Clergy Support Fund: second collection 2023
The Clergy Support Fund enables the Archdiocese of Southwark to care for clergy in their retirement, old age, and at their time of ill health, after a lifetime of service and devotion to Christ, His Church and His People. Your donations ensure a dignified retirement for all of our priests
They’ve been there for us.
Let us be there for them.
The Clergy Support Fund of the Archdiocese of Southwark provides care for priests in their retirement and time of ill health. A gift to this fund will ensure a dignified retirement for our clergy, after they have dedicated a lifetime of service to Christ, His Church and His People.
In 2022, the Clergy Support Fund provided care to 73 retired priests, at a cost of £1.33 million. With the number of priests over the age of 65 steadily increasing, so too will the financial obligation to the Archdiocese. While priests can retire from active parish ministry when they reach the age of 75, many continue to serve their communities, working in our parishes, schools, hospitals and chaplaincies. We thank them for their service and dedication.
Your donations to this worthy fund ensure a dignified retirement for all of our priests.
Thank you for your generosity of heart.
About our Sick and Retired Clergy
With the help of generous people like you, the Clergy Support Fund cares for over 100 elderly or unwell priests each year. Over the next ten years, the Archdiocese expects a further 120 priests to retire from active ministry. Below we offer the stories of two of our clergy who have recently retired:
Canon Leo Mooney
Age: 90 Ordained: 1958 Retired: 8 months
I was born in Jeffries Road, Stockwell and grew up in Walworth. As a child, we used to go up to St George’s Cathedral sometimes on Sundays. I would see the Archbishop coming in with a great big long train behind him, for a little boy this was magnificent.
I trained at St Joseph’s College, in Mark Cross East Sussex from 1946-1952. In 1952 I went to the English College in Rome, where I spent 7 years. I received two Masters Degrees in Philosophy and Theology and was ordained on the 26th October in 1958 in Italy.
I have been a priest at 4 different parishes; my first was St Elphege in Wallington, then I spent 8 years in St Joseph’s in Greenwich, following that I went to Holy Cross in Catford and my final parish before I retired was St Dunstan’s in Southborough.
I enjoy every minute of it here at St. Peter’s Residence in Vauxhall, I couldn’t want for more. The care is expert, there is always someone there to look after us. They even check on us at night, and they ask ‘Are you alright?’ I said to one sister, ‘no I’m half left’.
I would like to say to our Clergy Support Fund donors ‘You’re doing a good job, keep it up!’
Fr George Marsden
Age: 94 Ordained: 1997 Retired: 3 years
I was first ordained when I was only 24, as an Anglican priest and in my enthusiasm I also
acquired a wife. The Holy Father announced that married Anglicans could be received into the Catholic Church and be ordained, and I felt that it was the right time to convert – I was one of the first to do so.
Becoming a priest had always been on my mind. As a child, I once put a white sheet on and said ‘Look Grandma, I’m the vicar’. I was one of nine children; my mother would have us all ready for church on Sunday morning.
I was an assistant priest in St Thomas of Canterbury for a number of years. I enjoyed being a priest and parish work. I got on well with people, and it didn’t feel like work, I just went on and that was it.
It’s brilliant here at St Peter’s. Being in a home like this, it feels as though Christ is present always. We have the chapel, the Blessed Sacrament, I concelebrate Mass every day. The company of other priests is really important, we have a lot in common and we have great discussions. I have two daughters who come to visit me regularly. Over the years I have gradually lost my sight and I am now blind. I enjoy listening to Radio 4 a lot as my main source of information.
The Clergy Support Fund is a jolly good cause for retired priests, thank you for your generosity!
‘Do not reject me in my old age,
nor desert me when my strength is failing’
- Psalm 71:9 -
