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If you cross the River Thames at Battersea Bridge | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
and continue towards Chelsea's King's Road, | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
you'd be forgiven for not noticing a building on the right-hand side, | 0:00:09 | 0:00:13 | |
hidden by a privet hedge. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
Over its entrance is a cross, | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
and to one side a rather austere concrete facade. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:24 | |
This is Allen Hall, | 0:00:24 | 0:00:26 | |
one of England's only three remaining Roman Catholic seminaries, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
home to some 45 men intent on becoming Catholic priests. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:34 | |
Priests play a central part | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
in shaping the identity of Britain's five million Catholics. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:52 | |
Administering its sacraments, passing on its teachings, | 0:00:52 | 0:00:56 | |
priests are a bridge between man and God, | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
and each and every one of Allen Hall's seminarians | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
believes he has been called by God to fulfil this priestly role. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
Amen. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
I offer this Mass for each one of you. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
It's a votive Mass for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
We give thanks to God | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
for the mystery of this vocation in the life of the Church. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
And we pray that He may send many more men into His harvest. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:41 | |
# Sanctus... | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
# Sanctus | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
# Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth | 0:01:51 | 0:01:57 | |
# Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua... # | 0:01:57 | 0:02:03 | |
CHATTER | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
The seminarians at Allen Hall have signed up to a minimum of six years. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:15 | |
The first two take place in house | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
in a range of subjects from biblical Greek to philosophy. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
Then there's one year's practical placement in a parish | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
before a three-year theology degree taken with undergraduates | 0:02:24 | 0:02:29 | |
at London University's Heythrop College. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
Pono... Posui, OK? | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
Posui, and then it would be irregular. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
Posuisti, posuit, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
posuimus, posuistis, posuerunt. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
OK? It's another irregular verb. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
Er... | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
Er... "For verily I ascend to my Father." | 0:02:51 | 0:02:56 | |
Erm... | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
Will they download onto a Mac? | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
-I think he uses a normal... -OK. Thanks very much, thanks. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:06 | |
Anyway... OK, John, I'm just going to, erm... | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
I'm just going to put a chair. I know there should be two. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
-You're doing a wedding homily, aren't you? -Yes. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
I'm just going to put a chair | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
where there would normally be two for the happy couple. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
So pretend you've got them there. OK. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
What God has united man must not divide. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
Today, Jack and Magdalena, I want to extend our warmest wishes | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
and our congratulations to you on your wedding day. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
This is the day when you have come to church to make public your love | 0:03:38 | 0:03:44 | |
in front of God and in front of his people. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:46 | |
Have you had this room all the time? | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
No, I haven't, I've just had this for two years. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
You sort of move round the house as you're going on, | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
so you start off with just one room, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:00 | |
then you might get a second room, erm... | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
and then you move up here eventually to get the en suite, | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
which was rather nice. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
When did you realise you wanted to come here? What age? | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
I started thinking about it, really, after I was confirmed, | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
so when I was about 14. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
And then from there I went to speak to my parish priest, | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
and then with the support of my parish priest | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
and his curate at the time, and the help of Bishop O'Donoghue, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
I sort of started exploring the idea of a vocation | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
and God's call in my life and when it would be appropriate | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
for me to explore it in a deeper way by coming to seminary. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
So...between the Bishop and my family and myself | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
and the priests who have supported me, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
I decided that after sixth form was the best time, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:48 | |
that I wanted to give everything to God, my whole life, | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
and see what he would do with me in those years, so give it a go. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:56 | |
And I ask each one here gathered today | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
to pray for Jack and Magdalena, | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide them in their relationship | 0:05:02 | 0:05:07 | |
and remain faithful | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
and live throughout their lives in a happy and fruitful union. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:14 | |
OK. Thanks, John. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
I lost my place again slightly. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
I realise you slightly lost yourself there a bit. But good. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
I mean, very good. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
Just two small things, really. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
The Gospel still sounded a bit like bad news. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
So, you know, just a lighter kind of tone maybe | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
about how you proclaim the Gospel. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
Using the microphone gives your voice a sonorous effect. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
It does. You've got a very sonorous voice. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
You've got that kind of dark brown voice as it were, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
which is fantastic. And it's going to be really good for you - | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
it's going to be a real asset in ministry. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:54 | |
But just remember this is good news we're preaching. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
Just a little thing there. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
We do have a common view of what is a good, virtuous person... | 0:06:09 | 0:06:15 | |
-today. -To an extent. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
Just to take you as an example as a group, you're all here, I think, | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
because there's been one or two people | 0:06:22 | 0:06:24 | |
that have really made an impression on you over the years. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
