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http://www.stbarnabassociety.org.uk/

St Barnabas Society, Regus Green Park, 200 Brook Drive, Reading RG2 6UB, Oxford (2026)

25/11/2025

There’s something in this chapel at Aston Hall that was not here when we gathered for Mass last year, and that is the statue of Blessed Dominic Barberi there at the west end. Like the saintly little priest himself, it had to travel to England from Italy. Sadly, it didn’t quite make it in time for the Archbishop’s visit. The artist who decorated the rest of the chapel felt that the wood carvers had been very kind to Blessed Dominic, who was not known for his striking good looks! “But” he said, “I suppose it is meant to represent his glorified body, which kind of let’s them off the hook.” We all secretly hope that we’ll be better looking in Heaven.

But looks aside, as you can see, Blessed Dominic is depicted kneeling upon a map of England, in just the same way as he is on the medal that was struck by the Holy See to commemorate his beatification in 1963. From a very early age, he had a deep love and affection for England and a fervent desire to minister here. His wish was eventually granted and in Lent 1841, at the age of 49, he established the first Passionist Mission in England here at Aston Hall. I love the words Cardinal Spelman of New York spoke about him in 1950, thirteen years before he was beatified.

“Dominic of the Mother of God came and conquered, not with a lance but with a crucifix. He endured relentless, savage persecution, derision, bigotry and hate, even at the hands of those whom he so deeply and faithfully loved. That England might return to the faith of her fathers, Father Dominic trudged and prayed his long, long way from Italy to England. For England he prayed, suffered, sacrificed, toiled and died.”

I believe he would be equally touched by each of the conversion stories of more recent times and the impact those stories have had upon the life and witness of the Catholic Church here in Britain in the modern age. And he would be more than touched. He would see these conversions, and the many others that have followed in their wake, as a sure sign of God’s unfolding answer to the prayer which always lay closest to his heart. A prayer which undoubtedly remains so as he watches over the Church in this land from his place in Heaven.

https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/centres/benedict-xvi/docs/convert-clergy-report.pdf

24/11/2025

READ OUR REPORT!
In my limited experience there are echoes of this in
the story of many of those who have come into the
full communion of the Catholic Church – not so much
a turning away or rejection of their rich and precious
Anglican heritage but an experience of an imperative
to move into the full visible communion of the Catholic
Church, in union with the See of Peter.
Yet historic titles and long traditions in the use of the
phrase ‘convert clergy’ give it a resonance which
endures.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/centres/benedict-xvi/docs/convert-clergy-report.pdf

21/11/2025

Yesterday at Aston Hall in Stone, Staffordshire, the St Barnabas Society proudly launched its new report, Convert Clergy in the Catholic Church in Britain: The Role of the St Barnabas Society, a comprehensive study into the lived experiences of former clergy and religious who have entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in Britain.

Commissioned in May 2019 by the Trustees of the St Barnabas Society and carried out by the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society at St Mary’s University, this research draws on decades of testimonies as well as statistical data. The project collected deeply personal testimonies from 36 participants including bishops, clergy, religious, and spouses and examines their journeys over a thirty-year period.

In his foreword, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the St Barnabas Society, reflects:

“It is fascinating reading … not only in its collating of facts and figures, but also in so many personal testimonies and insights … [this journey] is not so much a turning away or rejection of their rich and precious Anglican heritage but an experience of an imperative to move into the full visible communion of the Catholic Church, in union with the See of Peter.”

St Barnabas Society trustees hope that this publication will raise awareness of the many hidden stories, foster greater appreciation for the service of convert clergy, and encourage continued support of the Society’s work.

https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/centres/benedict-xvi/docs/convert-clergy-report.pdf

08/09/2025

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Her Royal Highness Katharine, Duchess of Kent, who died on Thursday, 4th September, aged 92. A former Anglican, who in the past was closely associated with the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and had a candle marked with a simple “K” burning in the Holy House, the Duchess was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church by the late Cardinal Basil Hume in January 1994. At the time of her conversion she famously said:

“I do love guidelines and the Catholic Church offers you guidelines. I have always wanted that in my life. I like to know what’s expected of me. I like being told ‘You shall go to church on Sunday and if you don’t you’re in for it!’”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols will preside at her Funeral Mass in Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday 16th September which will be followed by burial at Frogmore.

We extend our deepest sympathy and the assurance of our prayers to His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent and his immediate family.

Requiescat in Pace. Amen.

12/05/2025

Image: Mazur/cbcew.org.uk

The election on Thursday, 8th May, of the American/Peruvian Cardinal, Robert Francis Prevost, as the 267th Roman Pontiff, was a moment of indescribable joy for Catholics worldwide.
Pope Leo XIV, as he will now be known, was not thought to be a frontrunner, so the announcement of his election came as a huge surprise to the many thousands waiting in St Peter’s Square, and to the many millions who were glued to their TV and computer screens as this remarkable event unfolded.

