Canon John McNamara, Ph.L. was ordained priest in 1965. Regarding his time
at Holy Innocents', he w
rites:-
I was appointed Parish Priest of Holy Innocents' by Archbishop Michael Bowen at Easter 1984, to succeed the well-loved Father Michael Phelan, (R.I.P.). The two curates were Father Ernest Bonvini and Father Sam Abela. The first concern was to clear the debt on the recently built new church. The response from parishioners was remarkable and it was cleared within about three years.
We soon instituted lay ministers of Holy Communion to be followed latterly by the ordination of two married Deacons, the Reverends Austin Martin and James Burleigh. We also recruited a team of hospital visitors who were most helpful and popular with patients. There was, and still is, a vibrant sense of openness and community in the congregation and it was with great sadness that I had to relinquish my post owing to my suffering a serious thrombosis following a hip replacement in 1990. However, fate and fortune have conspired to find myself living in Orpington with renewed ties with Holy Innocents' and all that goes with it!
John McNamara