You're not just here because you read a book about the priesthood. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
You're here because someone's example | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
and love and support and friendship | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
made a really powerful impression on you somewhere. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
And helped you grow in your own faith | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
and ultimately think about priesthood. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
I never really thought of myself as being a priest. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
I thought of priesthood, but I thought ME being a priest | 0:06:50 | 0:06:54 | |
there's about as much chance as becoming an astronaut. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
You know, I just didn't... | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
I thought I'd just done it wrong and that I'm the last person | 0:06:59 | 0:07:04 | |
they needed to go and join the priesthood, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
-and yet I kept saying that. -You put priesthood on a pedestal | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
-and you didn't think you could live up to that? -I did. I really did. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
I was just too wrong. I was just going to ruin it. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:20 | |
They're not going to have my music tastes in seminaries. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
I just didn't think I had the personality to go with it. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
Is this fair, Christian, that you do need a horizon of | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
what's going to happen to us after death to make ultimate sense of life? | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
-Is that fair? -Well, yes, these things work in the abstract | 0:07:36 | 0:07:41 | |
and they would work if the world was a fair and decent and good place. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:47 | |
But that isn't the case. The world is a fallen place | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
and there's a great deal of suffering and wickedness around. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:56 | |
And there's nothing that can be done almost by any human being | 0:07:56 | 0:08:01 | |
to really take that away entirely. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:03 | |
You can help reduce it by having a virtuous society, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
but even if you've got that... | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
-It's going to be one aspect of life. -There's always the next tsunami | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
that's going to destroy everything and make everyone suffer again. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:16 | |
We're never going to be in complete control. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
I felt as though I needed to bring a lot of comedy. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
You know, I needed to be cheered up a lot. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
What was the most essential of the essentials? | 0:08:25 | 0:08:28 | |
I've got The Sweeney box-set, Harold Lloyd | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
and a couple of other films. I've got some music. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
I've got a lot of it on my laptop as well, so... | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
Do you listen to a lot of music? | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
I do. This is where I plug in and escape. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
Tune in, drop out, when I'm not doing the lectures, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
so it's very important to me, actually. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:47 | |
-Always has been. -Music? -Mmm. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:51 | |
-You worked in music for a while? -A little bit. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
I was kind of like a roadie with a band | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
and hung out with them for about 10 years. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:02 | |
-That obviously sounds like a long way from here. -Yeah, different life. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
That's a party lifestyle, as you can imagine, so... | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
-Did you have the same posters on the walls? -No. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
Slightly different women you would have found on my wall. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:18 | |
A few have not changed, but it's one of those things. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:24 | |
I've always said I've got pictures of women all over my wall | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
just to wind people up. They go, "Ah! Oh, my God!" | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
And then I say I've got St Therese and Our Lady. They go, "Daarrgh!" | 0:09:30 | 0:09:35 | |
Dear friends, this fourth Sunday in Easter | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
And it's always been a day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
and of religious life. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
Today, we'll be hearing from John, a seminarian training at Allen Hall, | 0:10:13 | 0:10:17 | |
which is our seminary here in London. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
Today, I'm here to ask you for three things. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
Firstly, to ask you to pray | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
for myself as I prepare for the priesthood, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:33 | |
for the other students of the priesthood | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
for our priests, for our bishops and for the Pope. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
That we'll be faithful to God's call in our lives. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:43 | |
Secondly, I'd ask you | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
to see if you know anyone you think might be called to the priesthood. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:51 | |
A young man might be here tonight or in the parish. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
If you are thinking of the priesthood, | 0:10:56 | 0:10:59 | |
I would say don't be afraid. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
Speak to someone. It's the first step. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
And finally, and perhaps most awkwardly, | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
I'd like to ask you to be generous with your money as well. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
It takes about £20,000 a year to train a priest, per seminarian. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:17 | |
And there's 45 of us training for the priesthood at Allen Hall. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
So, we really do need your support. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
And I'd like to thank you for your generosity | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
in the past, and now and hopefully in the future | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
and promise that I will pray for this parish as well. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
-Congratulations. God bless you. -Thank you. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
Two years philosophy, then usually a year in a parish | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
-then three years of theology. -Oh, three years. -Yeah. Which is just... | 0:11:45 | 0:11:50 | |
Today, we're looking at war | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
and obviously this is a very topical subject. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
So it's important at this point that we reflect on what is | 0:12:02 | 0:12:07 | |
the Christian attitude to war, to military intervention. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:11 | |
The central claim of feminist ethics is that | 0:12:11 | 0:12:17 | |
ethics in the western moral tradition has been a very male endeavour. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
It's obviously true in the Catholic Church | 0:12:22 | 0:12:25 | |
where most moral theologians have been priests. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
blessed art thou among women, | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
-ALL: -Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
now and at the hour of our death. Amen. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
blessed art thou among women, | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
-ALL: -Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
now and at the hour of our death. Amen. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
now and at the hour of our death. Amen. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:07 | |
-ALL: -Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
