My name is Father Richard Duffield, the Catholic Chaplain to the University of York since September 2021 so this year I'm a third year and beginning to think I own the place!
When not in More House or around on campus I'm to be found at the Oratory, my community in the city. We look after St Wilfrid's in Duncombe Place, near the Minster. We also take care of St Margaret Clitherow's Shrine in the Shambles and St Joseph's Church in Clifton. I grew up in York. My parents began the university bookshop here in the 1960s. That vanished a long time ago. Do students still buy books, or read them, or is everything online? My degree was in English Language & Literature from a university "down south". I joined the Birmingham Oratory in 1986. After studies in Philosophy and Theology I was ordained in 1992. I'm impressed by anyone studying the harder mathematical and scientific stuff and willing to be challenged! Before coming back to York in 2013 I worked in Birmingham, Rome and Oxford. I like music (mainly classical but I'm open to being convinced by other stuff) and books, old churches and houses, walking in the Yorkshire countryside, travel, cooking food and eating it, preferably with a nice bottle of something white or red, though I am trying to lose weight. I love it that York students are always expanding my horizons and my tastes! You can contact me here or on my mobile number 07941 397245 or the Oratory land line 01904 624767 |