A Religious Community In Formation
Our mission might best be summed up by the observation of the famous Oratorian, John Henry Cardinal Newman, on the life of St. Philip:
He lived in an age as traitorous to the interests of Catholicism as any that preceded it…and he perceived that the mischief was to be met …by means of the great counter-fascination of purity and truth.
With the generous assistance of Jonathan Dawe, our website designer, we have re-vamped our website. Hopefully it is more visually appealing to read and navigate. We intend to update the website about once a week with current information and photos regarding our community. In the coming weeks we will share with you the significant news of the new apostolates the bishop has given us due to the recent ordination of Fathers David and James. We invite any feedback! In the meantime, as Jonathan has so kindly donated his services to us, we hope that if you have need for website design, you will get in touch with us and we'll pass your info along. Check back with us often!
St. Philip Neri House in the historic Stuart Neighborhood of Downtown Kalamazoo.
Thursday, 3rd August, 2006
"A Significant Event"
This is how His Excellency, Bishop James A. Murray, Bishop of Kalamazoo described the ordination of five men for the diocese on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 May, 2006 at St. Augustine Cathedral. The "significant event" to which the bishop referred in his homily described more specifically the ordination of two of our members of St. Philip Neri House, Fr. David Grondz and Fr. James Richardson. Technically according to church (canon) law, Fathers Grondz and Richardson were ordained for service in the diocese of Kalamazoo. Bishop Murray established St. Philip Neri House in 1998 as a pia domus. These ordinations are a major step forward; and Bishop Murray, desirous to see an established House of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri within the Diocese of Kalamazoo has assigned them both pastoral work and the Community of Saint Philip Neri House.
It is a "significant event" in the life of St. Philip Neri House for it helps fulfill one of the many prescriptions necessary to become a part of the worldwide Confederation of the Oratory (of St. Philip Neri); that is, the nascent community must have at least three members two of whom must be priests. Our community now has a total number of four! Some pictures are posted on the "Photos" tab of this website.