blessed art thou among women, | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
blessed art thou among women, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
-ALL: -Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
now and at the hour of our death. Amen. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
-In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. -Amen. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:31 | |
Yeah, the main reason I have it, I suppose, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
is for sentimental reasons because it belonged to my Irish grandmother. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
I suppose it's from her family that the faith was passed on. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
And by Irish grandmother died quite a while ago now. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:24 | |
And so we've always had that around about the house. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
So when I came to the seminary I brought it with me. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
And, of course, the statue itself is of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
which is sort of, I suppose, one of the biggest | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
and most popular Catholic devotions, we'd call them. So it's... | 0:14:39 | 0:14:44 | |
It reflects the love in the heart of Jesus, | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
Jesus' divine love, | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
and, if you look closely, Jesus is showing us his heart. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
Obviously the seat of his love with a crown of thorns round it. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
It's obviously his wounded heart reflecting his passion and death. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:04 | |
on the cross, for us, which shows the extent of his love for us. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
Can you remember what it meant to you, as a child, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
visiting that and seeing it? | 0:15:11 | 0:15:12 | |
Yeah, it was just reassuring... | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
..because it makes Christ's presence in your home environment. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:24 | |
In one sense, you get used to having Christ present to you, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:29 | |
erm, through these images. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:30 | |
It is one of these, again, very Catholic things, this use of images - | 0:15:30 | 0:15:34 | |
statues, portraits - which, of course, historically, | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
Catholicism has been criticised for, | 0:15:37 | 0:15:39 | |
as being a, kind of, idolatry - that you're praying to idols. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:44 | |
Allen Hall is known as "a house of formation". | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
The staff and students consider it, | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
not as a training centre for the priesthood, | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
but as a sort of testing ground, | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
in which, as well as being taught the tricks of the trade, | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
they can explore their calling | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
living together, to discern what they believe God is asking of them. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
Did you three all start on the same day? | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
ALL: Yes. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:21 | |
We did, a long time ago now! | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
I definitely had overly-romanticised notions | 0:16:23 | 0:16:29 | |
of what seminary was going to be like, I think. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
I think the reality... Quite quickly, you get into the reality of it - | 0:16:32 | 0:16:38 | |
studies, having to write essays and all of the normal things that go on. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:42 | |
I imagined it would be more... monastic. It is intense, | 0:16:42 | 0:16:47 | |
but it's a different kind of intensity than I imagined. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
I think I thought it would be a, sort of, an intensity of silence | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
and...prayer 24 hours a day and... | 0:16:55 | 0:17:02 | |
I don't know... And it's not quite... | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
Were you pleased to find it wasn't that way? | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
Yeah. It's much more of a home, I think. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
We've all learnt a lot about ourselves during the whole time, | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
the years we've been there...certainly. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:18 | |
I've certainly even become a lot more confident in my own abilities. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
I can look back and see I've changed a lot in that way, really. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:26 | |
I wasn't very confident when I came. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
I've found so many things that I've grown in, over the years. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
And now in a parish, I know now what I'm capable of doing | 0:17:33 | 0:17:38 | |
and I know what I'm going to find harder, | 0:17:38 | 0:17:40 | |
so that is a lot more relying on...relying on God, really, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
to get me through those moments. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
Where was it you worked? | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
Erm...before here, I was working for a company called Pax Travel, | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
organising pilgrimages. It was based in Kentish Town, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:55 | |
so it was about a 40-minute journey from Harpenden, on the train, so... | 0:17:55 | 0:18:00 | |
And you'd worked in the City before that? | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
I'd worked in the City before that, for a law firm. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
One of the big law firms in the City, near Moorgate, | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
as a researcher, as a research assistant. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
So, again, that was quite a long commute in the mornings. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:15 | |
It's about... I used to walk to the station, | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
which was half an hour walk, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
and then there'd be a 40-minute train journey, | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
in a crammed train. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:23 | |
So it's nice now to just be able to walk down the stairs to work! | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
Quite looking forward to that, as well. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
How long did you do the law firm work for? | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
Only a year. I was a trainee and had a year's contract. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
By the end of that, I realised it wasn't really what I wanted to do. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:41 | |
It, kind of, pushed me towards thinking about priesthood more. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
So, yeah... It was a good experience, | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
in terms of I got to know the real world, if you know what I mean. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
Quite a ruthless environment, in that level of law firms, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:57 | |
so, yeah, it was.. I think I can hopefully, | 0:18:57 | 0:19:02 | |
understand where people are coming from in the parishes | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
and things like that. So it was a very valuable experience. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
I enjoyed working with the people there. A good place to work. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
But it was just a bit too much, I think. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
It really did point me back to the priesthood, | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
which I'd been thinking about for so many years before, anyway. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
Cheers, thank you very much. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
CHORAL SINGING | 0:19:27 | 0:19:31 | |
If we've been bad, they send us to this room, to sing, | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
as a punishment. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
I come here every Monday. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
CHORAL SINGING | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
