I am a native of Goa (Portuguese India) and a Portuguese national, although a long-time resident in England and a bit of an anglophile. Formerly a professional engineer with some oilfield experience, I applied to seminary in 2008 for the diocese of Nottingham and studied first at the seminary of the archbishop of Westminster, at Allen Hall in West London; and then at the seminary of the English bishops in Rome, located at the Venerable English College, with a qualification first in pastoral theology (London Heythrop) and then a licence to teach biblical theology (Rome Angelicum). My first language is English, thanks to the devotion of my parents, and my second language is Portuguese; I can read and hear much of Spanish, Italian and Hindi. I am reasonably competent with the ancient Latin, koinë Greek and Hebrew represented in Sacred Scripture.
My first assignment following ordination to the sacred priesthood was in 2016 at the cathedral in Nottingham, as assistant to the cathedral administrator, followed by a shorter assignment from 2018 as assistant to Canon Moore, the then parish priest of most of south Leicester. The third assignment during the turmoil of 2020 was as parish administrator to Derby S. Joseph, a suburban parish just south of Derby City centre. The current appointment, from June 2023, is as the parish priest of both Louth S. Mary and Mablethorpe S. Joseph.
Since this is something of a personal page on the parish website, I shall add some particular items. Such as my present reading list, and one or two other things.
My daily prayer intentions (which should in time be reflected at daily Masses)
Sundays: our parishioners in general, and for the increase in personal devotion.
Mondays: for the Holy Father and for the Bishop.
Tuesdays: for the Faithful departed of our parishes, and for the well-being of Christians in the Holy Land.
Wednesdays: the sick and dying of our parishes, and to the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Thursdays: for vocations to the priesthood and the Religious life, and for my own benefactors.
Fridays: for persecuted Christians (and especially Catholics), and for those struggling with serious sin.
Saturdays: for medical professionals (especially Catholic ones), and for my penitents (those who have approached me for Confession)
Current reading list
* S. S. Montefiere, Jerusalem: the biography (a history of the Holy City)
* The memoirs of Louis Bouyer: from youth and conversion to Vatican II, the liturgical reform, and after (a translation of Father Bouyer’s memoirs)
* J. Nunn, Tactical chess endings: improve your chess by unlocking the secrets of the endgame (just that, taking this one very slowly)
* M. Roach, The science of supercars: the technology that powers the greatest cars in the world (a childhood interest)
* B. Fothergill, Nicholas Wiseman (being a biography of the great cardinal and first archbishop of Westminster)
* N. Fowkes, How to paint landscapes quickly and beautifully in watercolour and gouache (one of my favourite portraitists and landscapists)
* M. Shimon, First one in, last one out: Auschwitz survivor 31321 (the Jewish ‘holocaust’ is one of the most evil chapters of European history)
* D. Attenborough, Life on earth (a classic of naturalism)
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 