See Below for information about our new Archbishop!

Our Dean is Fr Pat Armstrong who is also parish priest at Our Lady & St Hugh, Witney. He is appointed by the Archbishop. His role is that of encouraging "common pastoral action" within the deanery. He makes sure that when any of the clergy are ill that they are cared for.
The parishes and other catholic institutions within the deanery are listed on the left. Please Click! on a the name of your choice. Schools that serve the parishes within the deanery can be found at CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN OXFORD AREA at almost the bottom of the list on the left or directly from each parish web site via a hyperlink.
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Click below The Oratory

The Right Reverend William Kenney CP Titular Bishop of Midica was formerly Auxiliary Bishop of Stockholm.Bishop Kenney, a member of the Passionist Congregation, who grew up and was educated in the diocese, became our local Bishop on 1st December 2006 as Area Bishop for Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Coventry.

Bishop Kenney was born on 7 May 1946 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was brought up in Birmingham in the parish of Ss. Mary & John, Gravelly Hill. He attended St Phillip’s Grammar School, situated next to the Birmingham Oratory in Edgbaston. He entered the noviciate of the Passionist Congregation, at Broadway in Worcestershire and was professed in September 1963. After studies for the priesthood, he gained a License in Theology (STL) at Heythrop College and was ordained in St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, on 29 June 1969.

Bishop Kenney studied sociology and psychology at the universities of Vaxjo and Gothenburg and obtained a Fil kand (the same as a BA). He worked as a parish priest and academic sociologist within the Catholic Church in Sweden, before pursuing doctoral studies at the London School of Economics from 1977 to 1979.

He then lectured in the Sociology of Religion and was Director of Studies at the Department of Religious Studies in the University of Gothenburg between 1979 and 1982 and from 1984 to 1987. He was a General Councillor of the Passionist Congregation, resident in Rome, from 1982 to 1984. Bishop Kenney was ordained bishop on 24 August 1987 and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese of Stockholm and Vicar General.

One of his major concerns has been to build up the Caritas organisation of the diocese. This is the organisation responsible for the pastoral-social work of the Church on both a national and international basis. In 1991 he was elected President of Caritas Europe for a four-year term. The major part of this work concerned the problems of refugees and immigrants within Europe and the building up of the Caritas organisations in the eastern part of our continent. He was re-elected for a further four-year term in 1995. He is now serving a second term on the Legal Affairs Commission of Caritas Internationalis that has its headquarters in the Vatican.

In 1988 Bishop of Kenney was awarded an honorary doctorate of Philosophy at the University of Gothenburg for his work in internationalising studies at the university and for his work among immigrant students.

He has taken part in three Episcopal synods: in 1991 on Europe; 1994 on Religious Life; 1999 the Second European Synod.

He is also a member of the Passionist Congregation's international advisory group on social concerns, particularly at the UN.

The Most Rev Bernard Longley became the Archbishop of Birmingham (our Archbishop) on Tuesday 8th December 2009. He is the first Archbishop of Birmingham to be a Graduate of the University of Oxford.

The new Archbishop of Birmingham will be in the public eye this year as the city hosts the beatification ceremony of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the theologian who scandalised Victorian England when he converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism. Newman founded the Birmingham Oratory and lived and worked there.
Birmingham is also expected to be visited by Pope Benedict XVI - who approved the beatification of Cardinal Newman in July - when he makes his historic state visit to Britain next year.