Our stories

What is it like to train to become a priest? What is life in our seminary like? Take a read of stories, experiences and reflections from our students and staff.

Diaconate Ordinations: Believe What You Read, Teach What You Believe, Practice What You Teach
December 2024
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Staff
Story
Story
Story

Last Saturday, 14th December, St Mary’s College, Oscott marked a momentous occasion in its calendar: the Diaconate Ordinations of our sixth-year seminarians, coupled with their Leaving Day.

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‘I have seen how priests can make a huge difference.’ Anthony’s story
November 2023
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Anthony Reilly
Student
Story
Story
Story

I come from Drogheda in Ireland, the youngest of a family of four. I studied chemistry in Dublin and then Edinburgh and lived in Germany and Cambridge doing research. Just before applying to seminary, I was working in Dublin at a university but decided to pursue my vocation with the Diocese of East Anglia, which I came to know well during my time in Cambridge.

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‘The notion of priesthood never really went away.’ Mark’s story
November 2023
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Mark McGeehan
Student
Story
Story
Story

My hometown is Burnley in Lancashire, but I have been fortunate to live in Manchester, Bristol, Wolverhampton and Birmingham during my career.

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‘Just start by saying yes to His will.’ Christopher’s story
November 2023
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Christopher Chibuike Igwe
Student
Story
Story
Story

I am from Ezza-Ezekuna in Ishelu LGA of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. I was born and raised in a place called coal camp, and this is where some of the British miners resided in Enugu at the beginning of the 1900s. It is a huge, Catholic populated area and most of our activities happened within the context of the Catholic faith.

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‘A great community of friendship and fellowship.’ Chris’ story
November 2023
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Chris Colaco
Student
Story
Story
Story

I come from a devout Catholic family. During my teenage years, I slowly drifted away from the Faith. At 18 I had a reversion to the Faith through the Jesus Youth movement and was actively involved since then.

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‘Christ is the one forming us in seminary, through others.’ Joseph’s story
November 2023
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Joseph Fawcett-Wood
Student
Story
Story
Story

I used to be a professional classical ballet dancer. I started dancing when I was 8 years old, and it soon became a dream, to jump as high as a Nureyev or a Nijinsky. I went to the Royal Ballet School in London, for my training and then to Uruguay.

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‘Be generous with your heart towards God.’ Owen’s story
November 2023
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Owen Dugan
Student
Story
Story
Story

My name is Owen Dugan and I come from a small town called Gosport on the south coast. I grew up in a Catholic household and was inspired in my faith from a young age by my maternal grandparents who originate from Malta.

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Reflecting on my first year as Vice Rector at Oscott
November 2023
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Fr Andrew Allman
Staff
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection

In early March 2022, my bishop, Paul Swarbrick, raised with me the possibility that I might move to Oscott as Vice Rector. It came completely out of the blue.

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‘Literally walking in the footsteps of Jesus’ | A Holy Land journal
November 2023
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Peter Ross
Student
Story
Story
Story

The following is an edited version of the journal entries of Peter Ross, originally intended for the Saint Margaret Mary Community. Peter’s full journal entries can be read in the Oscotian Magazine.

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My summer teaching children in India
November 2023
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Anthony Reilly
Student
Story
Story
Story

In the summer of 2022, I had the amazing opportunity to visit India for a pastoral placement, with the support of the College and my own diocese of East Anglia. The bulk of my time was spent in the Don Bosco Boarding Home and St Mary’s and Christopher’s School in Pedavgi near Eluru, in Andhra Pradesh.

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The inspiring, missionary life of Genevieve Dupuis
November 2023
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Sr Thérèse Browne SP
Staff
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection

In 2022, the Sisters of Charity of St Paul the Apostle celebrated the 175th anniversary of their foundation in England.

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The miraculous story of Knock
November 2023
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Mark Dilworth
Student
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection

This story began in the village of Knock, in County Mayo, in the West of Ireland on Thursday evening, 21st August 1879.

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Heavenly truths in bricks and mortar
November 2023
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Fr Greg Beckett
Student
Formation & Issues
Formation & Issues
Formation & Issues

The following are the words of architect Anthony Delarue in response to interview questions. The full article is available in the Oscotian Magazine.

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‘For everything there is a time.’ Restoring the chapel bell
November 2023
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Fr Paul Keane
Staff
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection

In Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’, the eponymous heroine is waiting to cross a street in Westminster when, ‘[she] feels…a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it boomed. The leaden circles dissolved in the air.’ The novel, set immediately after the First World War, records the wonder of hearing the bell after it had been silenced for two years (1916-1918).

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How St Joseph can help you to grow in holiness
November 2023
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Adam Bamber
Student
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection

On 8th December 2020, Pope Francis issued his Apostolic Letter ‘Patris Corde’, marking the opening of the ‘Year of Saint Joseph’.2020 seems like an age ago now, especially when we consider the events that have elapsed since! Indeed, the whole world is changing rapidly. It can sometimes seem like we are being tossed from crisis to crisis. The phrase, ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ comes to mind. 

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Vocation, begin with the end in mind
May 2021
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Paul Chisnall
Student
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection

The English word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin word ‘vocāre’, which means ‘to call’.

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I Believe in the Resurrection of the Dead
March 2020
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Fr Sean Gough
Student
Formation & Issues
Formation & Issues
Formation & Issues

It’s quite fitting that there is a cemetery on the grounds of Oscott College in which thousands of people, bishops, priests and laypeople, are buried. Death and dying are part of the daily life of priestly ministry and there is no harm for seminarians in being reminded of the reality of their future priestly lives, as well as their life to come after death.

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Training our seminarians in counselling
March 2020
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Jayne Tomkinson
Staff
Story
Story
Story

The human development team at St Mary’s College, namely Fr Paul Johnson and Pete Smallwood (both accredited counsellors) first launched the idea of delivering a bespoke counselling course with the second and third-year seminarian groups.

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