First Filipino priest ordained for East Anglia

Fr Jaylord Magpuyo with Bishop Alan Hopes

Deacon Jaylord Magpuyo became the first priest to be ordained in the Diocese of East Anglia for four years and the first-ever Filipino, at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Norwich on Friday 8 December.

A congregation of around 500 witnessed the Bishop of East Anglia, Rt Rev Alan Hopes, ordain Jaylord on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Currently 12 more seminarians are also preparing for the Priesthood, the highest number in the Diocese for 30 years.

In his homily, Bishop Alan said: "Out of the priestly people of God, Jesus chooses men and sets them apart to serve God's people in his name as ordained priests. They are icons of Christ to his Church and ambassadors to the world.

"Jaylord, as a priest you will be the human minister of the divine things of God. In Jesus Christ you will take the ordinary stuff of human life and invest it with the life and presence of God himself. As a priest you will have to learn to constantly empty yourself in order to be filled with God's grace. Before the prayer of consecration, you will prostrate yourself before God - you will abandon yourself to God's power and will, so that his purpose may be worked out in you," said Bishop Alan.

"I will lay my hands on your head to call down the very presence of God to this place and into your life. You will be clothed in the sacred vestments of priesthood as a reminder that not only are you set apart for sacred duties but that you are now being enveloped in Jesus Christ himself.

"You will be anointed with the sacred oil of Christ to strengthen and empower you to be a sign of Christ's presence wherever you go," said Bishop Alan.

After the end of the Mass, Fr Jaylord gave First Blessings to Bishop Alan, fellow priests and other members of the congregation.

The congregation included family and friends of Fr Jaylord and parishioners from the Cambridge churches of St Philip Howard and St Laurence, together with people from the Annunciation of Our Lady, King's Lynn, parishes in which he has served as a Deacon. Prior to that, Jaylord spent six years in formation for the priesthood in the Philippines.

Fr Jaylord was ordained as a Deacon at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs (OLEM) in Cambridge in January and becomes the first priest ordained in the Diocese since Fr Henry Whisenant in July 2013.

To read Bishop Alan's full homily and see more pictures, visit: www.rcdea.org.uk