Priestly Ordination at St. Dominic's Priory, London

On Saturday, September 23rd, Catharina Oxoniensis and Iosephus attended the ordination to the priesthood of Dominic White, O.P. The Mass and Ordination took place, fittingly enough, at St. Dominic's Priory in northwest London, the church attached being dedicated to the Holy Rosary. Though the church itself is worthy of a visit, independent of other motivations, yet we were both there because the now Fr. Dominic White, O.P. had been my catechist in Oxford during the year when I was received into the Church.

It was a thoroughly Novus affair, beginning with the confession I made before the Mass. The priest gave me no counsel relating to the sins I had confessed, and my penance was to meditate upon my favorite passage of the Gospel. After he gave me absolution, we both stood up - for this all happened face-to-face, though on a bench, so not quite facing each other - and he indicated that we should exchange a sign of peace, which turned out to be roughly what happens during the exchange of peace between the priests at the altar during the High Mass. The whole affair seemed so loosey-goosey that Catharina asked me whether I thought it had been valid.

Now on our way to the church, I had wondered aloud about the number of men to be ordained that day. I figured, for some reason, that a bishop wouldn't trouble to travel just for one man, but that, especially in a religious order, there would be more than one to be ordained. This surmise of mine was off the mark: it was to be Dominic only. In fact, the words of, I believe, the district superior - or whatever a Dominican of that position should be called - after the Mass spoke of numbers. He said, if memory serves, that since 1981, when he had become a priest, that the Dominicans in England had added no more than 25 priests to their number. In other words, about one per year, though from some other things he said, I got the impression that these numbers might be on the rise; he mentioned having traveled all over in the past week for the sake of clothings, temporary vows, final vows, etc. Given the number of men who were at Blackfriars while I was in Oxford, I find it hard to believe that there have been only 25 new priests since 1981.

Still, explanation of the purported number is not lacking: the Dominicans in England have passed through some very liberal days, i.e. a phase which is deadly to vocations. The things which I've heard from my own catechist as well as other young Dominicans in Oxford indicate that the poison of the liberal period has not yet fully exited the system. The priest who heard my confession that Saturday, who was well on in years, would be a good example, as it appeared to us, of the bad old days, I mean, the 70s and 80s. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., now at Blackfriars in Oxford and once the Superior General of the entire Order, is a good example of why serious, conservative men would want to avoid the Dominicans in England. On the other end of the spectrum, Fr. Aidan Nichols, O.P. is one whose life in the Order I can little imagine, but he's there all the same. (Fr. Nichols, O.P. is a priest in a mainline religious order, with credit among Novus folk, yet who has called for a restoration of the Tridentine Mass as the normative Mass of the Roman Rite.)

And though I don't sympathize with the English Dominicans and their plight in the lack of vocations, I did like the words of the district superior as he philosophically interpreted the paucity of priests. He quoted from St. John Fisher, who was writing about the sacerdotal state of things: In my day, there were many golden chalices in England, but not many golden priests. There were many priests in St. John Fisher's day, for each priest ought to have his own chalice, but not many priests of superior worth. I hope that Fr. Dominic White, O.P. does indeed become one of these golden priests.

Though it was only Dominic to be ordained, there were a great many people at the church on this Saturday afternoon. Which is a sign, I think, of the friendships he has made and the support of the parish community around the priory wherein many English Dominicans spend their diaconal year. The ordaining bishop was the Right Reverend Malcolm McMahon, O.P., the ordinary of the Diocese of Nottingham. Curious that the missal or lectionary seems to be on the floor in this picture.

I apologize for the poor quality of many of the photographs, but I was trying to take many of them without flash, and for others, the flash would have done no good.



















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