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The Lourdes Group by David John

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Priests who assisted

An element of alteration has been the presence of assistant priests, traditionally birds of passage. Fr. Wall gave place in April 1959 to Fr. John Feeley; he stayed till 1961 when, in September, Fr. Derl Daly replaced him. In 1966 Fr. John Younger arrived; he made room for Fr. Bernard Brownbill in 1970, and three years later Fr. Michael O’Donoghue succeeded him. Finally in 1980 Fr. Philip O’Dowd became the seventh assistant priest.

The Church’s Future - Nuns and Priests

In many ways the vitality of a parish’s religious life should be measured not by those who are sent to it from outside, but by those who emerge from it and go elsewhere. From Chaddesden many have come forward to serve the Church; first, in 1955, was Ann Donovan, who began a new life as a member of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, a teaching and missionary order; she is at the present time studying in Rome.

Throughout his twenty-five years in Chaddesden Mgr. McLean has helped many a young man to go to Tollerton, the Diocesan College, to make a serious test of his calling by God. Several realised that God had called them to other work than that of the ordained ministry. Many of them are now excellent workers in the parish, with lovely families.

Three of these young men continued their studies in major seminaries, and were ordained priests to serve God and his people. Mgr. writes:

"Fr. Don Bowdren, Fr. Terry Byrne, and Fr. Mick Brown are all giving outstanding and dedicated service to the Diocese; they, and so many other committed young people in the parish, are a source of great joy to me"

Fr. Bowdren was the first to be ordained, in 1971; the other two priests were ordained together in 1976. There is something about the ordination of priests which completes and fulfils the life of a parish in a unique way. For many parishes priests arrive from the railway station, and they never witness the “seventh sacrament” — ordination. It is a special sealing of a parish’s life when it experiences the joy of finding priests and nuns among its own families.