Bernard Longley - Early Life and Ministry

Early Life and Ministry

Bernard Longley was born in Manchester and was educated at Xaverian College in Rusholme. He later studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and New College, Oxford. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton on 12 December 1981. He then served as an assistant priest at St. Joseph's Church in Epsom and as a chaplain to psychiatric hospitals.

Longley became Surrey Chairman of Diocesan Commission for Christian Unity in 1991, and National Ecumenical Officer at the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales in 1996. From 1987 to 1996, he taught dogmatic theology at St. John's Seminary in Wonersh. In 1999, he was named Moderator of the Steering Committee of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, as well as Assistant General Secretary of Catholic Bishops' Conference with responsibilities for Ecumenism and Interfaith Affairs.

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