Ordination: Fr John Millar

Priests by sacred ordination and the mission which they receive from the bishops are promoted to the service of Christ the Teacher, Priest and King. They share in his ministry, a ministry whereby the Church here on earth is unceasingly built up into the People of God, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit                                 Pope Paul VI from Presbyterorum Ordinis, 1965

Today the Diocese gathered together to celebrate John's ordination.  We hope to share more memories of this special day in future posts, but today we include images of some of the many people who helped to make the day a special one.

Familiar Faces
There were some familiar faces for members of the Cathedral Parish: Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue who had accepted John to seminary, Fr Andrew Allman who was ordained at the Cathedral where he was priest before moving to be hospital chaplain of Blackpool Victoria and Diocesan Vocations Director, and Daniel Etienne who read the 2nd reading and was a regular server at the Cathedral before he began his only journey to explore his vocation to priesthood at seminary in Rome.

Bishop Michael Campbell, present Bishop of Lancaster sitting in Cathedra
Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue, former Bishop of Lancaster

Our own Fr Stewart Keeley was Master of Ceremonies, he was helped by Cathedral servers who were joined by servers from St Joseph's where John has been living and working for the last year. 

The Hilton family all serve at St Joseph's and although they have 60 years and 6 months experience between them they still found it a great experience to serve at the Cathedral.  Like so many others who helped to make this a special day they came to practice earlier in the week, however, as they explained, "its not quite the same when all the priests and people are there!".

James, met John when he was a pupil at Our Lady's Catholic College, Lancaster.  He helped by welcoming the congregation and is seen here after the Mass of ordination holding one of the service booklets.

As Bishop Michael Campbell thanked everyone who had helped to make this a memorable day in the life of the Diocese. We add our thanks too, for all who have given of their gifts and talents to help make everything go well, especially those behind the scenes. Just before the final blessing, Bishop Campbell said that he hoped the day would be an encouragement for others to respond to the calling to be a priest.  For more information about Diocesan vocations click here

Prayer for vocations
At the start of the week we shared news of a Monastic Weekend at Hyning Monastry.  As we remember John as he begins his ministry as priest, we remember all those who are seeking to hear where the Lord may be calling them.