Bishop John Crowley

Source: CCN

Following last week's announcement from the Vatican of the resignation of Bishop John Crowley as Bishop of Middlesbrough, the Catholic Communication Network issued the following statement yesterday.

The Holy Father has given permission to Bishop John Crowley to step down from his duties as Bishop of Middlesbrough on health grounds. The Rt Rev John Crowley will step down immediately and the College of Consultors will assume responsibility for the governance of the Diocese until a Diocesan Administrator is elected later this week (see below for process and responsibilities).

The Diocesan Administrator will run the Diocese until a new Bishop is appointed by the Holy Father. The Rt Rev John Crowley, who will now assume the title of Emeritus Bishop of Middlesbrough, informed the Diocese in a letter that was read out at all parishes on Sunday 6 May.

"My responsibilities as a bishop have been taking a big toll upon my health," said Bishop Crowley. "Much more than any physical wear and tear, it was the growing strain of those responsibilities upon my nervous resources which had begun to reach a point when I could no longer adequately cope. With that realisation came also the clear awareness that the diocese now needed someone else with new energy and vision to take on its spiritual leadership. To reach that conclusion was, as you might imagine, far from easy, but now that my request to stand down has been accepted by the Holy See, I do feel at peace with the rightness of that decision.

"There is of course a deep sadness within me at the thought of leaving a diocese and its people in unexpected circumstances, a diocese where I have felt so much at home, and one which it has been my greatest joy and privilege to serve as bishop. But I feel too and even more strongly a profound gratitude to God for all the blessings of these past 14 years, years which in the main have been greatly rewarding and happy ones. This is a lovely diocese to be part of, and one where there is so much happening to inspire well grounded hope for the future.

"A lot of new life and energy is beginning to break through at various levels, and some very exciting initiatives, for example, in Adult Formation and youth ministry. Above all there is such an abundance of good human and spiritual resources throughout the diocese which should inspire real confidence for the years ahead."

Once his health is restored, Bishop Crowley will look to continue his priestly ministry. Rt Rev John Crowley was ordained 12 June 1965 by Cardinal Heenan at Westminster Cathedral, following studies at St Edmund's College, Ware. After periods as assistant priest and seven years with the Catholic Missionary Society, he became private secretary for Cardinal Hume in 1976.

In 1982 he was made Vicar General of the Diocese and was ordained titular Bishop of Tala in Westminster Cathedral on 8 December 1986.

He was installed as sixth Bishop of Middlesbrough, 18 January 1993 by Archbishop Worlock in St Mary's Cathedral Middlesbrough.