A rallying call has gone out to raise £5m to restore the Oxford Oratory’s Victorian base to its former glory.

Priests have launched the fundraising scheme for the Oratory at the Church of St Aloysius in Woodstock Road to restore the marble, stonework and stencilling of the original Victorian design and to add a chapel, a small garden and a library.

The project, Reaffirmation and Renewal, also aims to boost the Oratory’s choir and music group so that they can spread its Catholic mission by attracting more people to services.

A congregation of an oratory is a group of priests living without vows and the vocation is an unusual one.

Oxford’s was set up in 1990 and the growth in people attending services has led to the plan to refurbish the church and improve the Oratory’s services.

Father Richard Duffield, who is leading the campaign, said: “The Sunday masses are regularly attended by around 900 people, and many smaller groups come here for talks, or school day trips.

“The community has grown and the growth has brought with it a pressing need to restore our facilities and expand them.

“People often tell me they have been drawn here by the sense of peace. This work will enable us to provide a place of beauty and prayer and peace in the city, which has always been central to our tradition. The value of that cannot be measured.”

Priests at the Oratory are involved in different work in the community, including school, hospital, and prison chaplaincy, as well as weddings, baptisims and services held at the church.

The Oxford Oratory is one of only three in England. The first was founded by the eminent Catholic, Cardinal John Henry Newman, in 1848 in Birmingham, followed soon after by the London Oratory.

Cardinal Newman established two churches in Oxford — at Littlemore and at St Clement’s which are still in existence —but failed in his goal to found an Oratory.

In 1990, two priests from Birmingham arrived in Oxford to take over the running of the Church of St Alosyius. Attendances grew and in 1993 the Oxford Oratory became an independent congregation.

Fr Richard said: “The interest in John Henry Newman brings a growing stream of visitors, and so too does the musical aspect of our work. Presently the building lets us down.”

He said during the 1950s much of the church’s original features and decorations were painted beige and restoring the paintings, marble, stonework and ceiling stencilling would make it more attractive to people to attend.

A designated space for the choir to practise and space to store hundreds of important texts is also planned.

There will also be a chapel dedicated to Newman for services for smaller groups.

Fr Richard can be contacted at The Oratory, 25 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HA, or on 01865 315816.