Our father, whose art is shaping futures...

Father Phil Sumner

MARTYN MEETS... Father Phil Sumner: The man behind the collar.
PHIL Sumner has a number of nicknames, Father Phil being most popular for this widely-respected parish priest who has made such an impact in Oldham in the past decade.

He could also be known as The History Man . . . he arrived in Oldham in September 11, 2001 when events in New York were rocking the civilised world to its very core.

And this after he was ordained as a parish priest in Moss Side on November 9, 1989 . . . the day the Berlin Wall came down.

He was even born in Darwen, with all the historical baggage that name carries, and his uncle was John A Costello who, in 1948, declared Ireland a republic and set in train events in the Emerald Isle that resonate to this day.

I have to say, having spent more than two hours in the company of this hugely impressive man, in the cavernous presbytery attached to St Patrick’s RC Church in Oldham town centre, that the weight of history sits easily on his shoulders.

His curriculum vitae is extensive including two years in Canada where he became fluent in French as a consequence of the company he was keeping while studying marriage law, he has lectured on racial harmony in Barcelona, Johannesburg and Porto Alegre, Brazil, and once a month conducts a service in Cantonese in Manchester Cathedral for the city’s Chinese community.

Flock
I have barely scratched the surface of his skill set, so I hope you begin get the picture that Father Phil is much, much more than a humble priest tending his flock of Roman Catholic devotees in the parish of St Mary’s with St Patrick’s, to give the full official title of his domain.

He conducts services every Sunday at both seats of worship and though numbers at St Patrick’s have dwindled — my word, certainly not his — to around 300 with 60 plus at St Mary’s and more at the evening mass, these remain impressive congregations in an increasingly secular world.

Scroll back 10 years to when he arrived, reluctantly he will readily admit, into the embrace of riot-torn Oldham, the congregation at St Patrick’s was always in excess of 1,000.

He arrived in our midst, if not exactly dragged kicking and screaming, then certainly with a reluctance that has dissipated over time. “I was devastated to leave Moss Side, devastated. But I have to say that the generosity of communities in Oldham to my arrival was absolute. There was a tension, and at times it was palpable when I first came here and walked into a mosque and sat with 15 or 16 imams, but I was always made welcome.

“Ten years on we still have a long way to go, but we are making progress.”

His initial opposition was born not from a lack of respect for his new surroundings, more a sense of loss at leaving Moss Side, where he had spent 25 years as a curate and, finally, priest.

He still returns to his former stamping ground, attending a gym in the area every Friday evening and play badminton.

“When the bishop told me he was moving me to Oldham I have to admit I wasn’t happy — I didn’t believe my work in Moss Side was complete but the bishop was insistent that I was needed in Oldham.

“This happened in 2001 when the riots were at their height and the bishop wanted me here to use my experience of Moss Side to help shape a future Oldham,” he told me without a trace of arrogance.

He is content to let others judge and assess his contribution these past 10 years — he simply gets on with the job, drawing on his vast experience of life in Moss Side, including having his boss’s car stoned.

“The bonnet was damaged by a brick which cracked the windscreen and the parish priest didn’t even know I had borrowed the car!” he recalled with a disarming smile.

He smiles a lot, easily and comfortably, obviously content with his calling and now fully integrated into his new life and surroundings and Oldham.

We shouldn’t be surprised, for he is of Lancashire stock.

Religious

He was born in Darwen, near Blackburn, into a family of faith. His father Bill was a deeply religious man who converted into Catholicism when he married Maureen. Phil said: “They met at the tennis club and Bill, then a Methodist, had little hesitation in changing. He was basically a man of faith with an infectious enthusiasm for all things of the church.

“Dad was, is, a religious gypsy. He would take myself and my older brother Anthony to mass every morning before going on to work as a wages clerk at a local manufacturing works and we would go on to school.”

Phil knew, from the age of 11, that he would enter the priesthood — a far cry from his older sibling’s calling. “Anthony was sent away to a boarding school at the age of eight after he had learned that his school teacher had a fear of worms. He found a handful and rushed into the staff room one morning and the teacher fell of her chair.”

He laughed out loud while recalling this story, but quickly added that Anthony had “done alright” and now spends his time in semi retirement between his homes in this country and Vinaros, on Spain’s ruggedly beautiful Costa Brava.

But I got the distinct impression there is nothing about his life, so far, and he is a mere stripling of 59, that he would change.

For here we have in our midst a devout Roman Catholic who has never been to Rome, has not been anywhere near the venerated Vatican City and has little intention of doing so.

In fact, he has turned down opportunities not only to visit the Eternal City to work and study in the capital of Catholicism.

“I am a Church canon lawyer, and regularly sit on tribunals, and when I was invited to study I was offered Rome or Canada. I chose Canada and it was here that I learned to speak French, I had to, everyone else with whom I was working, studying and living communicated in that language,” he recalls.

On leaving his new friends made him a gift of a Beatrix Potter figurine frog, which he proudly showed me as one his prized possessions.

I suspect he is a man of few material possessions preferring instead to contribute. And what a contribution he has made.

In addition to his duties as chair of the Oldham Race Equality Partnership, a role he has held for 18 months, he is a leading figure in the Inter Faith Forum, working with Christians, Jews, Hindus and Muslims — in fact, every religious calling the borough has to offer — to help make a better Oldham.

I had the immense pleasure of being the master of ceremonies for the first ever Festival of Light, held in the now-demolished Pennine Way Hotel way back in the early part of the new Millennium and the festival has grown to mark a significant step in race relations.

Phil’s faith in the organisation is absolute, and is about to be put to the severest test. Funding has been cut from £85,000 a year to £30,000 and though the work of the forum will continue and, hopefully its influence will continue to grow, these are sure to be testing times for all involved in this pioneering, groundbreaking organisation.

Its work has been recognised by no less a body than UNESCO, which invited Phil and Fazil Rahim to speak in Barcelona and this led to the invitation to Brazil where Oldham was once again on the world stage held up as an example of what can be achieved.

So what does the future hold for Father Phil?

After 35 years at the coal-face of preaching does he anticipate “promotion” to the bishopric?

His head swayed back and he laughed loudly at my suggestion . . . “I was chair of the National Conference of Priests for England and Wales for three years and, on my appointment the revered church press published a headline suggesting the organisation was ‘lurching to the left’...

“So no, i don’t anticipate becoming a bishop and, to be honest, I don’t think I want to. I much prefer being true to myself, helping build relationships, working with people at street level.

“I am far too outspoken, really, to be a bishop.”