The Holy Name Church and the University Chaplaincy are served by the Jesuit Community here in Manchester. Currently there are three permanent members of the community, Fr Brendan Callaghan SJ, Fr Philip Harrison SJ and Fr Peter Scally SJ.
You'll also come across our Chaplaincy team which also includes Sister Alicia Pérez FCJ and our receptionists Adam Brocklehurst and Rebecca Counsell.
You may also meet the chaplaincy dog, a Border Collie called Penny.
FR BRENDAN CALLAGHAN SJ
Fr Brendan has spent most of his Jesuit life in university settings, but started life ‘living over the shop’, or rather the surgery, since both his parents were doctors in GP practice. Educated at Jesuit schools in the north-west of England, he had the good fortune to do a gap year in what is now Zimbabwe, teaching and working in a Jesuit school there, before entering the novitiate of the Jesuits in Edinburgh in 1967. Philosophy and theology studies at Heythrop were punctuated by five years of psychology at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow, leading to his qualifying as an NHS-trained-and-recognised Clinical Psychologist.
After his ordination in 1978, Brendan taught psychology of religion at Heythrop for thirty years, serving as Principal for thirteen of these years, before being appointed Master of Campion Hall Oxford for five years.
Alongside his academic work, Brendan was involved in Jesuit formation, living in the small communities of Jesuits dotted around London. He also worked in medical ethics, and was for a while the General Secretary of the Institute of Medical Ethics.
His early encounter with Africa, and subsequent friendships with South African Jesuits, led to a number of visits to South Africa over academic summers and during one sabbatical year.
From Campion Hall, Brendan was missioned in 2013 to the role of master (or director) of novices, looking after men embarking on the first stage of their Jesuit life. This work was disrupted by an encounter with cancer, involving initially emergency surgery but then some very uneventful chemotherapy; (score so far Brendan: 1, Lymphoma: 0).
And then came Manchester….
FR PHILIP HARRISON SJ
Father Philip Harrison SJ is a member of the chaplaincy team. Born in Bristol, he studied for a BA in English Language and Literature at the University of Leeds. He went on to become a full-time volunteer with the homeless in Glasgow and then people with disabilities in Liverpool. He then joined the Jesuits and had the normal formation including two years training as a teacher in Edinburgh and three years studying theology in Colombia. He also studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. In his spare time he likes hiking, reading and doing origami.
FR PETER SCALLY SJ
Peter is the Lead Chaplain at the Catholic Chaplaincy in Avila House and Holy Name Church on Oxford Road. He studied Philosophy & Politics at Sheffield University before joining the Jesuits and doing further studies at the Milltown Institute, Dublin, and Heythrop College, London. He spent a number of years developing online ministries such as Sacred Space, Pray-as-you-go and Thinking Faith and was a parish priest in Edinburgh for eight years before coming to Manchester. He enjoys fishing and music and is currently trying to learn the uilleann pipes.