# Eleison... # | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
-And I'd like to hear the... -BOTH: # ..leison # | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
Right. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
# Eleison # | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
Let's do the As on that last rung. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
# BOTH: E-e-e-e-e | 0:20:05 | 0:20:10 | |
# Eleison. # | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
You were a cradle Catholic? | 0:20:12 | 0:20:14 | |
Cradle Catholic and, like a lot of cradle Catholics, | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
I remembered to watch Quo Vadis, when it was on. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
I'd go to church at Easter and Christmas, you know? | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
And that was it. I was brought up very well, | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
actually - praying on your knees, saying the Hail Mary, etc, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:32 | |
but, you know, the way of the world will get to you and you just stop. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:37 | |
-You stopped completely? -More or... It got to a point | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
where, yeah, I stopped going. It just didn't happen for me. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
-Very beautiful. You're actually singing to Our Blessed Lady. -OK. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:47 | |
Deep breath before you begin. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
BOTH: # ?? # | 0:20:50 | 0:20:55 | |
BOTH SING IN LATIN | 0:20:55 | 0:21:01 | |
Deep breath. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:02 | |
-Relationships? -Yeah, there was a few. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:06 | |
And it never crossed... It... | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
The last one I was in, it did cross my mind | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
that I probably should think about what I'm doing... | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
because the last person I went out with was married | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
and it... As soon as I found out, I, kind of, halted it, | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
because something deep within me, again, just thought, | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
"This ain't right", you know? | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
So much for the rock and roll lifestyle. It really bothered me. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
I was supposed to have met up with her one night | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
and I paced around the place, agonising over it. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
I really imagined myself - this isn't just the problem | 0:21:35 | 0:21:40 | |
of her and her husband and me, it's really deeper than that. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
It's like, me, as a person, even as far as my soul, | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
as I can imagine what that was, | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
I thought there is something really fundamentally wrong with this. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
You can't do this. And I didn't. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
So it was as if I was stung back into belief, in a way. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:05 | |
It was almost as if someone had, sort of, prodded me and said, | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
"You can't live like this. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
You've got to think about how you're living your life." | 0:22:11 | 0:22:14 | |
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
ALL: Amen. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
Oh, Lord, may the beginning and end of all that we do and say | 0:22:36 | 0:22:40 | |
prompt our actions with your grace and complete them | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
with your powerful help, through Christ, Our Lord. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
ALL: Amen. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:48 | |
-Mary, Seat of Wisdom... -ALL: Pray for us. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:50 | |
..in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:53 | |
ALL: Amen. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:54 | |
What about the idea that what is right and wrong has to agree with | 0:22:54 | 0:23:01 | |
what our elected representatives agree in Parliament? | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
What do you think of that idea? | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
We might take, for example, the whole issue of abortion. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:12 | |
Another writing that is very important from Luther in this period | 0:23:12 | 0:23:16 | |
is the so-called "threefold Babylonian captivity of the Church". | 0:23:16 | 0:23:21 | |
It is clearly a polemic writing, regarding the liturgy. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:26 | |
We don't actually think that | 0:23:26 | 0:23:28 | |
the question of right and wrong of abortion is actually | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
to do with... It's not because Jesus said it, is it? | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
It's about the reality of that. It's about fundamental principles - | 0:23:35 | 0:23:40 | |
the value of life and an innocent life, in particular. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
Today, we're going to talk a little bit about anointing. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
I don't know if there are any other areas of ministry - | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
practical ministry - that you're, kind of, | 0:23:57 | 0:24:00 | |
not quite sure about, still, that we can look at after Easter, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
if necessary. Maybe lots, I don't know! | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
There are obviously two main types. One is the relatively | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
straightforward anointing of somebody ill in the parish who needs | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
continuing help and support. And then there are those where | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
perhaps somebody is either moving towards death | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
or perhaps somebody is in danger of death. Have you seen... Have you | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
been in contact with dead bodies? Have you seen dead people? | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
The most profound experience I had in hospital | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
was with an elderly lady, who died while I was there. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:35 | |
It was an absolutely profound experience. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:39 | |
I felt really humbled, actually, | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
to have been there. It was a real blessing, actually. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
I think it is a blessing and it's a very... | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
It's a pretty important moment in all our lives! | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
You'll find that, as individuals, it will affect you in different ways. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:55 | |
And some of them are very hard, indeed. Really very hard, indeed. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
And I think these moments, | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
if you've experienced it, help us to have a great peace about death | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
and a great peace about our own deaths, too - | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
that, actually, death can be beautiful, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
that death is a wonderful moment of transition and it can help us. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:17 | |
It can be very confirming, I think, in our own faith, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
to spend time with the dying. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
My faith has always been incredibly important to me, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
but extremely private. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
I think one of the reasons it was so private is that I was at... | 0:25:29 | 0:25:34 | |
I didn't go to a Catholic school and I have lots of good friends, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
but very few of them, erm, very few of them would have been Catholics. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:43 | |
And so, I didn't speak about my faith. I think there was... | 0:25:43 | 0:25:48 | |
I think, naturally, like most teenagers, I was embarrassed about | 0:25:48 | 0:25:52 | |
having this, erm, having this thing of faith. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
Going to university, erm, helped me break out of that. | 0:25:56 | 0:26:02 | |
