully into the life of the Church there. I have learnt and received so much from the people of Welwyn Garden City and from Fr Norbert and Fr Michael the parish priests. Now, though sad to move on from this community which I quickly grew to love, I look forward to the next stage in the journey as I begin ministry as a priest. I know that there is much more to learn, but look forward to serving the people of God in my new home, with the love, prayers and support of the whole Church.

Fr Fortunato Pantisano

I was born in Crotone (south of Italy) where I grew up and I went to the local primary and secondary schools. My father is originally from Crotone while my mother was born in Reggio di Calabria further south and then eventually moved to Crotone where she met my father. My family has always been catholic although not attending Mass regularly. I remember just being brought to Church for the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, First Holy Communion and Confirmation). So as I was growing my focus in life was to be ‘someone’, everything in my life revolved around ‘me’. I looked for fulfillment and happiness in sports, especially swimming; relationships, and other mundane attractions, which led me nowhere and even worse far, far away from the Church. During this period I found myself unsatisfied and with no purpose, the feeling of meaninglessness was appalling and yet, in the midst of it all, God continued to love me. Then at the age of 14 together with my mum I joined in my home parish (Parrocchia del Sacro Cuore), a community of the Neocatechumenal Way through which I began to return to God and especially to the sacraments and then eventually, after many battles against my stubbornness to achieve my plans, I ceded and began even to consider the vocation to the priesthood.

My most important experience of God’s love was through my Neocatechumenal community. The weekly liturgies of the Word and the celebration of Mass every Saturday evening lived within a small community were extremely powerful for me. In this environment and in the light of Holy Scriptures, God opened my eyes to those dark moments and instead of a reprimand, he revealed his own plan of love and mercy for me: “… that Christ died for all so that those who live, may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and is risen for them” (cf. 2 Cor. 515).

Then it was during the World Youth Day 2000 when I felt utterly God’s calling to offer my life to him through the words of Pope John Paul II, now Blessed, saying: “do not be afraid to open wide the door to Christ” and also “God will not take away anything from you but He will give you more”.

Also I started to experience more that ‘God loves me as I am’ by reading the life of two favourite saints of mine: St Filippo Neri and St (Padre) Pio da Pietralcina, in which their unceasing works of charity truly reached people’s hearts. They were simple and poor and yet through their weaknesses could make manifest God’s power. This changed my way of thinking and makes me understand that I need not to be superhuman or anything like that, but that it is God’s powerful love able to transform and guide me.

This stage in my life makes me a witness of how God is Faithful, and in which the words of Pope John Paul II come true. I am very glad and at the same time thrilled. Now I am aware to be publicly an instrument in the hands of God in serving His people. For me this means to offer completely every single aspect of myself to God, in order to be able to give his people that same love I have received from him. This is at the heart of my ministry. God, through his great mercy, has prepared for me a “useless servant” numerous graces, so that I may share them with the whole Church by announcing the Good News, guiding them in the journey of faith and manifesting to them acts of God’s charity. All this is done not for my personal self-fulfillment but for the glory of God.

What do I hope for the future? Well, I am aware that I need the Church more than the Church needs me. Thus I call upon the help of the angels and saints and I ask Jesus and the ever-Virgin Mary to pray for me so that I can be holy as God the Father is holy. Finally, I am experiencing in these days av fullness of joy which I’ve never experienced before. This is surely a gift greater than any richness I could have achieved by my own efforts.

The full Homily given by Archbishop Vincent Nichols is provided below:

ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD
Westminster Cathedral
29 June 2013

Today we give thanks to God, with great joy, for the gift of eight new priests. And what a gift this is! We also give thanks, in a heartfelt manner, for the parents and families in whose love they have been nurtured; for all who have contributed so much to their formation, in Allen Hall, in the Beda, in Neo-catechumenal communities, in our parishes; for those across the diocese who pray for our students and contribute generously, through Growing in Faith, to the funds we need now and in the future for this work of formation.

In our first reading [taken from the Vigil Mass of Ss. Peter and Paul], Peter and John go up to the Temple in Jerusalem together, and they act together. Together they show the unity of companionship and practice that should always characterise followers of Jesus. Together they meet the crippled beggar and give him the great gift of healing, in the name of Jesus, at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Not much is known about this Gate into the Temple. But we know full well that for this poor man it was indeed a beautiful gate. And it is beautiful for us too.

