Newtonian Paul Spellman was ordained a deacon for the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia at the Basilica of Saint Paul’s Rome, on the 13 June. He has been studying at the Pontifical Beda College since 2012.
The seminary specialises in candidates that have precious careers and are there slightly older. Paul will spend a final year in Rome, where he will complete his training as well as spend the year working as a deacon and in service to the community.
Paul is from Newton Aycliffe, where he visits regularly to see his parents. He went to school at St. Joseph’s Primary school here on the town and then to St. John’s in Bishop Auckland. He eventually trained to be a Secondary School Teacher, working in London’s inner-city schools for 18 1/2 years. However, his feeling of being called to priesthood has been with him since his teenage years.
This summer Paul will be in Great Yarmouth on his Pastoral placement, a slight change to last year when he spent the summer in Palestine. He is looking forward to serving the church and parish in Yarmouth, which is made even more special as it is the Church where his maternal grandfather was received into the church in 1942.
In September he returns to seminary to continue managing the college bar and common room as part of his in-house responsibilities and looks forward to being ordained a priest in Norwich’s Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist sometime next summer. After his ordination next year he will be living full time in his diocese though so far he has no idea where.
Main Image: Bishop Alan Hopes of East Anglia Diocese laying on hands at the point of ordination of Paul
Above Image: Paul with his parents Patricia and Terry Spellman and Bishop Alan