Was Catholicism a big, big part of your childhood? | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
It really wasn't, actually. My family are Catholic. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
My mum's a convert. She didn't convert till I was 17. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
My Irish grandparents, are very serious about their faith. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:18 | |
But in the family, we said prayers and things, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
but it wasn't a major part of our lives. We went to Mass on Sundays. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:26 | |
But it wasn't till I started serving, around the age of seven or eight, | 0:26:26 | 0:26:30 | |
that I started getting really involved in the parish. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
It was something I just found really... | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
I felt at home, altar serving in the parish. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:41 | |
And just kind of grew more and more in confidence | 0:26:41 | 0:26:44 | |
and made lots of friends there and just kept going, really. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
Did you think... Were you quite a holy person, as it were? | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
I don't think so. I've never thought of myself as holy! | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
People would say that I was different. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
My nickname at secondary, which wasn't Catholic, | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
was actually The Priest. People obviously saw something in me. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
I think the chaplain at university was rather surprised | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
when I went to see him towards the end of my time at university, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:10 | |
to ask him about the priesthood. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
Because I didn't really get... I went to Mass, obviously, | 0:27:14 | 0:27:17 | |
but I didn't really get involved, at all. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
I was enjoying myself too much, in some ways, for that! | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
Erm...and that journey, being able to...going to speak to him about it | 0:27:23 | 0:27:30 | |
was very difficult for me. It took a real... It took me ages | 0:27:30 | 0:27:34 | |
to get to the point when I was able to broach the subject. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:38 | |
Did you go through the agonies on our own? | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
Yeah. Oh, yeah, completely. I didn't speak to anyone about it. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
I think I decided, in my last year at university... | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
I suppose - it's easy to say in hindsight - I'd always known | 0:27:51 | 0:27:57 | |
that there was something there and hadn't accepted it. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
You will need various bits of kit, from a practical point of view. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:05 | |
I don't know if you've got already, | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
but you'll need something for your oil, | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
for the oil to stick. You'll need to get hold of one of those. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
Very handy little gadget. But the most important thing, I suppose, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:16 | |
is how you actually place the oil on the forehead and on the hands. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:20 | |
You do not, under any circumstances, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:23 | |
anoint somebody on the forehead and put your thumb back into the oil | 0:28:23 | 0:28:29 | |
and then do the hands, | 0:28:29 | 0:28:31 | |
because, potentially, there is an infection in there now. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:35 | |
This is also fantastically useful, which is a holy water sprinkler. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
You go into a house, you want to bless the house, | 0:28:39 | 0:28:42 | |
you don't have to take an enormous sized sprinkler. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:45 | |
This is a very handy cup. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:46 | |
This isn't full of woe, it's full of holy water. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
Erm, so that's a useful thing to have. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:53 | |
In fact, you'll need it. Then, obviously, | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
a small confessional stole of some sort. Make sure you have those. | 0:28:55 | 0:29:01 | |
And just on a practical level, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:02 | |
I would suggest keeping all this somewhere near the front door, | 0:29:02 | 0:29:06 | |
because, you know, a lot of your visits will be nicely planned | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
and whatever, but when you get the call at 3am to go to casualty | 0:29:09 | 0:29:14 | |
or whatever it happens to be, | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
you don't want to be rushing around, "I wonder where the oil is?" | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
That's why I say, be prepared. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
You know, have a pair of trousers to jump into and all of that | 0:29:21 | 0:29:26 | |
and everything you need nearby. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:28 | |
So this is what I'll be wearing in the future. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:34 | |
Lots of black shirts and suits. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:37 | |
And my chasuble, which I bought for my first Mass. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:41 | |
-Where did you get that? -I bought this in Rome. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:44 | |
So that will be my first Mass. I'll be wearing that and then, | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
hopefully, for any celebration afterwards. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:52 | |
So, yes, we went across to Rome for a little trip. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:55 | |
Did you choose that one specifically, | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
or is there a whole range of styles you can choose from? | 0:30:00 | 0:30:03 | |
No, there are different styles. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:04 | |
So, that's a Gothic style, and there are Roman styles, | 0:30:04 | 0:30:07 | |
which are a lot more... more like bibs, really. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
And you've probably seen in Mass, | 0:30:10 | 0:30:12 | |
there's different styles you can wear. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
I wanted something fairly simple, but with a nice pattern on the front. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:20 | |
It's one of those, I walked into the shop and went, "That's it." | 0:30:20 | 0:30:23 | |
After seeing many shops. So I was really pleased to get it. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:27 | |
What's your CV? | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
The whole of my CV, well, | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
trained originally as a barrister | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
and practised at the bar for a few years. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
But it was one of those things that I just kind of fell into, | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
I didn't know what to do when I went to university, | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
so when I went to Oxford I ended up reading law, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
then I didn't know what to do again, so I had to do something, | 0:30:53 | 0:30:57 | |
and so I read for the bar and so on. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
But what I always wanted to do | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
was work in classical music and opera in particular. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
And so I was very fortunate that I spent most of my life | 0:31:05 | 0:31:10 | |
being part of or running opera companies or ballet companies | 0:31:10 | 0:31:13 | |
and so that's what I was doing before. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:18 | |
Well I suppose if there was a Damascus moment | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
it was when I was working up to Leeds for Opera North. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:25 | |
And one day I pottered into the cathedral in Leeds | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
which is a Catholic cathedral, | 0:31:28 | 0:31:30 | |
and something was going on which I didn't at that stage understand. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:34 | |
And it was something called the 40 Hours Celebration. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:38 | |
