New Regent Announced

Following the Provincial Chapter of the English Province back in March, the provincial has now confirmed the appointment of the Very Revd Dr John O’Connor, OP as the Regent of the Hall and Studium.

Fr John O’Connor grew up in Co Galway in Ireland and studied studied Electronic Engineering at NUIG, and completed a doctorate in applied superconductivity and electron microscopy at the University of Oxford. He entered the Order of Preachers in 1997. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2004 and served as a curate in London, a parish priest in Glasgow, and was Prior here at Blackfriars, Oxford.

Since completing his term as prior he has worked in our university chaplaincy in Edinburgh and has been superior of the House there. While there he completed a second doctorate in Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Since early 2019 he has been a Lecturer in Moral Theology at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow.

We expect Fr John to move to Oxford in late July or early August, and look forward to his rejoining Blackfriars at what will no doubt be a challenging time, as we prepare for an unpredictable Michaelmas Term!