Congratulations and prayers for Fr Owen Gallagher, the newest priest of the Diocese of Shrewsbury, who was ordained on Saturday 13th July at the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Woodchurch, the Wirral, by Bishop Mark Davies. May the Lord bless Fr Owen in his ministry!

If you are considering the priesthood and live in Shrewsbury Diocese, Bishop Mark warmly invites you to take part in a discernment year at Shrewsbury Cathedral. Please click here to watch an informative short film about the year.

St Mary’s College, Oscott was filled with joy on Saturday 29th June as eleven new deacons were appointed. His Grace, Archbishop Bernard Longley, led the Diaconate Ordinations in front of the deacons’ family, friends and supporters in a packed chapel.

The new deacons represent dioceses across the UK. Let us pray for the deacons, and that the Lord will continue to send labourers to the harvest. Please visit www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/news to read about some of the men who were ordained.

Three deacons who studied in Rome at the Venerable English College stand on the threshold of the priesthood after seven years of formation. It’s a long journey with many twists and turns but in this conversation, John Waters interviews fellow priests-to-be Ryan Service and Marco Egawhary in this video as they prepare for a July Ordination to serve the people of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

WYD@Home was celebrated at Alton Castle from 7th June and closed on 9th June – Pentecost Sunday. We were many young people, priests, bishops and religious who came together in fraternity to be renewed in the Holy Spirit, and reflect on themes taken up at World Youth Day in Panama 2019. It was an excellent opportunity to share and witness to our faith and joy in the Lord.

The European Vocations Service, (EVS), part of the Conference of Bishops of Europe, met in Rome from the 4^th – 7^th June. We discussed how best to implement the outcomes of the recent synod on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment, and were privileged to meet Pope Francis on the penultimate day.

Pope Francis welcomed us all warmly and gave us his prepared speech… and proceeded to address us with an impromptu message. Pope Francis believes that the Holy Spirit still calls people to lives of special consecration, and we should courageously cast out the nets, but always in the context of the wider Christian calling.  You can read the full message (both impromptu and prepared) here.

At a gathering of people doing vocations work in Europe, the pope said that too often when Catholics try to talk to young people about vocational discernment, “it’s as if we were speaking Esperanto to them, because they don’t understand a thing.”

Pope Francis said the church must help young people learn how “to dialogue with the Lord” and how to ask him, ‘What do you want from me?'”

To read the full article from The Tablet, please click here.