Michael Seed - Vocation

Vocation

In his youth Seed was involved in several different Christian denominations, including Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, the Salvation Army and the Baptist Union. Eventually, at the age of 18, Seed joined the Society of African Missions in 1976 and spent a year at the novitiate in Cork (city) in Ireland. After the novitiate he went to the SMA's house in New Barnet in north London and attended the now-defunct Missionary Institute in Mill Hill along with members of several religious congregations which prepare men for a lifetime of service to the poor of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Seed struck up a relationship with the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement (the Society of the Atonement) who ran a library close to Westminster Cathedral and eventually left his missionary society and joined the Franciscans, taking his first vows in 1982. He was ordained a priest on 18 January 1986 and, in 1988, Cardinal Basil Hume assigned him the post of Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs at Westminster Cathedral. Whilst at Westminster Cathedral, Seed assisted numerous people, including MPs Ann Widdecombe and John Gummer in their decision to enter the Catholic Church. He celebrated Masses for the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his family, prior to Blair's conversion to Catholicism in December 2007. He also has many connections with celebrity figures such as Charles Kennedy and Terry Wogan. In 2003 Seed was painted by artist Christian Furr who has done a portrait of the Queen.