New Rector for Oscott

This morning at 11am, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham announced that as of 23 February, Mgr Mark Crisp, the Rector of Oscott, will be moving on to other duties in the Archdiocese

The new Rector of Oscott will be Fr David Oakley STL MEd PhD. (right) Fr Oakley is currently Parish Priest of Our Lady of Assumption, Maryvale. He was at one time Bursar and Pastoral Director of Oscott, he has also been a member of staff at Maryvale and has been teaching Fundamental Theology at Oscott.

In a message to the seminarians, Mgr Crisp wrote:
On a personal note to you as students, it is with mixed feelings that I inform you of this news. I have been a priest for 21 years and 20 of these have been working with seminarians either as Vocations Director or as Rector. Working with seminarians and encouraging seminarians in their vocation is a ministry I have greatly enjoyed even though at times I’ve found being Rector quite difficult. For a while I have sensed that it would be good for me to have other experiences of priesthood while I still have the energy for new challenges! While I believe this to be the right decision I will greatly miss all of you and will keep you very much in my prayers in the future.
I have known Mgr Crisp since we were together at the English College in Rome in the 1980s. He has done a great job at Oscott and on my occasional visits there, I have always found an excellent atmosphere among the students.

(Recently Mgr Crisp was the focus of some controversy because the Bishops responsible for Oscott had made it clear that they did not want the students to be trained in the Extraordinary Form at the seminary nor for that form of Mass to be celebrated there. He had to announce this unfortunate decision to the students. It was fairly obvious that this was not Mgr Crisp's decision and he went out of his way to reassure students that an interest in the usus antiquior would not be a "formation issue.")

Please pray for Fr Oakley in his new post as Rector. It is a heavy responsibility and I wish him every blessing.

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