New Deacons...

On Saturday, I was very privileged to be invited to the diaconate ordinations at St. John's Seminary, Wonersh. From the dizzy heights of the organ loft, I was able to take one or two discreet photos, though they aren't my usual close-up-and-personal shots, and I've uploaded a few of the photos to Flickr...

During the investiture of the Ordinands with the stole and dalmatic, the seminary schola, led by Fr. Stephen Dingley, sang Holy Child by David Palmer - a piece I haven't heard (or sung) in years, and it was a great favourite of mine, so quite a treat to hear.

I found the ceremony incredibly moving; the atmosphere among the seminarians is really great, and it was very encouraging to reflect that these young men are our future priests.

If you are wondering why, despite being on crutches, I was tucked away up in the organ loft, it was because I had been invited to sing a hymn after Communion - a tremendous honour! The acoustics in the chapel were amazing, and covered a multitude of sins, which was just as well, because I have the remnant of a chesty cough which I haven't quite been able to shake off... fortunately, Fr. Gerard Bradley played the organ accompaniment beautifully, which also helped disguise my imperfections! In any event, my contribution seemed to go down reasonably well.

I'd like to offer my congratulations to the Ordinands: Revv. John Chandler (Portsmouth), Daniel Kelly (Brentwood), David King (Arundel & Brighton) and Jonathon Routh (Southwark).