Fr James' Anniversary of Ordination

Many friends came together to celebrate with Fr James his 30th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood - his Silver Jubilee had fallen during covid.

SAINT CECILIA ( 2nd/3rd century AD) whose memoria, we keep today, is the patron saint of music and musicians. Those of you who know me well, family and friends here today, know that I will never be able to emulate the late Luciano Pavarotti with his wonderful voice. Pope Leo XIV, recently, in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican held an audience for Hollywood moguls. A press release, after the meeting, disclosed that the two favourite films of the Pontiff are The Sound of Music and It’s a Wonderful Life. Despite not being gifted by God with the ability to sing musicals speak to my heart. My two top choices being Evita and Fiddler on the roof.



MANY have played the two leading roles of these musicals. The best known being Elaine Paige as Eva Peron (from the opus by Rice and Lloyd-Webber) and Chaim Topol as Tevye the milkman in pre-revolutionary Russia whose Jewish faith causes him to have scruples as to whom his daughters will marry. Inside or outside his faith?

WHAT have musicals to do a gathering in this church to mark me, an unworthy servant, celebrating three decades as a priest? The possible answer or answers could be longevity, stamina, commitment (EP 3,176 1978-1986; Chaim Topol 3,500 1967-2009, myself 10,680 Masses in these 30 years), each performance on the stage of theatre or church being a consistent one in proclaiming the message with sincerity and truth. Above all, reflecting the Gospel proclaimed by Deacon Garth, it is about being alert and ready to illuminate the way of Christ the bridegroom who encourages each one of us in our vocation not to be unreliable and unprepared. 

We will shortly come to the Canon of the Mass in which it is customary to pray for the Pope and the Bishop of the diocese in which the Mass is being celebrated. I always find it moving when the diocesan bishop celebrates a Mass in a church of his diocese and says the words ' and for me your unworthy servant'.

The gift of the priesthood must always being generous to God and our neighbour. This truth was so powerfully reflected in the words of the theologian, Karl Rahner, quoted by Archbishop John Aloysius Ward in his homily on my ordination thirty years ago:  "A priest is not an angel sent by God but a man chosen by God from men to serve His family."

We all need to be united in heeding the wise words of Pope Leo XIV at his inaugural Mass in May this year I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the sower of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for He wants us all to be united in one family.

THESE three decades have given me many blessings for which I thank God today. For celebrating Masses in many different locations: on the lower slopes of the Pyreenes for a group from HCPT on their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes; in the crypt chapel containing the mortal remains of the apostle James, my patron, in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain; in the chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil and in whose sacristy are written the wise words of Saint Teresa of Calcutta: "O priest of God celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your only Mass, your last Mass."

THIS sentence reminds us why we are here this morning. Not to mark my anniversary as such but to give thanks to God for Him choosing me be his chosen instrument in distilling the fulness of divine love, mirrored in the Old Testament book from the prophet Hosea, a priest who is open to all peoples, to teach them the ways of righteousness, justice and mercy. In the same book the prophet has God declare that I have come to lead you with leading reins of love.

FIDELITY AND CONSISTENCY, were the hymn that Saint Cecilia, sang from her heart, as she bore her martyrdom as a true follower of Christ. Let all of us here today be instruments of faith, hope and charity to our neighbour.

So that we are not discordant but united today, tomorrow and for ever as Pope Leo reflected in his homily at our Benedictine church of Sant’ Anselmo on the 11th November, the day the guns fell silent on the Western Front at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month and, how the Holy Father’s words:

“We are called to seek Him, we are called to bring to all those whom we meet, grateful for the gifts he has bestowed on us, and above all for the love with which He has gone before us. This temple will then become more and more a place of joy, where one experiences the beauty of sharing with others what one has freely received.”