It felt as if everyone immediately took him to their hearts as he made his first public appearance as our new Holy Father. The close up camera shots showed how overwhelmed and emotional he was as he waved to the crowds and gave them his first blessing, but my immediate thought was “He looks every inch a Pope. We are in safe hands.” I sense there are many within the Church, and also outside it, who feel the same. We have been blessed with an ardent but gentle Servant of the Gospel.

As we now eagerly anticipate his Mass of Installation on Sunday, 18th May, and unite ourselves with him in prayer, it is worth reflecting upon the words he spoke to the College of Cardinals at Mass in the Sistine Chapel, the day after his election. Referring to his new role as Pontiff, he said:
“You have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a Church, as a community, as friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the Good News, to announce the Gospel.”

He was speaking, of course, not only to the Cardinals, but to the whole Church, and he deserves the unwavering support of every Catholic upon the planet as his Petrine ministry now begins.
God bless you, Holy Father, and thank you for so courageously accepting the awesome responsibility which now rests upon your shoulders.

21/04/2025

POPE FRANCIS

"Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.
At 07.35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father."
(Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Carmerlengo of the Holy Roman Church).

Despite the increasing frailty of the Holy Father, the news of his death has come as a shock. Only yesterday, on Easter
Sunday, he was able to greet and bless the crowds in St Peter's Square, in Rome. Without us realising it, it was to be his
last 'goodbye' to the Church in this world. As someone who always wished to be close to the people, it is the kind of death
he would have chosen.

Having confronted death on so many occasions, Pope Francis had often reflected upon its true meaning. These are just
some of his thoughts on the subject of dying.

"Death challenges all of us: apart from belief in God and a vision of life as something greater than earthly existence,
death appears as wholly tragic; we misunderstand it, fear and deny it. Yet human beings were made for something
greater; we yearn for the infinite, the eternal. Christ's resurrection not only offers us the certainty of life beyond death,
it also shows us the true meaning of death.
We die as we live: if our lives were lived in loving union with God, we will be able to abandon ourselves serenely and
confidently into his hands at the moment of our death. Our Lord frequently tells us to be watchful, knowing that our
life in this world is a preparation for the life to come. If we remain close to him...we need not fear death, but rather
welcome it as the door to heaven and to the joy of eternal life."

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.

12/08/2024

As you may remember, last September, the Society made the courageous decision to purchase Aston Hall, in the little village of Aston-by-Stone, in Staffordshire, and invited the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary to settle there. On Tuesday, 30th July, I was a concelebrant at a very beautiful Mass in the newly redecorated and refurbished chapel within the Hall. It was celebrated by the Archbishop of Birmingham, and the new Bishop-Ordinary and his predecessor were also concelebrants.

Aston Hall will now become the monastic home of the Ordinariate Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It is our intention to create a shrine to Blessed Dominic in the chapel, and during the Mass on Tuesday, the Archbishop installed the relics of Blessed Dominic which were originally kept there. The Sisters will become the guardians of that shrine and, in time, we hope to revive the pilgrimages to Aston Hall which have been such a feature of its life in the past.

Not only have we been able to provide a home for the Sisters, but we have also been able to save Aston Hall for the Church and for future generations of Catholics, just as Blessed Dominic and St John Henry Newman would have wished.

22/09/2023

A new era for Aston Hall, Stone

Archdiocese of Birmingham sells site to The St Barnabas Society

The Archdiocese of Birmingham is pleased to announce it has agreed, subject to contract, the sale of Aston Hall in Stone, Staffordshire, to The St Barnabas Society.
Aston Hall has been owned by the Archdiocese since 1959 and used as a guest house for priests and a home for retired and convalescent priests. It has an impressive Catholic history, most notably as the hiding place for the bones of St Chad, which were discovered under the altar in the Hall chapel, having been brought to Aston Hall from Lichfield Cathedral for safekeeping during the Reformation.

In 1842, Blessed Dominic Barberi arrived from Italy and founded a Passionist noviciate at the Hall.

In recent times the number of priests choosing to stay at Aston Hall had fallen to low single figures and at the time the final decision was taken to make the house available for sale there was only one priest in residence who was found accommodation closer to his family. At this level of occupancy, the current arrangements were not sustainable and for some time we have been searching for an appropriate buyer and new owner.

The Grade II listed property was designed by Edward Welby Pugin as a private house, though the site itself is much older.

The St Barnabas Society ‘is a registered charity which operates in Great Britain and Ireland. It exists to provide pastoral and financial help on behalf of the whole Catholic community to former clergy and religious of other Christian denominations and other world faiths, who are resident in Great Britain and Ireland, and who have been led by faith and conscience into the full communion of the Catholic Church’.

