St Mary’s College, Oscott

Yesterday was a busy day! I left early for Birmingham for an afternoon meeting with the Catholic Safeguarding Agency (CSSA). Most of the Bishops were in attendance and the Chair, Nazir Afzal gave a review of the CSSA’s first year. When this finished, I then drove up through the rush hour traffic to St. Mary’s College Oscott, the seminary, for an overnight visit. This was in order to attend the annual Bishops-Staff Meeting. Today is also the College feastday so after a solemn Mass we had a wonderful lunch. Oscott seems to be going from strength to strength and has just over 60 seminarians (more than twice the number when I was there!). The meeting was very interesting as the Rector, Fr. Michael Dolman, filled us in on recent developments. The visit was also an opportunity last night to go out for a meal with the two students at Oscott from our Diocese of Portsmouth: Ambrose Chou and Deacon David Bateman. David is in his final year and we look forward to his ordination to the priesthood next summer. Please pray for them both – and for vocations to the priesthood.