London, England, Jun 26, 2018 / 23:08 pm
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster reflected on St John Southworth, a martyr of 17th century England, in a pastoral letter on the priesthood Sunday, and challenged the laity readily to support priests.
"Today I ask you to pray for all our priests," he said in his June 24 pastoral letter. "Our lives may not be as dramatic nor as full of public conflict as the life of St John Southworth. Yet we priests strive to express in our daily ministry exactly the same dedication to the mission of Jesus Our Lord as he did."
"Like him, we depend on the support and love of faithful people. For St John Southworth that was literally a matter of life and death."
The letter was read at Mass June 24, about a week before the archdiocese will ordain six new priests. The cardinal focused on the courageous priestly ministry of St. John Southworth, a Lancashire priest whose feast day is June 27.