An Archbishop comes to call

This marked an agreement between the Birmingham Diocese and the Capuchins to finally transfer ownership of The Friary Church and House to the parish after a dispute lasting 40 years. It resolves a planning blight that has affected our community for four decades and means that at last we can do some long-needed refurbishment and plan a ministry of hospitality knowing that we have some security of tenure.

Along with Fr. Enrico Frigerio scj (Regional Superior) most of the religious of the Vicariate were present as well as over 300 parishioners, some of whom provided the generous buffet supper for everyone afterwards. In both his homily and his after-dinner speech the Archbishop thanked our Congregation of Betharram for our loyal service at Olton as well as for our service elsewhere in the Diocese, and urged us to continue to share our charism with the laypeople to whom we  minister.

He was accompanied by Fr. Stephen Wright the new Vicar General for the Birmingham Diocese and also by Fr. Gary Buckby the new Vicar General for Religious. Fr. Gary is a former Anglican priest, married with two children, like some 24 other former married Anglican priests in the Birmingham Diocese, who became catholic priests under an agreement dating from the time of Pope John Paul II. Our local Anglican vicar Reverend Dominic Wright from St.Margaret’s Church at Olton, was also present. Both Fr. Dominic and Gary had known each other from their Anglican Seminary days at Mirfield in Yorkshire and still remain friends. They have a high regard for religious life, as Mirfield is run by an Anglican religious order ‘Community of the Resurrection’. Alumni include Bishop Trevor Huddleston CR who used to campaign against apartheid in South Africa and spiritual writer Harry Williams CR whose autobiography ‘Some day I’ll find you’ was highly popular with Christians of all denominations.