From Social Worker to Working
in the Vineyard of the Lord: Mark Thompson

I’m currently discerning a call to the priesthood and have been invited to share with you something of my experience as a mature enquirer. I’m proud to be a Plymothian, and I was baptized and confirmed at the RC Cathedral in Plymouth and attended St Boniface Primary and St Boniface College.  From an early age I felt the sense of a calling to the priesthood and attended numerous vocation retreats, however I made a life of service within the secular world whilst always keeping the integrity of the Gospel.     

After graduating from University, I trained as a specialist within substance misuse and dual diagnosis in London working with both young people’s services and adult provisions.  I was also an elected Councilor for the London Borough of Merton, and as an active environmentalist I was proud when the London Borough of Merton won the ‘Green Apple Award’ for the greenest Local Authority in Great Britain where we went to Downing Street to collect the award.  I have worked front line and at management level and currently am managing a project to support young people with complex needs towards independent living ‘changing lives one by one’.   

I can see how powerful the Holy Spirit is in the tapestry of my life leading to the point of discernment, although I am a late potential candidate for the priesthood at the age of 55 years old, I feel God our Father is calling me to higher office.  As part of the discernment process, I supported and helped with a HCPT group pilgrimage in August, led by my Vocations Director, Fr Ralph. I found the experience very spiritual, visiting the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes near the site of St Bernadette’s vision and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.  One of the significant parts of the trip for me was supporting a group of disabled people to attend the baths and immerse themselves in the miraculous water.  I also was bathed fully emersed and it reminded me of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land Israel, where I emersed myself in the river Jordan; it was a spiritual ‘ecstasy’ where I felt the real presence that we feel when we partake in the Eucharist.  The late Pope Benedict 16th said Israel was ‘the fifth gospel where the prophets and our Messiah walked’. I also had a glimpse of the gift of heaven not just in Israel but also at Lourdes. I feel we all received a gift and experienced the message left by Holy Mary to Bernadette which was we all drank and bathed at the source of peace, faith and healing.     

Currently I am exploring the next stage of my discernment, which is the Ministry Experience Service (MES) on a part-time basis, enabling me to both earn an income (to pay the mortgage!) and to sample parish life in Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay.  After the MES year (and if I am accepted at the forthcoming Selection Conference next year) I hope to attend the Beda Seminary Rome for four years to train for the priesthood.  One of the salient memories whilst in Israel which is very relevant was a passage from the Torah ‘Love to the loveless shown that they may lovely be’.  A true message of the coming Jesus (Messiah) who is love and shows us how to transform our lives into his selfless all-embracing love to follow him. 

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