FSSP Clergy in the British Isles

[Page updated in March 2026]

Bedford

Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP

Granted British citizenship under Queen Elizabeth II, Fr de Malleray was born in 1971 in Anjou, France, in a large practising Catholic family. He grew up in the Loire Valley, in the Diocese of Nantes. From thirteen to twenty-three, he lived in Paris for college and university studies, reading Modern Literature at the Sorbonne.

He left France in 1994 and never since resided in his home country. After military service in Budapest, Hungary, he entered St Peter’s International Seminary in Bavaria in 1995, where he was ordained a priest in 2001. Later that summer, he was sent to England, being assigned to St Bede’s Parish, Clapham Park, in the Archdiocese of Southwark. In 2004, he was appointed General Secretary of the FSSP, based at the General House of the FSSP in Fribourg, Switzerland. Fr de Malleray also became the General Chaplain of the Juventutem movement. He has been chaplain to the Juventutem London group since 2016.

In August 2008, Fr de Malleray was sent back to Our Lady’s Dowry, to set up the new permanent base of FSSP England in Reading, in the Portsmouth Diocese. As well as his daily ministry at St William of York Church, Fr de Malleray has been the editor of Dowry, the quarterly magazine of the FSSP in England since 2008. He also gives spiritual retreats to the laity and to the clergy. As Vocation director for the UK & Ireland, he leads the annual FSSP Weekend of Vocational Discernment. An author, he has had eleven works published, ranging from theology to literature and from fine arts to spirituality. In 2007 and for a dozen years, Fr de Malleray, was Chaplain of the Confraternity of St Peter (the 9,000 strong international sodality linked with the FSSP). Since November 2015, he was the Rector of St Mary’s Shrine in Warrington. While remaining the superior of the English apostolate of the FSSP, as of October 2023 he is in charge of the Gregorian Chaplaincy, the FSSP apostolate in Bedford and Chesham Bois. .

Warrington

Fr Matthew Goddard, FSSP

Fr Matthew Goddard was born into a musical family in Kent. Raised Anglican, he converted to Catholicism in 1988. After reading Theology at the University of Southampton he subsequently worked in the Social Care field in Southampton, Glasgow and Kent. His last role was that of Housing Manager for a national housing association, running ‘half way houses.’

He entered the Fraternity of St Peter’s international seminary in North America in 2002 and was ordained to the priesthood in May 2009. After 3 years ministering as Assistant Priest in the Fraternity of St Peter’s parish in Ottawa, Canada, he was assigned to Reading as Assistant Priest in July 2012 and has been leading the Community since September 2015. He was named the first Parish Priest of the personal Parish of St John Fisher, Reading, at its establishment in September 2018. Fr Goddard is also the Bursar of our English apostolate. In October 2023 he succeeded Fr de Malleray as Rector of St Mary’s Shrine in Warrington.

Fr Ian Verrier, FSSP

Fr Ian Verrier, an Assistant Priest at St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington, was born in Birmingham and raised an Anglican. He read Music at The University of Birmingham, during which time he became a Catholic.

He pursued postgraduate cello performance at The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Education with specialist string teaching at the RNCM and The Manchester Metropolitan University. He plays the cello, harpsichord, piano and organ.

He taught Catechism and Music whilst being Head of the Lower School at a Catholic boarding school in France, before entering the Fraternity’s international seminary in North American in 2008. There, among other duties, he was organist, led the polyphonic choir and a Gregorian chant schola. He was ordained to the priesthood in May 2015, served as an Assistant Priest in the FSSP’s Reading-based apostolate until the end of 2017 after which time he was reassigned to St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington where he is now Assistant priest.

Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP

Fr Homolya was born in 1990 in the Hungarian territory annexed to Serbia and studied in Germany. While completing his doctorate in computer science in London, he became involved in the traditional Latin Mass, took part in the Juventutem London group, and discerned with the FSSP. He joined our European seminary where, after a year of placement in Warrington, he was ordained a priest in 2024. He was assigned permanently in Warrington.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Fr. Brendan Gerard, FSSP

Ordained in 2006, stationed in Rome (graduating from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 2011), Wigratzbad (district house), and Saarlouis. Since 2022 Fr Gerard has been the superior of the Edinburgh apostolate, while still teaching Sacred Scripture remotely to our seminarians in Bavaria. He is chaplain to the Juventutem Edinburgh group.

Fr John Emerson, FSSP

Fr John Emerson was ordained to the priesthood in June 1981 and incardinated into the FSSP in November 1988. He started the FSSP apostolate in England in 1998, then based in London. He was in charge of our Scottish apostolate from 2000 to 2022, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he still resides as semi retired. Among various activities, Fr Emerson interacts with students and converts.

Waterford, Ireland

Fr Patrick O’Donohue, FSSP

Fr Patrick O’Donohue is originally from Co.Clare in the south-west of Ireland. Subsequent to receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy from the National University of Ireland, his time as a seminarian at the Pontifical Irish College earned him a theology degree from the Gregorian University in Rome. He was later awarded a Bachelor of Philosophy and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology, with a thesis topic centred on the theology of Pope Benedict XVI.

Following his ordination on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 2010, he served for four years as a university chaplain in Galway, after which he was assigned to parish ministry near Galway city. He spent a total of three years in the parishes of the Good Shepherd and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary prior to arriving at the FSSP’s Reading-based apostolate in September 2017. In September 2020 he left Reading to begin the FSSP’s first full time apostolate in Ireland, in the Diocese of Waterford.

Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate

Fr Coelho was born in Portugal in 1974. After some years as a Carthusian monk, he was ordained for the diocese of Evora and served as parish priest. Since 2023 he has ministered with the FSSP, first in Bedford for two years, and since October 2025 in Waterford.

Currently not in public ministry

Fr Alex Stewart, FSSP

Fr. Alex Stewart grew up in the North West of England and worked in Ireland during several years. He was ordained a priest at St Mary’s Church in Warrington on 17 June 2017, by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP of Liverpool. Fr Stewart served in the U.S.A. until the summer 2019. He is temporarily assigned at St Mary’s Warrington. Fr Stewart acted as Master of Ceremonies on countless occasions even when still a seminarian and his expertise in this field and others is greatly valued. Due to ongoing ill health, Fr Stewart is on permanent leave in his family. Please pray for his recovery.

Fr Gwilym Evans, FSSP

Originally from Wales, Fr Evans converted from Anglicanism after his studies at Eton and Cambridge (where he read Hebrew and Arabic). After working for several years in the classical music industry, he studied for the priesthood at our European seminary in Bavaria where he was ordained a priest in 2022. Fr Evans served in Reading and Warrington before being sent to Jerusalem for biblical studies.