Reverend (Wing Commander) P A Owens VG RAF

The Reverend (Wing Commander) Paul A Owens was born in Halifax in 1961 and educated in Catholic Schools in Halifax until he entered Seminary in 1980. He studied at St Cuthbert’s College, part of the University of Durham between 1980 and 1986, being ordained deacon in on 29June 1985 and ordained to the Priesthood on 5 July 1986 for the Diocese of Leeds. After ordination, he worked in parishes in Bradford and Leeds, before joining the Chaplains Branch in 1990 under the then Principal Chaplain, Monsignor Michael Cassidy.

On completion of the Specialist Entrant and Re-entrant Course, Father Owens was appointed to TTTE Cottesmore, from where he was seconded to RAF Cranwell, Swinderby and later RAF Laarbruch. This was followed by tours in RAF Brüggen (from where he was detached to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia), RAF Leeming (with pastoral cover for RAF Linton on Ouse), RAF Kinloss (with pastoral cover for RAF Lossiemouth), followed by the sunshine of RAF Akrotiri. Father Owens’ next tour was as Staff Chaplain to the Chaplain-in-Chief (RAF) at RAF Innsworth, after which he was deployed to Ali al Salem AB in Kuwait, prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In Jan 2003 he was assigned to RAF Waddington, from where he was deployed to the Falkland Islands and this was followed by a tour as Chaplain at the Defence Academy, Shrivenham, where he very much enjoyed the demands of a cosmopolitan congregation and from where he was deployed to the Gulf. In 2008 he was assigned to his current post as Senior Chaplain DCAE Cosford.

In February 2010 Father Owens was appointed Principal Roman Catholic Chaplain and Vicar General of the Bishopric of the Forces.

Father Owens is a keen supporter of Leeds United and enjoys cooking, good food, good wine, travel and the opera. He looks forward to the time when he leaves the RAF to return to a parish where he can get a long awaited black Labrador.