English: Bishop Mark Davies during Invocation 2011, 17-19 June, Oscott College
Deutsch: Bischof von Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, Juni 2011, Oscott College
© Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk Camera: Nikon D3X. License on Flickr (2011-06-19): Non-Commercial restriction - not compatible with Commons policy
Flickr tags: Invocation 2011, 17-19 June, Oscott College
Photo: 4 July 2010.
Author: Catholic Church (England and Wales).
(Wikimedia Commons)
Shrewsbury Cathedral
(Cathedral Church of Our Lady, Help of Christians,
and Saint Peter of Alcantara),
Shropshire, England.
Photo: 30 October 2012.
Source: This file was derived from:
Author: Shrewsburycathedral.JPG: Fountain Posters
derivative work: Rabanus Flavus.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In 1852, Bertram Arthur Talbot, the 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, offered to build a Cathedral, from which the new Diocese of Shrewsbury would be based. The Cathedral was designed by Edward Pugin (the son of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin). Originally, a larger Cathedral, with a tall Spire, was planned. However, two years into the building of the Cathedral, a stratum of sand was discovered very close to the building's foundations, causing them to be weaker than expected, so the Spire had to be abandoned and the building scaled down.
The Earl of Shrewsbury then agreed to meet the cost of a smaller Church, and this was finished at a cost of £4,000, but he died three months prior to its completion. In 1856, the Cathedral was completed and was opened by Cardinal Wiseman.
The following Text can be found at CNA CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY
“If we truly open our hearts in Prayer within our families and Parishes, I have no doubt this gift of new vocations will be given us,” the Bishop said in his Homily during the 16 April Chrism Mass at Saint Anthony’s Church, in the Wythenshawe district of Manchester, England.
The new Discernment House will be based at Shrewsbury Cathedral and is set to open in September 2015, the Diocese of Shrewsbury reports.
Bishop Davies said the House will create “a Community at the heart of our Diocese, where the vocation to Priesthood can be actively discerned and supported.” The House will be a year-long programme.
He told the Congregation that Catholics must recognise their role in caring for “the supernatural environment of Faith and Love, within which each new generation grows.”
“Each of us has a part in making an environment where vocations can flourish,” he said.
The Bishop lamented that some young people have told him that they were discouraged from their vocation, not by “hostile influences” outside the Church, but by Catholics.
Bishop Davies compared concerns for the vocations environment to concerns about the natural environment. He noted that problems in the natural environment turn people’s attention to the state of the water, soil and air.
“Likewise, in the supernatural order, if these vital signs of life in the vocations of marriage, consecrated life and the Priesthood die away in a local Church, we also must be alert to the environment,” he said.
“This crisis of vocation is neither inexplicable nor irreversible,” the Bishop continued. He encouraged Prayer and a “renewed love for Priestly vocation” to resolve the vocations crisis.
Bishop Davies noted that Jesus teaches Christians to Pray, “not as a last resort, but as the first and irreplaceable means towards receiving this gift from God.”
He also announced Prayer Cards for vocations, which bear a Prayer he wrote himself. These Cards will be sent to all his Diocese’s Parishes.
The Bishop also voiced gratitude for Priests.
“Today, we give thanks for every Priest who has faithfully accompanied us along the path of our Christian lives, bringing us the Word of Truth, the Grace of the Sacraments, and, above all, the supreme gift of the Holy Eucharist,” he said.
This love for the Priesthood is not “human adulation”, but, rather, “a Faith-filled appreciation of the gift God gives in every man called to share in Christ’s Priesthood.”
The Priesthood is a life and ministry in which a man seeks “to draw all eyes to Christ the Lord,” Bishop Davies explained.
The Diocese of Shrewsbury presently has eight Seminarians and 111 Priests, including 28 Retired Priests, who are serving 98 Parishes with 121 Churches.
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