Oratory Clergy - under construction
Bishop Paul Creaner O.S
Bishop Paul Creaner serves The Oratory in Belfast, a small Christian community rooted in the ancient Catholic and apostolic tradition, in the faith handed down from the apostles and expressed in the historic creeds of the Church.
The Oratory has a particular concern for people who have felt pushed out of church life, hurt by religion, or unsure whether there is still a place for them in the Church.
Paul was ordained priest by the late Bishop Pat Buckley on 28 January 2018. Since then, he has served The Oratory through worship, preaching, pastoral care and the quiet work of gathering a community around the Eucharist.
On 6 June 2026, Paul was consecrated bishop by The Rt Revd Adrian S. Glover, Mar Trimlett, Patriarch of the Old Catholic Apostolic Church Worldwide. He continues to serve alongside his fellow clergy and the wider Oratory community in Belfast.
The life of The Oratory is simple. We gather for Mass, listen to Scripture, pray and try to care for one another. The Eucharist is at the centre of that life. It is where we meet Christ, receive grace and are sent back into the world.
Tradition matters to Paul, not because everything in the past was perfect, but because the faith has been entrusted to us and should be lived with honesty, compassion and humility.
The worship is Catholic in shape and sacramental at heart, but the welcome is broad. People come with faith, questions, doubts and sometimes painful experiences of church. Each person is received with respect.
The Oratory remains small. Its aim is not to build something impressive, but something real: a Christian community where people can come before God as they are and discover that the Church still has room, mercy and grace enough for them.
Fr Stefan Craig O.S
Fr. Stefan has served as a priest of The Oratory since his ordination at The Oratory of St. Brigid, Larne, on 21st July 2024.
From the beginning of his ministry, he has understood priesthood as a calling to create spaces of welcome, compassion, and belonging for all people.
Alongside his fellow clergy within The Oratory, Fr. Stefan is committed to building communities where everyone can encounter Christ freely and authentically, regardless of background, life experience, identity, or past experiences of church.
His ministry is grounded in the belief that the love of God is open to all, and that the Church should reflect the radical welcome shown by Jesus throughout the Gospel.
Through worship, pastoral care, prayer, and community life, Fr. Stefan seeks to help people rediscover hope, dignity, healing, and spiritual connection. He is passionate about creating spaces where people feel safe to ask questions, to grow in faith, and to know they are valued and loved exactly as they are.
At the heart of his ministry is the conviction that no one should feel excluded from the presence of God or from the life of the Church. The Oratory seeks to be a community rooted in compassion, inclusivity, sacramental worship, and authentic human connection — a place where all are welcome, all are loved, and all belong.
Bro John Callaghan O.S
Brother John Callaghan
Bro John Callaghan is a priest of the Oratory Society. He was ordained by Bishop Pat Buckley on Sunday, 28 April 2024, just nineteen days before Bishop Pat’s death on Friday, 17 May 2024.
He was the last man to be ordained by Bishop Pat.
Before his ordination, John had been received into the Oratory by Bishop Pat and the congregation as a man seeking to live a life shaped by prayer, simplicity, and the spirit of the hermit tradition.
In making his solemn promise before the Oratory community, he committed himself to a life of prayer for the world, following the ancient pattern of those who step back from the noise of the world in order to hold the world more deeply before God.
His ordination stands as one of Bishop Pat’s final acts of ministry, and as a deeply significant moment in the continuing life of the Oratory Society.
Fr David Goode O.S
Fr David was ordained deacon in June 2021 and priest in January 2022, and lives in the medieval City of Ely in the Cambridgeshire Fens, with his ministry based in the Oratory of St Etheldreda.
He’s a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and his ministry is as a Force Chaplain for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, and an Honorary Chaplain in the NHS, as well as running a small online Community of the Isle of Ely and The Fens.
Fr David lives, works, and minsters in the Benedictine charism, which underpins his Police and NHS chaplaincies, the Oratory of St Etheldreda, and the Community, and live-streams Vespers most evenings.
Like his chaplaincy work, the Oratory of St Etheldreda isn’t a fixed place, or a building, but is the “ekklesia” in its truest sense of being every place he encounters people, engaging with them whoever they happen to be and wherever they happen to be.
Fr David is part of Sister Joan Chittister’s “Monasteries of the Heart” movement, which seeks to help people build a monastery – a place of retreat, calm, and safety – in their hearts through work, service to others, contemplation, and the rhythm of prayer throughout the day with the contemporary Benedictine Breviary.
Fr Adrian Friel O.S
Fr Adrian lives and serves the people on the north coast of Northern Ireland through his pastoral work in the Oratory of St Ann and St Martha. He was ordained a priest on the 21st May 2024. In Corrymeela centre for peace and reconciliation in Ballycastle. On the 19th June 2026 Fr Adrain was incardinated into the Old Catholic Apostolic Church. And became a priest of the Oratory Society.
Fr Adrian’s mission is one of inclusion respect and dignity for all.
Fr Adrian has over 20 experience in dementia care in his professional life therefore, it is fitting that his chosen specialist ministry is to provide spiritual dementia care and end of life spiritual care. He is a chaplain to a nursing home providing spiritual care to the residents and families.
He broadcasts weekly Mass and Wednesday evening prayer and reflection time through Facebook and YouTube. Fr Adrian believes that social media opens religion to people who maybe not feel comfortable in the confines of a church building.
I will never forget you I have carved you in the plan of my hand. Isaiah 49:16
Fr Stephen Crossan O.S
Fr Stephen was ordained a priest on 31st August 2008.
He has ministered in various parishes in his home diocese and was chaplain to Craigavon Hospital for some years.
Fr Stephen also trained as a prison chaplain in Mountjoy and Arbour Hill prisons in Dublin.
Stephen gained his B.A and B.D degrees at Maynooth College and also completed his Masters in Pastoral Theology with Clinical Pastoral Education in 2008. He has his Higher. Diploma in CBT from Ulster
Univeristy 2016.
Fr Stephen has a deep reverence for the Holy Eucharist and devotion to Our Lady and St Michael whom he has named his Oratory after.
Stephen believes that the love of God especially coming to us through the sacraments should be open and available to all who seek them. He looks forward to working with his colleagues in the Oratory in building the vital ministry on the years ahead.
