Priests gather for Osterley student Mass

MORE THAN 60 priests. all former students of Campion Hall, Osterley, concelebrated Mass at Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, on April 15, and shared fond memories their days at the college for late vocations. Many other active lay people who had studied at Osterley joined them.
The reunion Mass had been organised by Fr Denis .Wackledge SJ, one of Campion Hall's last rectors, and the principal concelebrant was Fr Paull Smith of the Portsmouth diocese, the most recent Osterley student to have been ordained to the priesthood. The homily was delivered by another former rector, Fr Chris Dyckhoff Si, who drew parallels between the "enterprise" referred to by St Edmund Campion and the work of Campion Hall over its 85 years.
Campion Hall was founded by the Jesuits in 1919 and closed in 2004. The college helped prepare over 1,500 men for the priesthood in that time. Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue of Lancaster is one of the men who has passed through Campion Hall. He wrote a message for the Osterley Reunion. "My journey to the priesthood suffered a setback initially," he recalled. "The diocesan vocations' director deemed me 'too old' at 25. However, Fr Tigar, who was the rector at the time, came to my rescue and graciously welcomed me to Osterley in / 959."
Fr Dyckhoff reminded the congregation that Bishop O'Donogue's successor in Lancaster, Bishop Michael Campbell OSA, was also a student of Campion Hall, as was Bishop George Stack of Westminster.
At the end of the Mass the concelebrants and congregation processed to one of the chapels where the brass plaques containing the names of priests who had studied at Osterley are now situated.
Over the past few months, the Jesuits had appealed for any priests whose names were not on the list to contact them. Nineteen more names were added to the list.