Longley says Oratorians play central role in Church

THE ARCHBISHOP of Birmingham welcomed the growing role that the Oratorians are playing in the Church in England and Wales as a member of the order, Robert Byrne, was ordained an auxiliary bishop, write James Macintyre and Liz Dodd.

Speaking ahead of Fr Byrne’s ordination as a Birmingham auxiliary at St Chad’s Cathedral on Tuesday, Archbishop Longley said his elevation represents “a deepening appreciation for the charism of the Oratory as members of its various English houses increasingly play their part in the life of the Church at diocesan and national levels.”

Bishop Byrne is formerly provost of the Oxford Oratory and until now was the bishops’ ecumenical adviser. Archbishop Longley added that Our Lady of Fátima, whose feast (13 May) was the day of Fr Byrne’s ordination, had answered his prayer for a new auxiliary. “Last summer I went … on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady at Fátima and among my intentions there was a prayer that we might soon be blessed with a new auxiliary bishop.”