Principal
Father Jonathan Baker SSC is the Principal of Pusey House. He read English at St John’s College, Oxford, and completed two years of graduate work in early modern poetry before moving to St Stephen’s House to read Theology in preparation for ordination. He was ordained Deacon in 1993 and Priest in 1994 and spent the next ten years in parochial ministry - seven as them as Incumbent of Holy Trinity, Reading and St Mark’s, Reading - before returning to Oxford and to Pusey House in 2003.
The Principal’s main areas of theological interest lie in ecclesiology, sacramental theology and the theology of ministry. He edited the volume Consecrated Women?, published by Canterbury Press, a contribution, from an Anglo-Catholic perspective, to the present debate in the Church of England over the ordination of women to the episcopate. He is a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, of its Faith and Order Advisory Group, and of the Liturgical Commission. He is also a Guardian of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Father Jonathan is an experienced advisor in the field of vocation; he serves on the panel of Vocations Advisers in the University and the Diocese of Oxford, and is always pleased to meet those exploring a sense of vocation to the ordained ministry or the religious life. Married to Jacqueline, a publisher, he has two sons and a daughter, and looks forward to welcoming all those to Pusey House who will not come between him and the teapot at breakfast.
Custodian of the Library
Father William Davage SSC was born, brought up and educated in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was a schoolmaster at the Robert Smyth School in Market Harborough before training for the priesthood at S. Stephen's House, Oxford. He served his title at S. Hugh of Lincoln, Leicester. He was appointed Priest Librarian and Custodian of the Library at Pusey House in 1994.
He is also the Patronage Secretary of The Society for the Maintenance of the Faith and a member of the Council. He is a Council Member of the English Clergy Association. He is on the Editorial Board of New Directions and contributes to the Arts pages. He is a priest of the Society of the Holy Cross and a Priest Associate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. He is a member of several Catholic societies including the Church Union and the Society of King Charles the Martyr.
He edited In this sign conquer: A History of the Society of the Holy Cross 1855-2005. With Father Orford, he edited Piety and Learning: The Principals of Pusey House 1884-2002: Essays presented to The Revd Philip Ursell: and with Father Baker, Who is this man? Christ in the Renewal of the Church.
Archivist
Father Barry Orford was born in Manchester. He trained for the priesthood at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and was ordained in the Diocese of Monmouth in 1973, serving in the Church in Wales for eight years. He spent fifteen years as a member of the Community of the Resurrection in Yorkshire and after working for his doctorate came to Pusey House in 2001. His doctoral thesis was a study of Henry Parry Liddon, the friend and biographer of Dr Pusey and the leading figure in the foundation of Pusey House.
Apart from his work as Archivist, Fr Barry has a commitment to the ministries of Spiritual Direction and Confession, as well as a concern for the place of the Consecrated Life (the monastic or Religious Life) under vows in the ministry of the Church.
Fr Barry originally considered being a musician, but changed his mind on discovering how many people were better at music than he was. However, he keeps his musical interests alive and has a particular liking for French and English music of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. He has even been known to compose the occasional small piece. He enjoys walking when he has the opportunity, and at all times actively pursues the avoidance of noise.