The Oratory, Oxford and its £5 million appeal

The Oratory church in Oxford has had a phenomenal five-fold growth in its congregation from 200 to more than 900 since the Fathers took over from the Jesuits two decades ago. People drive from as far away as Winchester to Mass there on Sundays. The BBC's director general Mark Thompson has been seen in the congregation many times. Father Daniel Seward, parish priest and Father Robert Byrne, the Provost, talk about plans to restore their church in Oxford as part of a programme of reaffirmation and renewal. They will build accommodation for new priests, the new Newman chapel which will be the first to be dedicated to Newman in Britain and the GK Chesterton Library, which it is hoped will be transferred from the great writer's estate to the Oratory. See this video in its context at Ruth Gledhill's blog at www.TheTimes.co.uk, Articles of Faith. To support the appeal or find out more, visit the Oratory website: http://www.oxfordoratory.org.uk
The full link to the video at Articles of Faith is, via a paywall at The Times:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/faith/articles-of-faith/?blogId=Blogc0bba33c-41...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Roman Catholic Church
• Oxford
• Oratory
• John Henry Newman
• Mark Thompson
• BBC
• Ruth Gledhill
• GK Chesterton

[BlueArmyfication]

I am an American from NYC and can honestly say that attending Mass at the Oratory on a particular Sunday sometime in 2004 was the highlight of my visit to Oxford.

It seemed like everyone was under 30 and the Church was packed.

I had also visited 'Chiesa Nuova' and prayed at St. Philip Neri's tomb. He is one of my patron saints due to my being born on his feast day in addition to him being a very likable character. God bless you all.