LIKE MOST junior seminaries of its time, the regime at Mark Cross, in Rotherfield, East Sussex, was extremely strict. The ultimate sanction was expulsion, though at least one student who was shown the door for smoking did proceed to ordination. Canon John O’Toole continued his studies at the Wonersh seminary and is now dean of Southwark Cathedral. He was among the 101 Mark Crucians who attended a reunion at Southwark’s Amigo Hall on the Feast of St Joseph, to whom the junior seminary was dedicated. His faux pas was recalled with “general hilarity” by other old boys, according to one of the organisers, Stephen Dean. Bishop Howard Tripp, another old boy, presided at a Mass in St George’s Cathedral, Southwark. Of those who attended the reunion, 38 were ordained;
27 March 2014, The Tablet
Seminary boys
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