Bishops

Rt Rev. David Oakley

A profile of the Catholic Bishop of Northampton, Rt Rev. David Oakley.

Bishop of Northampton

David James Oakley was born on 28 November 1955 in Stourbridge. He is the eldest of five children to Joyce and Fred Oakley.

The family moved to Birmingham when David was seven years old. After school, he worked in a well-known department store and entered Oscott in September 1974.

Fr Oakley was ordained priest on 5 July 1980 and has served in several parishes within the Archdiocese of Birmingham. He has always suggested that the parish is his natural habitat.

Fr Oakley studied catechetics at the Maryvale Institute and was awarded a MEd degree. He was appointed Pastoral Director and Procurator at Oscott in 1994. During this time he researched a PhD thesis in Pastoral Theology, which was later published.

As Parish Priest at Maryvale, Fr Oakley directed the diocesan Department for Parish and Family Catechesis, developing resources in collaboration with CaFE. At the same time, he undertook licentiate studies in the Pontifical University of St Patrick’s, Maynooth and was awarded the STL degree.

He served as the twenty-third Rector of St Mary’s College Oscott – a seminary in Birmingham for training priests for ministry in England and Wales.

He was ordained the thirteenth Bishop of Northampton in the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury on Thursday 19 March 2020.

Link

For a more detailed biography, visit the Diocese of Northampton’s website.