Convert who discovered “beauty” of Catholicism is ordained priest

A Protestant who discovered the “richness and beauty” of the Catholic Church as a teenage convert, was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Down & Connor at the weekend.

Fr Andrew Black (27), who was baptised into the Church of Ireland, was ordained at the Church of St Colmcille in his native Holywood, Co. Down by Bishop Noel Treanor in a ceremony that had standing room only.

Fr Black, the second from the diocese to have converted from another faith, began to discover his faith when he was just 14-years-old and within two years he had converted to Catholicism.

He told The Irish Catholic that when he was “seeking to deepen my own faith” he found a sense of continuity and security in the Catholic Church as an “unbroken chain” that “received the teachings directly from Christ himself”.

He was also encouraged by Catholic friends “to pray and understand the richness and beauty of the Catholic faith” and through their witness he saw the “joy the faith brought to their lives”.

Fr Black said the support he has received in the run up to his ordination was “very overwhelming” and he felt “carried by people’s prayers”. “I felt so much grace has come from that and such a joy to be a priest. I really feel I am continuing to do what God asked me to do,” he said.

Fr Black entered St Malachy’s Diocesan Seminary in 2007. Since he was ordained a deacon last May, he has worked in the Parish of Holy Family.

He has also worked as a hospital chaplain in Belfast City Hospital and St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin.

The Diocese of Down and Connor has nine students studying for the priesthood, including Rev. Conor McCarthy who will be ordained in St Anne’s Parish in June.