{"id":1033,"date":"2022-07-23T15:37:49","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T14:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2022-07-24T15:57:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T14:57:32","slug":"congratulations-fr-joseph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/congratulations-fr-joseph\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations, Fr Joseph!"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Stephen’s parish is proud to congratulate Fr Joseph Gulliford who was ordained by Archbishop John Wilson at St George’s Cathedral on Saturday 16 July, along with two other men who had been studying for the priesthood with him.\u00a0 Joseph grew up in the parish and attended St Stephen’s Primary School along with his brother and sister.\u00a0 His parents, Gillian and Charlie, are still parishioners.\u00a0 Those from the parish who were able to attend the magnificent ceremony found it a very moving occasion; in most cases it was the first ordination we had attended, and a very special experience to queue up for a blessing from such a newly ordained priest.<\/p>\n

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Joseph studied for six years, mostly at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh, which\u00a0 sadly had to close last year due to the lack of vocations.\u00a0 For his fifth year, during lockdown, he was based at St Edmund’s Church, Beckenham where he regularly led reflections and used his musical talents.\u00a0 Being well known in the parish, he arranged to hold his first Mass there on Sunday 17 July.\u00a0 This was a joyous occasion which was concelebrated by a number of priests and attended by family, friends and parishioners.\u00a0 Joseph’s brother Daniel ably led the music, including half an hour of praise and worship before Mass.<\/p>\n

Before Joseph’s ordination he was asked to write his reflections on being ordained for the diocesan website:<\/p>\n

It is difficult to put into words how I am feeling on the brink of Priestly Ordination. In truth, I have many mixed feelings.\u00a0 I have found myself often recalling the past, all that has led me here, while also thinking ahead to what life as a Priest will really be like. One thing remains at the deepest level \u2013 a yearning to simply walk forward and\u00a0accept<\/em>.\u00a0 Accepting God\u2019s will is often both incredibly easy, for when we do it He does the heavy lifting as we embrace and trust Him, and incredibly hard, for there always seems to be some kind of resistance in our will \u2013 clinging on to control and curiously over-pondering that question\u00a0what if<\/em>?\u00a0 Another question I can think too much about is\u00a0am I ready<\/em>?<\/p>\n

I am not ready or worthy by any measure of skill or preparation or by my own volition, but I am ready to say yes and I am ready to accept.\u00a0 Our Lady\u2019s\u00a0fiat<\/em>\u00a0speaks powerfully to me right now.\u00a0 This \u2018let it be done\u2019 is completely disempowering but at the same time abundantly grace-filled and enlightening.\u00a0 Such is the step of surrender, the necessary death that leads to life.\u00a0 I say to the Lord \u2018here I am\u2019.\u00a0 On my prayer card I have chosen an icon of Christ the High Priest, something that touched my heart at an Ordination in my first year in Seminary.\u00a0 For to Him belongs the Priesthood and all it entails.\u00a0 Still, He is willing to give this gift to someone like me.\u00a0 So on my prayer card I have also written that\u00a0\u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness\u201d (2 Cor 12:9). \u201cGlory be to Him whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine\u2026\u201d (Ephesians 3:20-21).\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joseph will start his work as a priest at St Thomas More’s Church, Dulwich, in September.\u00a0 Please keep him in your prayers.<\/p>\n

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To view more photos, please visit Ordination to The Priesthood for Archdiocese of Southwark | Flickr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Images \u00a9 Mazur\/cbcew.org.uk<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Stephen’s parish is proud to congratulate Fr Joseph Gulliford who was ordained by Archbishop John Wilson at St George’s Cathedral on Saturday 16 July, along with two other men who had been studying for the priesthood with him.\u00a0 Joseph grew up in the parish and attended St Stephen’s Primary School along with his brother … Continue reading “Congratulations, Fr Joseph!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1048,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions\/1048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}