And that's 40 hours of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:42 | |
And there was the monstrance, | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
I'd never seen a monstrance before, didn't really know what it was. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
There was the monstrance in the centre of the sanctuary, | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of candles. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:56 | |
The monstrance being? | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
The monstrance is what contains the Blessed Sacrament | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
when it is being put on the altar for adoration. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:05 | |
And surrounded by hundreds of candles and lots of people. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:10 | |
And I saw, and there was something there | 0:32:10 | 0:32:15 | |
which was very different from what I had experienced ever before, | 0:32:15 | 0:32:18 | |
certainly in the tradition that I had grown up with. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
And so the centrality of the Eucharist, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
the centrality of the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament | 0:32:24 | 0:32:27 | |
is something which is very powerful and very new, | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
and I suppose if there was a Damascus moment that was it | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
and I really wanted to know more about this. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:32:47 | 0:32:49 | |
In every society there are people from whom we require | 0:33:16 | 0:33:20 | |
the highest moral standards. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:22 | |
Politicians, bankers, police, the media and priests. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
In recent years all have fallen from grace | 0:33:26 | 0:33:30 | |
and trust has lost its currency. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:32 | |
Today, the long shadow of abuse scandals | 0:33:32 | 0:33:35 | |
hangs over the Catholic priesthood. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:39 | |
Numbers of men applying to seminary have fallen. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
In 2010 just 19 men were ordained in the whole of England and Wales. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:47 | |
The application process for seminary is now like a long courtship | 0:33:47 | 0:33:52 | |
in which both the church and the prospective candidate feel their way | 0:33:52 | 0:33:56 | |
towards a marriage, trying to be certain that each is | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
not only fit for the other, but fit for purpose. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:02 | |
It includes a weekend of psychological profiling | 0:34:02 | 0:34:05 | |
at the centre run by the Catholic Church itself. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
Tell us about that, what happens on that? | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
They give you another form. It's a book, really, | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
you have to fill in with all the information about your past, | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
your background, what you think of this, what you think of that, family. | 0:34:20 | 0:34:24 | |
And I did a lot of it on the train on the way down. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
It was endless questions. A lot of repetition as well. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
-Is that sort of screening? -Yes. It's all part of the screening process. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:34 | |
It's to make sure, considering what's happened in the church | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
they really don't want that mistake to happen again. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:40 | |
They just want to make sure the people joining aren't crazy | 0:34:40 | 0:34:43 | |
and in this culture we live in, | 0:34:43 | 0:34:44 | |
the first question you have got to ask | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
is why would anybody want to become a priest in today's world? | 0:34:46 | 0:34:50 | |
You've got to be nuts. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:51 | |
So they just assume you're crazy from the start and see if you're sane. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:55 | |
-Do you get much hostility? -Not really, actually. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:09 | |
Not from any of the things people have been asking me. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
No-one's really brought up in a question to me | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
the topic of the abuse scandal in the church, for example. | 0:35:15 | 0:35:18 | |
No. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:21 | |
And for me, the main thing | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
in terms of my vocation is I don't think the abuse scandal | 0:35:27 | 0:35:31 | |
has really affected how I think of my vocation. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:34 | |
As far as I'm concerned, I think God is calling me to be a priest. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:38 | |
And I'm aware of how frail every priest is, I think. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:44 | |
That's something you learn in seminary. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:46 | |
Because there is a tendency sometimes | 0:35:46 | 0:35:48 | |
to try and put a priest on a pedestal which is natural, | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
because you want priests to be holy, and that's right, | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
but equally I think from getting to know more priests | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
you get to realise the humility there in priests, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
that priests themselves would describe themselves | 0:36:01 | 0:36:04 | |
as flawed people, sinful people, just like everyone. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:08 | |
And so that's the way I look at it, I think that I'm like that as well. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:15 | |
And I will try my best to be a holy priest | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
whilst with the limitations that I have in my life. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
Yeah. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:28 | |
Let me just quote you from Pope Paul VI, one of our recent popes. | 0:36:37 | 0:36:43 | |
He called priestly celibacy a brilliant jewel, | 0:36:43 | 0:36:48 | |
a sweet and heavy burden, and a grave, ennobling obligation. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:54 | |
We have to take on this tradition, | 0:36:54 | 0:36:58 | |
not as a burden that has been laid on our shoulders | 0:36:58 | 0:37:02 | |
by a cold and distant hierarchy | 0:37:02 | 0:37:05 | |
that just wants to make our life complicated, | 0:37:05 | 0:37:09 | |
and stop us having fun, or having intimate relationships, | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
it's something that we have to see as being part of the tradition | 0:37:13 | 0:37:20 | |
and something that we have to own ourselves, and make ourselves own. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:24 | |
Now let me take you back to the Dark Ages. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:28 | |
When I was in seminary nobody really talked about celibacy. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:34 | |
It was seen as something, I want to be a priest, | 0:37:34 | 0:37:39 | |
therefore I have to, I suppose, take on this burden of celibacy. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:44 | |
That's because it was something we felt in those days | 0:37:44 | 0:37:49 | |
was imposed on us, and wasn't fully explained | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
and we didn't have a chance to make it our own and own it. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:57 | |
I think it might explain why some people | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
have got themselves into trouble in the past, | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
to the shame and to the scandal of people | 0:38:04 | 0:38:07 | |
both inside the church and outside the church. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
But if our sexuality is a large part of our humanity, | 0:38:10 | 0:38:14 | |
is this an easy thing for you to give up? | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
Switch it off? | 0:38:17 | 0:38:19 | |
You don't switch it off, you're still a guy, still a man. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:23 | |
The thing is, it's an energy, it's how you channel that energy really. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:27 | |
It's like you say, sexuality is a major part, very powerful force. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:32 | |
And if you don't deal with it, it will get you. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
But it's something you have to live with. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
