Diocese to offer young men ‘religious gap year’

The Diocese of Shrewsbury is to open a “house of discernment” next to its cathedral to encourage the next generation of priests, writes Rose Gamble. The initiative, announced by the Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, will offer young men considering a vocation a residential year when they live in community and work in the cathedral parish. The house, due to open on 24 September, will be funded through donations. Bishop Davies said the venture was especially necessary “in the cold climate of contemporary society, where the joy of the priestly vocation demanding the gift of whole life is not always comprehended”.

Fr Christopher Jamison, director of the Catholic Church in England and Wales’ National Office for Vocation, described Shrewsbury’s house of discernment as “an excellent idea”.

“Contemporary culture is not immediately supportive to those wishing to enter the priesthood,” he explained. Fr Stephen Langridge, who ran a residential centre for discernment for three years in the Archdiocese of Southwark, through which five men entered seminaries, said such initiatives enabled young men to “transition” from their previous life.