The Rt Rev. Mark Davies ordained Fr Gerard Connett in a ceremony in Shrewsbury Cathedral on Saturday June 27.

Fr Kevin Hogan was ordained by Bishop Davies in the Cathedral on July 4, just a week later.

Preaching at the ordination of Fr Connett, Bishop Davies said that it was mistake to consider the priesthood as a solitary calling.

Bishop Davies said: “The Catholic priesthood in reality calls us to give our lives in love of Christ for every human being, a life lived for the salvation of souls at the heart of the Church in the company of Our Lady and the saints and which is every day renewed at the altar in the light of the Holy Eucharist.”
‍

“In this way a priest is never alone,’ said the Bishop, adding that the whole Church supported priests in the constancy and faith and prayer.

In his homily at the Mass of ordination for Fr Hogan, a former head teacher and widowed father of three daughters, Bishop Davies spoke of the “awesome” responsibilities of the priestly ministry.

Recalled that the Rev. Hogan nurtured a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus since his youth, Bishop Davies reminded him of the words of St John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, that the priesthood is the “love of the heart of Jesus”.

“It will always be in the light of the Eucharist that you will see most clearly . . . that pastoral charity requires the total gift of the man ordained the priest,” said the Bishop.

“The Catholic priesthood is analogous with Christ’s heart in a life given in tireless concern for souls and a life given supremely in the Holy Eucharist, opening to a countless number the boundless ocean of love and mercy which is at the heart of Jesus.”