The Fathers of the Oratory at Birmingham are appealing to the community for funds to replace multiple boilers facing decommissioning after 30 years of service. These boilers not only provide hot water to buildings in the complex but also supply the heating for our Parish Halls, in which so many of our various groups and activities meet.

Upkeep of our beautiful historic buildings not only costs time, but also no small amount of money. The Fathers feel a duty to maintain them properly, yet at the same time must do so in a financially realistic and responsible manner. For this reason, they are appealing to your generosity to cover the enormous cost of £88,000.

The Oratory House and Cloisters date to broadly the 1850s, being built during our own Saint John Henry Newman's lifetime. As in his day, they serve the Fathers, parishioners and the wider community in a variety of ways, as spaces for catechesis, instruction, spiritual guidance, and even Parish celebrations. Keeping these spaces well-heated is thus of vital importance to our work.

Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman was an English convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism in the 1840s, having risen through the ranks at Oxford University. He converted to Catholicism in 1845 after an intense period of prayer and study, finally seeking ordination to the Sacred Priesthood in Rome and becoming a spiritual son of St Philip Neri there. On his return to England, he brought the Oratory with him, having received a mandate from Pope Pius IX to establish it in this country. The Birmingham Oratory is the first fruits of this endeavour of Newman's, carrying on his work as sons of St Philip Neri even to this day. In 1879, in recognition of his life's work and journey, Pope Leo XIII elevated then-Father Newman to the rank and dignity of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. He died in 1890, having spent all of his later life in this very place in Birmingham. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI declared him Blessed while on a State Visit to England, and Pope Francis canonised him in 2019.

On 1 November 2025, All Saints Day, St John Henry Newman was solemnly declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV, for his profound teaching on a variety of subjects, such as education, conscience, the development of Christian doctrine, and Faith and reason.