Anybody else feels, why celibacy? | 0:38:38 | 0:38:41 | |
Surely total self-sacrifice is the most basic point, | 0:38:41 | 0:38:46 | |
it's a matter of putting oneself entirely upon God | 0:38:46 | 0:38:51 | |
and upon his, the eternal life which he promises, | 0:38:51 | 0:38:54 | |
and that seems to be the absolute face of it, | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
are you giving all for Christ? | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
Right, we, as celibates, our lives lived in an atypical way, | 0:39:00 | 0:39:07 | |
not of the norm of most people, | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
speak to something, speak of our very image, very presence, | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
sometime communicates the presence of God in the world. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:19 | |
I think we need to be available to everybody. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
It's like the marriage thing. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:24 | |
Everyone asks me why aren't you married? Why can't you get married? | 0:39:24 | 0:39:27 | |
Anglicans get married, why can't Catholics? | 0:39:27 | 0:39:31 | |
But I think it's just practical. We're available, we're ministers, | 0:39:31 | 0:39:35 | |
we're servants. We don't own our own lives any more, | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
we don't live for ourselves, we live for the people, men for others. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:42 | |
Romantic life is an imperfect relationship, sometimes. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:48 | |
But with this you're dealing with God who is ultimately perfect, | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
absolute perfection on one side. You're imperfect, but He is not. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:57 | |
So the more you engage with that perfection, | 0:39:57 | 0:40:00 | |
the less troubled you are, the less complicated you become. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
It all becomes quite simple | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
because I think romantic love can be endlessly complicated. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:10 | |
So that's what I mean by that. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
-In experience. -That's how you found it? | 0:40:13 | 0:40:17 | |
I think so. That could be just... | 0:40:17 | 0:40:20 | |
It could prove to be that's just my thought | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
because I've been with people or been in love with people | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
and then later on I wonder why? | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
There are a couple of people I've just looked back on recently | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
and think, "Why did I ever give time to that?" | 0:40:32 | 0:40:36 | |
That whole relationship was just abusive, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:38 | |
it wasn't a relationship, it was just nonsense. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:42 | |
But with this you will never have that. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
I don't think I'll ever regret this. | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
I might have told you this story before. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
I was ordained...years ago | 0:40:49 | 0:40:53 | |
and on the day of my ordination, | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
and I was fortunate enough to be ordained | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
by now blessed John Paul II in St Peter's in Rome. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:04 | |
Imagine what that was like. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
And I specifically remember feeling a mark on my forehead. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:12 | |
And that stayed with me. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
I'm not anybody, believe me, who believes in that kind of stuff. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:19 | |
You know, that kind of, oooh! But there was a kind of a mark that, | 0:41:19 | 0:41:24 | |
and I've learned subsequently that that is not a strange experience. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:31 | |
Because I believe that | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
when we go through this process we are marked men. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:37 | |
We have been chosen for this. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:41 | |
Because we are marked, we are given the help we need, the grace, | 0:41:41 | 0:41:47 | |
in order to live this life if we are authentic. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:50 | |
We can deny that, we can reject that, | 0:41:50 | 0:41:55 | |
but that is there, available to us. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
It's not just us doing it by ourselves. Does that make sense? OK. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:04 | |
The road to priesthood is long. Some decide it's not for them. | 0:42:09 | 0:42:13 | |
Others have that decision made for them and are shown the door. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:18 | |
For those who do stay the course | 0:42:18 | 0:42:19 | |
their progress towards priesthood is marked | 0:42:19 | 0:42:22 | |
at various stages in their formation. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:25 | |
The first big public shift is known as candidacy. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:29 | |
It's a significant moment marking a mutual decision | 0:42:29 | 0:42:33 | |
between the church and the seminarian | 0:42:33 | 0:42:35 | |
that priesthood is indeed a viable and desirable outcome. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
It comes at the end of the fourth year, | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
and from then on, a seminarian can wear clerical clothes, | 0:42:41 | 0:42:45 | |
publicly identifying himself as a man of the church. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:49 | |
-What's this? -This is what I'll be wearing on candidacy. | 0:42:51 | 0:42:55 | |
It's just a normal waistcoat that you wear with a shirt | 0:42:57 | 0:43:03 | |
and then a collar, a full collar. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
Then obviously that just wraps around the top. | 0:43:06 | 0:43:11 | |
If you can imagine, | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 | |
with a collar in there produces the kind of white window. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:16 | |
-So you'll be able to start wearing that after next Saturday week. -Yes. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:20 | |
Is that something you look forward to, that public statement? | 0:43:20 | 0:43:25 | |
I think it's just something you realise is going to happen | 0:43:25 | 0:43:31 | |
and you can see it a long way off, | 0:43:31 | 0:43:33 | |
you've been in seminary for four years now, | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
you kind of feel you're ready to take this next step, really, | 0:43:36 | 0:43:40 | |
of taking on a public role. | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
HE SINGS | 0:43:50 | 0:43:56 | |
Great. I'd much rather inspire people | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
through the singing you do in the parish | 0:44:13 | 0:44:15 | |
with your personality coming through the voice, | 0:44:15 | 0:44:18 | |
than just be the same, old, boring person | 0:44:18 | 0:44:21 | |
that turns them off as soon as they come in, yeah? | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
-Do you want to continue with this one? -Yeah, could do. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
PIANO MUSIC PLAYS | 0:44:27 | 0:44:31 | |
-All right, Sister Bernadette? -How nice to see you. | 0:44:43 | 0:44:48 | |
-Hello, Sister. How are you? -How does it feel to be dressed up? | 0:44:48 | 0:44:52 | |
-It feels odd. -Oh, it's lovely. It's lovely. Many congratulations. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
-Thank you very much. -I'm delighted for you | 0:44:56 | 0:44:58 | |
and delighted for the diocese, as well. | 0:44:58 | 0:45:02 | |
-It's nice. -It's a nice style. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:04 | |
They all look fantastic when they're dressed up, don't they? | 0:45:04 | 0:45:08 | |
Lovely, congratulations. Are your parents here yet? | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
Not yet. No. They should be here in a little while. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
-I have to breathe in these days. I have to breathe in these days. -Yes. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:44 | |
In response to the Lord's call, | 0:45:56 | 0:45:59 | |
are you resolved to complete your preparation | 0:45:59 | 0:46:03 | |
so that in due time, you will be ready to be ordained | 0:46:03 | 0:46:07 | |
for the ministry of the Church. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:09 | |
ALL: I am. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
Are you resolved to prepare yourself in mind and spirit | 0:46:11 | 0:46:16 | |
to give faithful service to Christ the Lord and his body, the Church? | 0:46:16 | 0:46:21 | |
