Canon Jim Pannett

The parish priest of St John the Baptist is Canon Jim Pannett. Canon Jim, who was ordained in 1962, has been the parish priest since 1996.

He has had a varied ministry having been chaplain to the Armed Forces, sixteen years as cathedral administrator to mention but two of his appointments. Canon Jim has also been dean of the Croydon area churches and is very involved in ecumenical work with Churches Together initiative. Canon Jim supports Charlton Athletic.

Email CanonJim@johnthebaptistpurley.org.uk

Telephone 020 8660 3815

Mobile 07939 005807

Father Gregory Verissimo

Rev. Gregory-Mario Verissimo is a priest of the Diocese of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. He trained for the priesthood in Ss Peter & Paul Major Seminary Bodija, Ibadan, Nigeria. He was ordained on 13th July 2002.

Until his appointment to our parish he was pastor of St John Vianney parish, Iperi-Remu in Nigeria. Apart from pastoral ministry, he was seconded to the Josephites, an Afro-American Society of Apostolic Life to work with the team for formation, recruitment and training Nigerians to join the Josephite ministry of evangelisation among the African-American communities in America.

Telephone 020 8660 1419

Canon Frank O’Sullivan (retired)

Tel: 020 8763 6113

Father Brendan McQuillan

Chaplain to The John Fisher School, St Philomena’s and Richard Challoner Schools.

Deacon Joseph Parsons

Telephone 01737 554883 (home)

Deacon Peter Rennie

Deacon Peter was born and grew up in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. He moved to the UK in late 2000 with his wife Ruth and their two daughters. They moved to Purley in early 2001. Peter has been a member of the SVP since 2003 and discerned a vocation to the Diaconate in 2005 while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

His formation programme started in September 2006 and he was ordained at St John the Baptist on 13 June 2009 by Bishop Paul Hendricks. He is also in ministry at Canary Wharf where he works in IT. Peter maintains two other websites for the Catholic Church in Canary Wharf, http://www.cwcc.org.uk and for the Permanent Diaconate Formation Programme, http://www.diaconate.org.uk.

Email DeaconPeter@johnthebaptistpurley.org.uk

Mrs Liz O’Donnell

Parish Secretary. 48 Dale Road, Purley CR8 2EF.

Email office@johnthebaptistpurley.org.uk

Telephone 020 8660 3815

Mr Alan Watson

Jezebel Mason-Pannett

Another resident of the presbytery is Jezebel. We are not sure which order she belongs to but they wear a full-length black habit and their Rule seems to include lots of dog biscuits.

If you see her wandering the streets engaged in acts of charity such as cleaning up the neighbours’ bins, please direct her back to the presbytery for penance.

Telephone 020 8660 3815