By Isle of Wight Observer
Parishioners said farewell to Father Jonathan Redvers-Harris at a celebration at St Thomas’ Roman Catholic Church hall, Cowes, on Friday.
Father Jonathan, his wife Wendy, and their family, arrived on the Island in 2003 when he was appointed Vicar of Ryde.
He said: “Looking back on our eight years at All Saints’, Ryde, was great Church of England civic parish, with a strong choral tradition, dignified worship, a resounding ring of bells, and hosted many inspiring concerts.”
Then, in 2011, ‘seeking a fuller degree of Church unity’, as Fr Jonathan puts it, he and Wendy became Roman Catholics and Fr Jonathan was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
After much studying in his 50s, involving two masters’ degrees, Fr Jonathan received a Licentiate in Canon Law, and became the Ordinariate’s Chancellor, responsible for its legal work.
In his 14 years as a Catholic priest on the Island, Fr Jonathan has pastored a small Ordinariate community, assisted at St Mary’s Ryde, and then served nearly 12 years at St David’s, East Cowes, with 10 of those years also at St Thomas’s, Cowes. Father Jonathan and Wendy now head for north Norfolk, in semi-retirement, to be near ageing relatives and also their spiritual home of Walsingham, while he continues his ordinariate church law work.
He said: “We leave behind on this beautiful Island not only a family member, but many, many friends from all sorts of Christian communities, and beyond, and I now have to hand back my naval officer’s uniform after over 20 years as padre to the Sea Cadets Unit in Ryde.
“In particular, I shall miss my 12 years at Holy Cross Catholic Primary School in East Cowes, and the joys of playing ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’ on the electric guitar!”
Among all the gifts and expressions of kindness showered by parishioners upon the couple were two very special ones: antique port and starboard lamps.
He added: “These will forever remind us of our former maritime home, and guide us in navigating into semi-retirement.”