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I had visited Oscott on a few occasions in the past and had served as Vocations Director for the Lancaster Diocese for a few years, but had little real connection with the college. As I come to the end of my first year at Oscott, I find myself reflecting on life in the seminary: its joys and challenges, how well I have been able to serve and what I have been able to give in my new role so far.

But equally, and more importantly, I also notice just how much I have received from my time here to date.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us: ‘“You received without charge; give without charge”’. This sense of receiving first, then giving, is vital to ministry. We must first receive before we give. ‘“Love one another, as I have loved you.”’ The same idea is found in the writings of St Paul: ‘This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you …’  (1 Cor. 11:23); ‘I taught you what I had been taught myself’ (1 Cor. 15:3). Here is the Church’s living Tradition: we receive in order to pass on the Faith, the gifts and the joy that we have first been given.

So rather than simply looking back over the year, I thought it would be appropriate to share here something of what I feel I have received since arriving at Oscott.

The first thing which comes to mind is a renewed sense of hope. Having served parishes for seventeen years, I came to Oscott all too aware of the challenges faced by the Church in our country today. I knew before arriving that the men in formation here would be crucial to meeting those challenges. So I found here – as I think many visitors to Oscott also find – a community of men who do not simply ‘want to be priests’, but who love the Lord and are imbued with a desire to serve. It is true that seminarians are relatively few in number, but discovering the quality and faithfulness of the men in formation has greatly encouraged me.

My arrival came at a providential moment in my life and ministry. If the Lord spares me, I could reasonably expect to serve for around 50 years in active ministry, and my move to Oscott came roughly a third of the way through that time – a good moment to take stock and to do something a little different. On the back of the COVID-19 pandemic and its de-stabilising (and at times discouraging) effect on the life of the Church, it was a great gift to me to come to a community with such a hopeful view to the future.

The zeal of the men in formation and of my colleagues on the staff, also encourages and challenges me in my own spiritual life, reminding me to take nothing for granted and not to rest on the grace of bygone years, but to constantly seek to grow in faith, hope and love.

One of the greatest gifts of life at Oscott is the ability to listen more.

Working in parishes, I very often had to speak in public and to give others advice. Living in community, I benefit so much from the wisdom I hear in the homilies of my brother priests, in reflections given by seminarians, in house talks and in discussion. Often very informally, over the table at lunch, I will learn something new or understand something more clearly. Evening lectures during the year and the symposium on Creation in April have opened my mind to new areas of reflection. Days of recollection and retreats have been given by insightful and gifted preachers.

As a hospital chaplain for many years, I was used to my times of prayer being punctuated by calls to the sick and dying, but the college timetable allows me to pray without these worthy interruptions, enabling me to listen better to the Lord too.

Coming to live and work in the Archdiocese of Birmingham has also been a gift, as I get to know some of the priests and people of this area. Oscott receives many visitors so I have also made new acquaintances from across the country.

One of the real highlights of the year was the pilgrimage we made to the Holy Land in January 2023, my fist visit to the land in which the Lord chose to live. Life at Oscott also extended beyond the perimeter fence with an individually-guided retreat at St Beuno’s in North Wales and the college pilgrimage in the footsteps of the northern saints. The latter offered me a strange sense of return to my roots, as I trained for the priesthood at Ushaw College, near Durham, where I was able to celebrate Mass for the Oscott community during our visit.

In a sense, this also points to a final gift I have received from my first year on the staff at Oscott: a deeper appreciation of my own seminary formation and of the priests and lay faithful who helped to form me for priestly ministry. I now have a better understanding of the challenges they faced and a greater gratitude for all that I was given during those years.

Having received so much this year, and knowing that the Lord will continue to give, I pray that I may be generous in serving the formation community. I have received much; may the Lord grant me to give freely in His service.