At this Gate the first miracle of healing in the new era ushered in by Pentecost took place. There the power of the Holy Spirit is shown in action, in this great deed. The onlookers are left astonished, unable to find an explanation for all they had seen.

But, and importantly, immediately after this miracle Peter makes, in word, the first proclamation within the very Temple of Jerusalem of Jesus as the one Saviour of all people. He speaks out boldly and unambiguously. “Why are you so surprised at this?” Peter asks. He responds to their puzzlement by explaining that, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and then disowned.....You killed the Prince of Life. God however raised him from the dead. We are witnesses to this. And it is his name, faith in his name, that has brought back strength to this man and given him this perfect health in the presence of you all” (Cf Acts 3.13-16).

The gate by which we come to hear such news is indeed a Beautiful Gate, the very Porta Fidei, the Gate of Faith. And it is this Gate we are invited to enter afresh during this Year of Faith.

Announcing the good news in deed and word is the task of each of us as followers of Jesus. We do so, even in the midst of our daily tasks, whenever we behave with compassion, with ready forgiveness and with generosity towards those in need. When we are seen to act in this manner of Jesus, then we may well make others wonder, at least a little, why we do so. Like Peter, we should be ready to put into words, simply and directly, the reasons for our behaviour: the truth of Jesus whom we know and love.

Today’s Gospel passage reminds us just how important our love of the Lord really is. Only when our lives are really rooted in love for him are we on sound footings.

Look at Peter. He had denied Jesus, all knowledge of him, three times in quick succession. Now he declares his love for him three times. And each time Jesus makes it clear that this love must be expressed in action. We hear Jesus speak to us today: Do you love me? Feed my lambs. Do you love me? Look after my sheep. Do you love me? Feed my sheep!

This is our summons: to show in daily practice, in love for each other, the love we have for the Lord himself. We are to watch over, nurture, and encourage each other: parents towards their children, friends and colleagues towards each other, companions at work and neighbours, always with special care for the weakest and most vulnerable.

Such love in practice is, of course, at the heart of the priest’s life, of these men ordained today.

Everything that you do for your people, in all the years of your priesthood, will be an expression of your love for the Lord. If it is not, then it will soon become a burden and immensely tiring. Stay rooted in the Lord each day, then the work you do will be your strength and joy.

Two particular tasks will be at the heart of your priestly ministry: to help keep us all rooted in Christ; and to help keep us all united in Christ.

Through you, through your ministry of word and sacrament, the Lord enables those whom you serve to become rooted in his life: in the confessions you will hear, in the anointings you will give, in the homilies you will preach, in the visits you will make, in the marriages you will prepare and celebrate - even in all those marriage forms! Your every action, every manner, word and gesture, will have the potential to root people more deeply in Christ. Such is the grace and privilege of the priesthood! But remember too: a careless word, a harsh remark, has its own amplified capacity to hurt, to uproot someone from life in the Lord. We are servants of the Prince of Life. May that be clear in all we do and say.

You are also to be visible signs of our unity in the person of Christ. You come from such diverse backgrounds and circumstances. Yet today you express that remarkable unity of mind and heart which is such a gift of our faith. You are as one in the life-long commitment you are about to give: a commitment to the people in service; a commitment to the Church in obedience; a commitment to Jesus in love. In the light of this commitment and your service in the unity of the Church, you know that the imposition of personal preferences has no part in your ministry, just as the fostering of personal favouritism must be avoided. All is for Christ, not for self. All is within obedience to the mind of the Church.

This service of unity finds its true source and power in the celebration of the Mass. The Eucharist makes, creates the Church afresh each day. At this Mass we sense a new vitality in the Church. And so we should. For today we receive a remarkable new gift - your future ministry as priests. Yet we can know a new vitality at every Mass. So often we come through the church’s door buffeted and bruised. At Mass we are healed and restored, formed again into the Body of Christ. The porch of every church, the doorway into Mass, is indeed always a Beautiful Gate.

My brothers and sisters, soon we will go out from here, through this Beautiful Gate of Faith, with our eight new priests, to confirm in word and deed the wonderful grace God bestows in this ordination mass. May St. Peter, the first to proclaim our faith, be with us and confirm our faith. May St. Paul, the great adventurer of our faith, encourage and embolden us. And may our own St John Southworth, our saintly patron and martyr, watch over us in every difficulty and draw us always closer to the Lord by his example and prayers.

Amen.

See also: ICN 1 July 2013 - Eight new priests for Diocese of Wesminster www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=22859