DR Fernando Cervantes – BRISTOL FRATERNITY PRESIDENT 

VICE-PRESIDENT AND ARCHIVIST ON THE LAY DOMINICANS PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

I teach history at the University of Bristol but have had a marked interest in religion and theology ever since I first came to England in the early 1970s. I was then intrigued by the differences between the approach to religion in the Benedictine school I attended in London and the Jesuit school I had attended in Mexico City. What started as a somewhat anxious comparison of what seemed sharply contrasting approaches soon developed into a keen appreciation of the richness and diversity of the Catholic tradition.
My relationship with the Order of Preachers goes back a long way. I first came across them as an undergraduate in Oxford and later as a graduate student in Cambridge. I was particularly influenced by the preaching and writings of Simon Tugwell and later by the humour and friendship of Timothy Radcliffe, Bob Ombres, Herbert McCabe and David Sanders. During my frequent stints in Mexico I also frequented the Dominican house of studies at the University and was taught at postgraduate level by the brilliant Daniel Ulloa.
When Paul Williams had the idea of exploring the possibility of establishing a fraternity in Bristol, I expressed a cautious interest. It was only after a few monthly meetings, however, that I became convinced that this was just the right thing for me. I was admitted four years ago and made my final profession in November 2012. In 2014 I was elected Vice-President and Archivist to the Lay Dominican Provincial Council, and in 2018 President of the Bristol Fraternity.

Fr Richard Finn, OP – RELIGIOUS ASSISTANT

Fr Richard is a member of the Theology Faculty and the Classics Faculty at the University of Oxford, lectures in Augustine and Church History at the Hall and in Studium, and is Archivist of the English Dominican Province. He has previously served as Novice Master for the English Dominicans, and as a governor of St Mary’s University, Twickenham. He had been a member of the Las Casas Advisory Board for a number of years before taking on the role of Director of the Institute. See https://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/people/fr-richard-finn-op/

Mr Roger Bird – SECRETARY
I read law at Bristol University and subsequently qualified as a solicitor. After practising law  for some years I was appointed as a judge and sat for many years, finally  in Bristol, having a particular interest in family cases. I retired in 2015.
I was brought up as an Anglican but, from my mid-teens onwards, regarded myself as a devout atheist. I drifted back to the Anglican church in my mid-thirties and, by the time I was 40, was a regular member of the congregation of Wells Cathedral, where I was attracted by the beauty of the building, the music and the liturgy. Eventually I came to realise that my centre of gravity was the Catholic Church and that I could not enjoy the fullness of the catholic tradition where I was, and so I was received into the church in 1995 at Downside Abbey with the aid of Fr Michael Barnes SJ and Dom Sebastian Moore OSB. I became a member of the parish of Clifton Cathedral in 2010 and I heard about the Bristol Fraternity of Lay Dominicans. This interested me because I enjoy discussing and thinking about theology and there are few opportunities for this anywhere today. I soon realised that the Dominican way was ideal for me and I made my first profession in 2016. I made my final profession in 2019.

Professor Paul Williams – FORMATIONS OFFICER

Emeritus Professor of Indian and Tibetan Philosophy, and former Head of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Bristol. I am a Catholic convert, after over 20 years as an active practising Buddhist, impressed by Dominicans like St. Thomas Aquinas and Herbert McCabe and eventually convinced by the sheer beauty, rationality and truth of Catholic Christianity. A Fully Professed Lay Dominican since 2009. Founder and first President of the Bristol Lay Dominican Fraternity. Now I am very much retired!