The Society intends to use Aston Hall as a new home for the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary and its vision to make the Society more widely known within the Catholic Church. The rich Catholic history attached to the property will provide a solid foundation for its future development.

There will also be investment in providing apartments for retired priests, with the Hall being used for retreats and meetings.

Fr Paul Martin, Director of the St Barnabas Society, said: “I am delighted that the Trustees of the Archdiocese of Birmingham have agreed to the offer of the St Barnabas Society for the purchase of Aston Hall, in Staffordshire, as a new home for the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary and our vision to make the Society more widely known within the Catholic Church.
“We are confident that Aston Hall will provide for all our needs and that the rich Catholic history attached to this property will provide a solid foundation for their future development.
“May the intercession of St Chad, whose relics were hidden there at the time of the Reformation, of Blessed Dominic Barberi, who made his home there and used it as a centre for his missionary activity, and of the Venerable Ignatius Spencer, who began his novitiate as a Passionist there, help us as we move the Society forward to a fruitful future. May that same intercession help the St Barnabas Society to extend the sphere of its activity and, in doing so, assist the Archdiocese of Birmingham and the wider Church in bringing the riches of the Catholic Faith to our society in the 21st Century.”

Archbishop Bernard Longley said: “I am delighted that a sale has been agreed with The St Barnabas Society and that Aston Hall will remain within Catholic ownership. The work of The St Barnabas Society reflects many of the priorities of our Diocesan Vision and I am grateful that the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary have found a new home for their apostolate of prayer within the Archdiocese. It is a blessing that Aston Hall will continue to offer accommodation for retired clergy and to welcome those who come on pilgrimage to seek the intercession of Blessed Dominic Barberi.”

08/08/2023

Each year, on or around the Feast of St Barnabas, we have a Mass to celebrate the Society’s work and to thank God for the blessings we have received. This year, we were honoured to have the Right Reverend Hugh Allan, O.Praem, as this year’s Principal Celebrant and Homilist.
Father Hugh is the Apostolic Administrator of the Prefecture of the Falkland Islands and Ecclesiastical Superior of the Missions sui iuris of the islands of Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha ad quinquennium.
We are grateful to him for the willing support that he gives to the Society’s
mission.
Photographs Paul Clarke

03/07/2023

My Silver Jubilee of ordination as a Catholic priest is now just over a week away. As I have no church or parish of my own, I shall celebrate it quietly on Monday, 10th July. It will be a very personal opportunity to reflect upon everything that has made my 25-year priestly pilgrimage so very special, and to give thanks to God for the many people who have graced it. As I have mentioned already, my maternal grandmother died just four days before I was ordained, and tomorrow (Monday 3rd) I will celebrate the Funeral Mass of my dear Mum, who died on 2nd June. So, just as my ordination was a bitter-sweet occasion, so too will be my Silver Jubilee. Yet, as a priest, I will always have the wonderful consolation of being able to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for them, and that will keep them very close. One of the things my priestly ministry has taught me is that the veil which separates us from our dead is a very thin one. I am now at that point in my life when I feel their presence very strongly, and never more so than when I am stood at the altar and celebrating Mass.

Although my Silver Jubilee will be a quiet affair, I will mark it in three very important ways. Last week I made the long journey by car to the Isle of Iona where, in 1994, I decided to become a Catholic. The weather on the west coast of Scotland can be notoriously bad, and there were several days during this visit when it was atrocious. But while I was on Iona it was glorious. I was able to walk up to the north beach where, 29 years ago, I made my decision to convert, and I was also able to celebrate Mass in the Oratory of the Catholic House of Prayer for the repose of the souls of my Mum and Frances Shand Kydd, the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Whether I shall ever visit Iona again remains to be seen, but I am very glad to have been able to make the journey there this year. It was a very special experience.

Next Friday evening (7th) I shall be in Shrewsbury Cathedral for the ordination to the Priesthood of my dear friend, Sean Henry, and on Saturday (8th) I shall have the privilege of giving the homily at his First Mass in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Old Fallings, Wolverhampton. I met Sean very soon after my own ordination and have followed his vocational journey very closely. He is wonderfully gifted and will be a great blessing to the Diocese of Shrewsbury as a priest. He could have enjoyed a very successful career in nursing, but the magnetic attraction of the Priesthood was never going to allow that to happen. It will be a joy to see him ordained at such a significant moment in my own life and ministry, and I commend him to your prayers, along with all those who are being ordained at this time.
Then, on Wednesday, 12th July, I shall have the opportunity to celebrate a very special Silver Jubilee Mass with the two priests who were ordained with me – Fathers John Baggley and Simon Stephens. It will not be in a church, but rather in a care home on the outskirts of Littlemore, Oxford, where Father John is now a resident. Sadly, he has advanced dementia, which prevents him from communicating with anyone, or even recognising them. Despite this, it seemed very right and fitting to include him in our Silver Jubilee celebrations, whether he understands what is happening or not. The Mass will enable us to do this, and I am delighted that we shall be joined that day by several other priests and friends who are particularly close to Father John.

