FATHER TIMOTHY WHITWELL, who this summer takes over from Monsignor Gerard Robinson as parish priest at St Joseph’s, Stokesley, St Margaret Clitherow, Great Ayton and St Mary’s Crathorne, tells us how much he’s looking forward to returning to our diocese…
From earliest childhood memories I have been happiest when in the rustic charm of North Yorkshire.
Born near Malton and raised near the Howardian Hills, I am only too aware that as I prepare to become the parochial administrator of Stokesley, Great Ayton and Crathorne, I am returning to the place, that in my heart and mind, I consider home, this side of the Heaven.
We know that ecclesial boundaries move and change over the decades and going back through the centuries, I wonder if our cherished Northern Saints would have had the same conceptual understanding of defined territories that we observe today?
So, it is then, that Catholic communities and consecrated places have always been nestled in leafy dales, along fast running clear streams, as well as on coastal cliff tops and quiet hamlets which all grew into the sacred landscape of beloved Yorkshire.
As an honoured (North) Yorkshireman I have always delighted in God’s created order and favourite places are undoubtedly the North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Cleveland Hills and Nidderdale.
Raised in the Vale of York and nurtured in the Church of England, I feel humbled that the ordained ministry I have been privileged to exercise has been formed in places as diverse as Mirfield, Leeds, Berwick Hills, Carlin How and Loftus.
As well as serving in parochial and cathedral settings, I’ve also experience of hospital chaplaincy in Bradford, as well as school chaplaincy and teaching involvement near Robin Hood’s Bay, Lichfield, Peterborough and Nottingham.
I am very much looking forward to returning to the Cleveland Hills and walking the Esk Valley and The Stray at Marske with my beloved Labrador.
It will be very good indeed to rekindle old memories but with fresh faces in Crathorne, Great Ayton and Stokesley. I am truly thrilled and humbled that Bishop Marcus has asked me to move to North Yorkshire and serve the good and faithful people in the new parishes entrusted to my pastoral care.
As I write these short lines, I am presently packing up my home after eight years in Beeston where I have been parish priest of two wonderful churches. We often talk about our Christian heritage in terms of journeying; such journeying may be defined from place to place, sometimes involving physical and emotional distances that demand fortitude and endurance.
While another reading may suggest it is the travelling of the soul and the pathway of faith, from one area of the Christian map to another. Indeed, without the saints making journeys, our faith could never have become global and wide reaching.
Over 2,000 years it has involved the courage of the pilgrim and a warm welcome to the stranger with a willingness to grow and explore through shared experiences within the love and peace of him who first loved us, until Christ be formed in us.
Over the years I’ve been fortunate to participate and lead pilgrimages to Rome and Assisi, which has in successive years reminded me that difficult or new landscapes encountered by people of faith in earlier times help shape the Church of today.
My recent pastoral experience in Leeds has enabled me to value the diverse membership of the Church throughout the world in such a way that creates opportunities to help shape what it means to be a parish priest in vibrant parishes when the Catholic faith is experiencing a great revival in England.
My own journey of faith began in an Anglican parish church in a North Yorkshire village where there was a deep sense of belonging in a safe and happy community of loving-kindness; as an altar server and chorister, so began my love of the glorious Anglican choral tradition and sacred ritual.
While studying in Durham, Oxford, Mirfield and Leeds, I became aware of the importance of divine liturgy which furthered a vocation to become a clergyman, being made deacon in York Minster and then ordained in the Church of the Ascension, Berwick Hills, Middlesbrough.
Twenty years or so later and inspired and sustained by the ministry and intercession of St John Henry Newman, I was received into the Catholic Church by the now Archbishop John Wilson when he was diocesan administrator of the Diocese of Leeds.
Archbishop John’s generous willingness to support my onward journey saw me study at St Mary’s College, Oscott, for two years before Bishop Marcus ordained me to the sacred priesthood in St Anne’s Cathedral and then serving in Bradford and Leeds.
So now, as I walk with my beloved hound by the Wharfe or the Swale or enjoy a day off riding my horse atop Yorkshire’s loveliest dales, I exceedingly rejoice that the Lord bids me welcome once again in North Yorkshire, by the manifold kindness and grace of our dear bishop. I am also grateful to my predecessor, Monsignor Gerard Robinson, for his gracious welcome to the diocese and his help, which has allowed a smooth transition for the new parishes.
The pilgrimage of faith for us all continues to unfold and as for me, I sincerely hope and fervently pray that, unworthy though I am, I may be given the Divine Assistance to serve, lead and teach as I look forward to welcoming young and old at Holy Mass at Stokesley, Great Ayton and Crathorne from the Sunday when we together celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests and Mother of the Church, Our Lady of Walsingham.
St Margaret Clitherow, pray for us
St Joseph, pray for us
St Mary the Virgin, pray for us