ALL: I am. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:23 | |
The Church receives your declaration with joy. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:27 | |
May God who has begun the good work in you | 0:46:27 | 0:46:30 | |
-bring it to fulfilment. -ALL: Amen. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:33 | |
ORGAN PLAYS | 0:46:33 | 0:46:37 | |
CHOIR SINGS: "Soli Deo Gloria" | 0:46:43 | 0:46:47 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
Fantastic. Were you nervous? | 0:47:48 | 0:47:50 | |
PIANO MUSIC PLAYS | 0:47:50 | 0:47:54 | |
We'll just take one here. Take these. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:29 | |
So, here they are, right before us, freshly turned out. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:43 | |
Men in black, very nice to see. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:47 | |
It reminds me of one of the first times | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
I was walking back down the Kings Road from Sloane Square | 0:48:50 | 0:48:53 | |
in my clerical collar and this young woman came up to me | 0:48:53 | 0:48:57 | |
and she had earrings in every possible place you could imagine | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
and she said, "Sir, sir, tell me, where did you get your clothes?" | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
-LAUGHTER -Which fashion shop did you go to? | 0:49:04 | 0:49:09 | |
So, well, anyway, they've obviously been to the fashion shops, | 0:49:09 | 0:49:14 | |
the clerical fashion shops. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
God knows what she'd say to me if I walked down this evening. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:49:19 | 0:49:21 | |
Anyway, my last task is just to be thankful | 0:49:21 | 0:49:28 | |
for the fact that we're Catholics and that we belong to the church | 0:49:28 | 0:49:31 | |
and therefore, to offer a toast on this evening to the Holy Father. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:36 | |
-The Holy Father. -ALL: The Holy Father | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
HOOVER WHIRS | 0:49:49 | 0:49:53 | |
So I, the undersigned, Andrew Patrick Connick, | 0:50:08 | 0:50:11 | |
having petitioned Archbishop Nichols | 0:50:11 | 0:50:13 | |
to be admitted to the order of the priesthood, | 0:50:13 | 0:50:19 | |
make the following oath. It's the oath of freedom and knowledge. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:23 | |
This one basically says that | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
I understand what's going to happen to me in a few weeks time | 0:50:25 | 0:50:29 | |
and I accept those responsibilities and choose them for myself. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:35 | |
So, really, it means that I can't turn around afterwards | 0:50:39 | 0:50:42 | |
and say that what happened at my ordination | 0:50:42 | 0:50:45 | |
wasn't something that I was fully aware of | 0:50:45 | 0:50:47 | |
and fully willing to participate in and willing to give my life to. | 0:50:47 | 0:50:51 | |
But I think, as well, this thing that you're promising | 0:50:51 | 0:50:56 | |
is bigger than you are and it's bigger than you | 0:50:56 | 0:51:01 | |
and your vocation and it's about the Church and the Church's mission. | 0:51:01 | 0:51:07 | |
And from that point of view, it really reinforces this thing that... | 0:51:07 | 0:51:12 | |
..the priesthood is not... | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
Priesthood is not all about you. | 0:51:18 | 0:51:20 | |
Erm... | 0:51:23 | 0:51:24 | |
That it's a life given to the Church for the good of other people... | 0:51:26 | 0:51:33 | |
..and a life just given to Christ. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:38 | |
At the very heart of all religions are leaps into the unknown. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
The acceptance of fundamental mysteries | 0:51:54 | 0:51:57 | |
that come to define faith itself. In Catholic life, | 0:51:57 | 0:52:01 | |
it's the Eucharist, the focus of every Mass, | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
at which bread and wine actually become | 0:52:04 | 0:52:07 | |
the body and blood of Jesus Christ. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
This mystery is what Catholic priests exist for. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:14 | |
To make Christ present in the world. | 0:52:14 | 0:52:17 | |
And when the Archbishop finally lays hands | 0:52:17 | 0:52:20 | |
on the heads of seminarians at their ordination, | 0:52:20 | 0:52:23 | |
this gift will be theirs. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:25 | |
Accept this offering for your whole family. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
Grant us your peace in this life. Save us from final damnation | 0:52:29 | 0:52:33 | |
and count us among those you have chosen. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
Bless and approve our offering. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:40 | |
Make it acceptable to you and offering in spirit and truth, | 0:52:40 | 0:52:45 | |
let it become for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 0:52:45 | 0:52:49 | |
your only son, our Lord. | 0:52:49 | 0:52:52 | |
The day before he suffered, he took bread in His sacred hands | 0:52:52 | 0:52:57 | |
and looking up to heaven, to you his Almighty Father, | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
He gave thanks and praise. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:03 | |
He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said, | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
"Take this, all of you, and eat it. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:10 | |
"This is my body which will be given up for you". | 0:53:10 | 0:53:14 | |
Is it the centrepiece of priesthood, being able to celebrate mass, | 0:53:20 | 0:53:26 | |
do you think, as opposed to the many other pastoral functions | 0:53:26 | 0:53:30 | |
that you'll end up fulfilling? | 0:53:30 | 0:53:32 | |
Yes. Definitely. Because... | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
Because it means everything. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:40 | |
It's the fact of salvation for the world. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:48 | |
And we talk about there being a source and a summit | 0:53:50 | 0:53:53 | |
of the Christian life. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:54 | |
And, like, some theologians talk about the mass | 0:53:59 | 0:54:02 | |
as being the heartbeat of the church, | 0:54:02 | 0:54:05 | |
you know, the very life of the church through that regular... | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
That daily celebration of Holy Mass. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
You say, not doing it for real, but when you do it for real, | 0:54:11 | 0:54:16 | |
wondering how that will feel, in what way will it be different? | 0:54:16 | 0:54:19 | |
The Catholic understanding is that there's a fundamental change | 0:54:19 | 0:54:23 | |
to the man who is ordained and that... | 0:54:23 | 0:54:29 | |
So, the priesthood is not just a ministry that you carry out, | 0:54:31 | 0:54:35 | |
but something on the very deepest level of who you are, | 0:54:35 | 0:54:40 | |
so, it's that that allows you to stand at the altar | 0:54:40 | 0:54:44 | |
and say the words of Christ | 0:54:44 | 0:54:48 | |
so that the bread and wine really are transformed | 0:54:48 | 0:54:52 | |
into the body and blood of Christ. | 0:54:52 | 0:54:55 | |
At the deepest level, you're a priest | 0:54:55 | 0:54:58 | |
so Christ uses you as his instrument | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
and you say those words of consecration and... | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
And it's the Mass. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:08 | |
Those of you who are going to be priests, please come forward. | 0:55:37 | 0:55:42 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:56:47 | 0:56:52 | |
Father, accept this offering for your whole family. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:21 | |
Grant us your peace in this life. | 0:57:21 | 0:57:24 | |
Save us from final damnation | 0:57:24 | 0:57:26 | |
and count as among those you have chosen. | 0:57:26 | 0:57:30 | |
Bless and approve our offering. | 0:57:30 | 0:57:33 | |
Make it acceptable to you, an offering in spirit and in truth. | 0:57:33 | 0:57:38 | |
Let it become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, | 0:57:38 | 0:57:42 | |
your only son, our Lord. | 0:57:42 | 0:57:45 | |
The day before He suffered, He took bread in his sacred hands | 0:57:47 | 0:57:52 | |
and looking up to heaven | 0:57:52 | 0:57:54 | |
to you, his Almighty Father, He gave you thanks and praise. | 0:57:54 | 0:57:59 | |
He broke the bread, | 0:57:59 | 0:58:00 | |
gave it to his disciples and said... | 0:58:00 | 0:58:04 | |
"Take this, all of you, and eat it. | 0:58:06 | 0:58:10 | |
"This is my body, which will be given up for you". | 0:58:10 | 0:58:15 | |
BELLS RING | 0:58:15 | 0:58:20 | |
The body of Christ. | 0:58:30 | 0:58:31 | |
The body of Christ. | 0:58:32 | 0:58:34 | |
The body of Christ. | 0:58:36 | 0:58:38 | |
The body of Christ. | 0:58:41 | 0:58:43 | |
The body of Christ. | 0:58:45 | 0:58:47 | |
The body of Christ. | 0:58:48 | 0:58:49 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:59:13 | 0:59:16 |