THE P RTAL
April 2017 Page 20
Our time at St Mary ’ s College Oscott
Ronald Crane meets Jonathan Creer and Thomas Mason
Jonathan and Thomas are Seminarians at St Mary ’ s College Oscott and coming towards the close of their period of formation . They are the first Ordinariate laymen to have been through the system as opposed to being Anglican priests who have been ordained into the Catholic Church .
“ I ’ m Jonathan Creer . I ’ m 52 so quite an elderly Seminarian . I was a Civil Servant for nearly 25 years in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice working in London . I had a religious upbringing at my local , rather “ High ” country church in Shropshire .
“ At Oxford I was involved at St Mary Mag ’ s and wondered about a vocation , but was not sure it was for me . As a Civil Servant , I had a nice time with work and friends , and ended up earning reasonable money . I was still a church goer and went to St Michael ’ s in Croydon .
Thomas Mason and Jonathan Creer
“ My background is mixed . My father is a Catholic , but he had lapsed by the time he had children so we were not brought up as Catholic , just normal C of E types . He has now returned to the church , so that ’ s good . I always thought that I might end up as a Catholic . As I got into my forties , I had this nagging sense of vocation . I knew that if I didn ’ t do something about it soon it wouldn ’ t happen .
“ At that point , Pope Benedict announced the Ordinariate and Fr Keith had a meeting for people in London , so I joined the Ordinariate and linked up with Fr Chris Pearson and his people .
“ I decided to seek ordination in the Ordinariate and went to Wantage with Thomas and others for a selection conference . We went to the St Luke ’ s Centre in Manchester and then to Blackfriars in Oxford . After three years the decision was taken to move us to St Mary ’ s College here at Oscott .”
a vicar and retired in the last couple of years but very much in the Charismatic and Evangelical wing of the CofE . A lot of that is still formative in me , particularly in terms of the scriptures being foundational . However , something seemed missing . When I was an undergraduate at St Andrews , I came across Anglo-Catholicism which seemed to answer a number of questions .
“ When we worship God , it ’ s not just about ideas but you worship with your entire body , and not just the spirit . Frankly , I was convinced by it . About that time , I thought I might have a vocation , but I was isolated in the Scottish Episcopal Church . Back in England , I was based in Buckinghamshire where there were no Anglo Catholic churches .
“ Like Jonathan , I felt there was a great provisionality about where I was in the CofE . We were in this bizarre situation , believing we are fully part of the C of E but also believing that a whole load of CofE ministers who are ordained and authorised to go to the Altar are not actually priests , and what they are doing is not the mass . It did not seem honest and decent for them to train me for the priesthood , and for me to say , ‘ By the way , my membership with you is provisional and I am likely to disappear .’
“ Andrew Burnham was my bishop as I was in the Ebbsfleet area and I looked to him for guidance . Then the Ordinariate was announced and everything seemed to fall into place . Andrew was my bishop and he was joining the Ordinariate . I had to follow him .
Thomas took up his story , “ I was raised in a religious family not at all in a Catholic setting . My father was
“ I made contact with the Oxford Group and was prepared to be received with them into the Catholic