Bernard Garratt

Year 1 (shortened course)

St. Mary’s College, Oscott

 

I was a World War II baby - born in 1943 - and Baptised in the Church of England at the age of nineteen. It was while reading for a degree in French at London University that I offered myself for Ordination and was sent to Oxford to read Theology. I was made Deacon in 1968 and Priest a year later, spending the next thirty-seven years in full-time ministry as an Anglican.

Over the years many who trained with me at Oxford became Catholics, but it was not until I was sixty-two that I followed suit. In 2005 I was received into the Catholic Church by Mgr Graham Leonard who, as an Anglican Bishop, had himself ordained me. In God’s providence the wheel had turned full circle. I became a seminarian in September 2006 and, if all goes well, hope to be ordained deacon and priest later on this year.

I have much enjoyed my time at Oscott where I have received excellent academic tuition and a solid spiritual formation, sharing with so many others who are also preparing for Ordination.

My path to the Catholic priesthood has thus been a long one, but I trust that I may draw upon past experience and put it to good use in the years ahead.

Bernard

Return to student page