Sharing from a Seminarian, Michael Furey about his pastoral placement

Michael spent the month of January 2025 in our parish for his pastoral placement. Here are his reflections on this meaningful experience.

Greeting from Michael Furey, Pastoral Placement during January

Dear Parishioners of the Annunciation, Rushcliffe,

My name is Michael Furey, and I am a student for the priesthood for the Diocese of Nottingham. I am currently in my third year at St Mary’s College, Oscott in Birmingham. I am originally from Derby and my home parish is St Joseph’s in the city centre, where I was baptised, made my first holy communion and was confirmed. I attended St Joseph’s primary school and St Benedict secondary school.

I first thought about the possibility of becoming a priest when I became an altar server but forgot about the idea when I began secondary school. However, the idea of priesthood probably never left me completely and then when I was fourteen the possibility came back to me and the thought of becoming a priest has never left me since. After leaving school I had a few different jobs, then in 2021 I applied for the formation programme for our diocese and was accepted by Bishop Patrick and sent to the Royal English College of St Alban’s in Valladolid, Spain. This is a college where students go for their first year of seminary studies to focus predominantly on their spiritual and human development before proceeding to their next seminary to study subjects like philosophy and theology.

I have previously had pastoral placements in parishes in Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester and Glossop working with schools, a university and a prison. I have also done a separate placement in Edinburgh working with adults with learning disabilities in residential homes. At Oscott I have a weekly placement at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton visiting patients and their families on the wards bringing them Holy Communion, praying with them and getting to know them. Myself and other seminarians work alongside a team of hospital chaplains to provide whatever help we can to those who are patients, relatives and those who work in the hospital.

I am very grateful to Father John and Father Evarist for agreeing to host and mentor me for this placement and I look forward very much to meeting you all and spending the month of January with you and getting to know the people in West Bridgford, Cotgrave, Keyworth and Radcliffe-on-Trent.

Michael J. Furey.

10th January 2025

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Dear Friends,

Thank you all for the warm welcome I have received since arriving in your parish for my placement. It has been great getting to meet so many of you and being able to help with Altar Serving, reading at mass, giving out Holy Communion and meeting the catechists and candidates for their First Holy Communion and Confirmation. I will be joining the confirmation group on their trip to the Briars this Saturday, and this will be my first time visiting the Briars since 2020 so am looking forward to it very much. I am also looking forward to shortly visiting St Edmund Campion and the Becket schools and hopefully go out with some of the Eucharistic Ministers to bring Holy Communion to some of our parishioners at home. While I am here with you if anyone would like to ask me anything, or have any questions about priesthood, vocations, seminary life or anything else feel free to do so and I will be more than happy to try my best to answer them.

Wishing you all and your families a good and happy week and with my prayers for you and for our parish.

Michael Furey.

17th January 2025

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Thank you to the Parish of the Annunciation, Rushcliffe

Dear Friends,

Thank you all so much for the wonderful experience you have given me while on placement in your parish. The time has now sadly come for me to say goodbye to you all and return to the seminary for the next semester. I have enjoyed every moment of my placement and have learnt so much. There is so much that seminary life does not teach you about parish life and it is only thanks to the generosity of Fr John, Fr Evarist and all of you that I have learnt so much.

The work has been varied with visits to the schools, Nottingham prison, all four of our churches, the briars and engaging in programs like Confirmation and RCIA. It has been great for me to get to know so many people and to share my experience so far of seminary and parish life. Its also been nice to have some friendly fun about our local derby, (yes, for those who don’t already know I am a Rams fan and proud of it)! This is something which brings ordinary everyday things to life and makes it easy to build up a good rapport and remember that there is time for business and pleasure whilst on placement, (although being a Rams fan doesn’t bring much pleasure just now, but enough about that).

As I prepare to return to seminary could I please ask you for your continued prayers for myself and our other diocesan seminarian, Lukas Mickevicius who is two years below me, and pray that other young men in our diocese may consider the option of the priesthood. We do face a challenging future in our diocese with fewer priests and seminarians and the parish was, in my case, where I first considered the possibility of becoming a priest. So please do pray for vocations to the priesthood and also to the diaconate, religious life and marriage.

My deepest thanks to you all once again and a special word of thanks to Fr John, Fr Evarist, Margaret, Cecilia and Ceci. Be assured of my prayers for you and the parish and I hope to return for a visit when possible.

Finally…   UP THE RAMS!!!

God Bless

Michael.

31st January 2025