Our Priests

Fr Paul Creaner is a priest of the Oratory Society and a member of the Old Catholic Apostolic Church. He is part of the clergy team serving The Oratory in Belfast, a small Christian community rooted in the Catholic and apostolic tradition, with a particular concern for those who have felt pushed out of church life or unwelcome in church.

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Fr Paul was ordained by the late Bishop Pat Buckley on 28 January 2018 and has served The Oratory since then. Over those years, the ministry has grown quietly through regular worship, pastoral presence, conversation, and the steady work of gathering people around the Eucharist.

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The life of The Oratory is shaped by the great patterns of the Church: prayer, Scripture, sacrament, pastoral care, and service. The Eucharist stands at the centre of that life. It is there that the community gathers around Christ, receives grace, and is sent back into the world to live with greater compassion, courage, and faithfulness.

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For Paul, tradition is not a museum piece. It is something living, something received with gratitude and carried into the present with care. The Oratory takes seriously the faith handed down through the Church, while also recognising the real lives, questions, hopes, and hurts of the people who come through its doors.

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The ministry of The Oratory is grounded in a simple conviction: Christ is still calling people, still healing people, and still making room for those who thought there was no room left for them. Its worship is Catholic in shape and sacramental in heart, but its welcome is broad. Some people come with strong faith. Some come uncertain. Some come after difficult experiences of religion. Each person is received with respect.

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The Oratory remains small, but there is life, honesty, and hope in it. Week by week, through Mass, prayer, preaching, pastoral care, and human fellowship, Fr Paul and his colleagues continue the work of building a community that is faithful to the Gospel and attentive to the world around it.

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The aim is not to build something grand for its own sake. It is to nurture something real: a Christian community where people can come before God without pretence, and find that the Church still has room, mercy, and grace enough for them.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 

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