24 Sep 2022

Dom John celebrated his First Mass as a priest in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Buckfast on Saturday, using the Mass of Our Lady. The monastic community sang the plainchant for the Mass, and Dom Joel Blaize of St Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana sang the Responsorial Gradual that he had specially composed for the occasion, with Dom Raban Heyer of Subiaco Abbey, Arkansas, serving. Fr Philip Thomas of the Diocese of Clifton preached the homily. You can hear the audio of the Mass here.

Dom John entered the monastery at Downside in 2015 and his studies have been aimed at ordination, as well as life as a Benedictine monk. He is currently studying for the Licence in Monastic Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo in Rome, where he will return for a final year of formal studies.