When the late Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, inaugurated a special Year for Priests in 2009, he quoted from the writings of St John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of all priests. They are truly astonishing words.

“Were we to fully realise what a priest is on earth, we would die; not of fright, but of love…Without the priest, the Passion and Death of Our Lord would be of no avail. It is the priest who continues the work of redemption on earth…What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no-one to open its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of his goods…Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest, and they will end by worshipping the beasts there…The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for you!”

26/06/2023

Sadly, my maternal grandmother, who had encouraged me to offer myself for ordination as a Catholic priest, had a stroke the week before I was due to be ordained. She was taken to hospital and appeared to rally, but then became unconscious and finally died on Monday, 6th July 1998. She and my grandfather had lived with us since 1974, so it was a particularly sad bereavement for my family. It also cast a shadow of doubt over whether my family would be able to travel up to Birmingham from South Wales for the Ordination Mass, which was to take place just four days later on Friday, 10th July. My 90 year-old grandfather was determined that everyone should go, including himself, and so they were all there to witness me become a Catholic priest, alongside Fathers John Baggley and Simon Stephens, with whom I had trained at Oscott.

The cathedral was packed that and the Mass itself was very beautiful. The three of us were very nervous, but Archbishop Maurice Couve De Murville helped to put us at our ease. There were many notable asides on his part. “How does it compare with last time?” was a memorable one! “I think it’s going rather well!” was another. And “What an interesting fabric!” as the chasuble was placed over my head. The “piece de resistance” was when, at the Peace, he asked me to take him to my family. As he exchanged the Sign of Peace with my father, who was not a Catholic and not at all religious, the Archbishop said: “Thank you for giving us your son.” My Dad’s response was: “I have another one. Would you like him as well?” I nearly died on the spot, but the Archbishop found it highly amusing!

There were so many amazing moments during the ordination liturgy. They included the prostration before the altar during the singing of the Litany of the Saints; the Laying on of Hands, including those of all the concelebrating priests; the Anointing with Sacred Chrism; standing beside the Archbishop as a concelebrant to speak the words and perform the actions which transform ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord; and the giving of First Blessings when Mass was over. For me, that was a moment particularly charged with emotion. There were so many people waiting patiently in a long line to receive my priestly blessing and to kiss the newly anointed palms of my hands. All of them had played some part in the realisation of what had just happened to me. When my grandfather finally stood before me, with his eyes full of tears, all I could do was to hug him and kiss him. He had just lost his life-partner and best friend. They had been married for 68 years. Yet he had somehow found the courage and strength to be there that night in the cathedral to support me. It was a wonderful gesture of love, of which my grandmother would have highly approved. The memory of that remarkable evening will stay with me forever. It marked the fulfilment of something for which I had longed since my early teens, and also the beginning of a whole new adventure. Lest I should allow my head to remain forever in the clouds, the Archbishop was waiting for me in the sacristy when the First Blessings were over. “Well, I own you now” he said. “Body and soul!” And, of course, that was true. He did!

The next day, I celebrated my First Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart & Holy Souls, Acocks Green. Once again, the church was full to capacity and the lovely parishioners threw a wonderful party for me, as I had no home parish within the Archdiocese. It was yet another amazing occasion, full of happy memories. I gave the homily myself that day, and I began it with some words from a beautiful poem by John Keble, which seemed to capture so perfectly what had happened in St Chad’s Cathedral the night before.

“A mortal youth I saw
nigh to Christ’s altar draw
and lowly kneel, while o’er him pastoral hands
were spread with many a prayer.
And when he rose up there,
he could undo or bind
the dread celestial bands.

When bread and wine he takes,
and of Christ’s Passion makes
memorial high before the mercy throne,
faith speaks, and we are sure
that offering good and pure
is more than angels bread
to those whom Christ will own.

What is that silent might
making the darkness light,
new wine our waters, heavenly Blood our wine?
Christ, with His Mother dear,
and all his saints is here,
and where they dwell is Heaven,
and what they touch divine.”

(To be continued)

20/06/2023

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The Society has, following consultation with the Sisters of the BVM and the community at Prinknash, reached the conclusion that the Prinknash Abbey Project is no longer viable as a solution for the Sisters, and has withdrawn its support. The Society is seeking alternative options to achieve the same objectives.
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St Barnabas Society

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Monday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday	9:30am - 4:30pm