Clergy & Staff
Fr john Cross v.f.Parish Priest at St Peter's and Our Lady
Dean of Warwick Hello I'm Fr John Cross. I'm the Parish Priest which means I'm responsible to Archbishop Bernard for the administration of both St Peter's and Our Lady's Churches. It is not just the buildings but everything associated with them - most important of which is the care of souls. Thankfully I can share some of these tasks with the parish clergy and the support staff who work in the Parish Office and within the community.
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Between them St Peter's and Our Lady's have four Primary Schools which means we have a big commitment to the pastoral care of the young people of our parish. However people of all ages are cared for through the Sacraments of the Church. Being a Priest means I need to use all the gifts and talents God gave me and I am always keen to learn new ways of communicating the Good News.
I am also the Dean of Warwick Deanery. This is a great honour having been chosen by my fellow clergy and appointed to this role by Archbishop Bernard Longley. It means spending a fair amount of time being the point of liaison between the Hierarchy and the clergy. There are lots of emails, telephone conversations and personal meetings. I also care for the priests and deacons in my area of responsibility making sure they look after themselves and their parishes properly. New Parish Priests are Inducted by me on behalf of the Archbishop. I arrange and chair monthly meetings for the priests and deacons in our deanery to discuss pastoral matters. I also attend meetings on behalf of the priests of the Deanery and report back to them. The Dean takes a special interest in retired or sick clergy. In my spare time I like to take my dog for a walk, or watch the world go by. I enjoy being out in the open air and marvelling at the wonders of the seasons. I enjoy reading or listening to the radio, gardening, sketching and good company. |
Fr Noel breslinAssistant Priest
Fr Noel resides at the St Peter's Presbytery and helps Fr John with his enormous job of ministering to the Parishes of St Peter's and Our Lady's. He is chaplain to St Patrick's and St Anthony's Primary Schools. Fr Noel can otherwise be cheerfully found welcoming parishioners to Mass outside the Church and imparting wisdom in his lovely lilting Irish voice.
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Fr Andrew FranklinParish Priest at St Joseph's
Chaplain to Warwick Hospital Fr Andy was born in Chester on 13th May 1977. He grew up in North Wales and attended the local Catholic primary and secondary schools. Fr Andy studied for the priesthood at Oscott College, Birmingham and was Ordained 3rd July 2004. He holds a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and assists with tribunal work for Wales and Birmingham.
Fr Andy is the Parish Priest based at St Joseph's but is also the Catholic Chaplain to Warwick Hospital. Fun Facts about Fr Andy: Favourite food: Anything as long as its not salmon! Favourite drink: Diet Pepsi Hobbies: Golf and supporting Manchester United! |
Rev David PalmerPermanent Deacon
Having graduated from Lancaster University, David qualified as a Chartered Accountant and as a member of the Institute of Taxation while with Price Waterhouse. In 1993 through his training expertise, he was accepted as a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. David worked at Director level in the Finance and Computer Services industries. He transferred his career into management development in 1990 and since then has run finance and
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general management programmes in the UK and abroad for over thirty major commercial organisations and several Universities as well as developing distance learning and video based finance training programmes.
Many of his generic documents are freely available on his website: FinancialManagementDevelopment.com including papers on Charity Management. Since 2014 he has primarily concentrated on the volunteer role of Treasurer of the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham - responsible for the financial and administrative affairs of an organisation with 350 employees and 1,300 properties. After a life changing experience on an Alpha course and many years working in Catholic Charismatic renewal, he was ordained a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church in 2007. He has many years of experience on the boards of charitable and educational institutions (university, college and schools). As well as being the Deacon for the Catholic Parish of Leamington, he is currently a Trustee of the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, Oscott College (Catholic Seminary), the Maryvale Institute (Catholic College of Further and Higher Education) and Sehion Ministries (Catholic Evangelisation Charity). He has been married over 40 years and has one daughter and four granddaughters. |
Emma is our parish youth worker. Her desire is to see all young people come to a personal relationship with Jesus. She does this by visiting our local Catholic primary and secondary schools and by providing opportunities for young people to grow in their faith. UNITE Catholic Youth provision encompasses the Leamington & Warwick parishes. You can find out more at:
catholicleamington.org.uk/youth Emma has a degree in Education from Warwick University and is currently studying on the Parish Mission & Ministry course at Maryvale Catholic College. Emma lives in Warwick with her husband, four children aged 8, 10, 12 and 14 and Charlie the chocolate Labrador. Favourite Food: Chinese and chocolate Favourite Drink: A nice cup of tea! Hobbies: Tapestry and making jewellery Best thing: I give great hugs! Worst Habit: Playing on Nintendo Switch :-) Interesting Fact: I once flew a plane... |
I was born in Coventry in 1971 and attended primary school at Princethorpe. In 1981 we moved to Cork in Ireland and lived there for about 4 years, after which we moved to Lutterworth in Leicestershire. I attended secondary school there and went to university at Bangor in Wales in 1991 where I studied Theology.
In 1995 I went to the Venerable English College in Rome to train for the priesthood. I studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Biblical Institute (also the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from 2000-2001). I was ordained priest in 2002 at St Osburg’s in Coventry and served as assistant priest there and also at St Austin’s in Stafford. I was parish priest of Burntwood and chaplain to Cardinal Griffin Catholic High School in Cannock from 2007-2013. In the last few years I was Catholic chaplain at the University of Birmingham where I also teach Biblical Hebrew in the Dept. of Theology & Religion. I’ve been teaching both Greek & Hebrew at Oscott College since 2002 and, for 6 years, was part of the ongoing formation committee for clergy, responsible for the newly ordained. As well as being the Parish Priest at St Mary Immaculate, Warwick, I am the Chaplain to Trinity Catholic Secondary School. To quote Belloc: ‘Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, there’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!’ |
Jane RebikaJane is the hub of the Parish Office and secretary to Fr John. In addition she is a Marriage Registrar at St Peter's and Our Lady's, handling all aspects of the pre-nuptial paperwork. She manages the office and all the administration of the Parish with a particular emphasis on the Sacramental and Liturgical life of our churches.
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Royce is currently the finance administrator for St Peter's and Our Lady's. He assists Fr John with matters relating to site maintenance at both churches.
HELEN MONASTEROHelen is managing the Dormer Conference Centre / St Peter's Parish Hall. This is currently on a voluntary basis due to the centre being closed on account of coronavirus. She can't wait to get back to work marketing our wonderful facilities and raising valuable income in the process.
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