Obituaries and tributes of people who are Catholic or who have a strong connection with the Catholic Church.
One of St Teresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity, Sr Sienna, died in Swansea this week with Covid 19. Sister Sienna, aged 73, served at the Hostel for the Homeless in Swansea in the Diocese of Menevia. The Hostel of the missionaries of Charity was one of the last places established personally by Mother Teresa. Last Friday, 27th March Sr Sienna was admitted to Morri...
Christopher Kelly, Passionist priest, born Belfast, 2 April 1919; died London, 23 March 2020.
Fr Chris went to his eternal reward, just one week short of his 101th birthday. He passed away peacefully at Nazareth House Nursing Home in North London. Christened Francis Joseph Kelly, he was born in Belfast on 2 April 1919, one of seven children to parents Michael and Margaret Kelly. His older...
Emeritus Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith has died.
Archbishop John Wilson writes: It is with great sadness that I write to inform you that Archbishop Peter Smith, our beloved Archbishop Emeritus, died peacefully just before midnight yesterday, Friday 6 March 2020, at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Chelsea.
Archbishop Peter had received the sacraments and prayers of the C...
Ernesto Cardenal, the radical Latin American priest, poet and revolutionary has died. He was famous for defying the Catholic Church in the 1980s by serving in the revolutionary Sandinista government of Nicaragua. His suspension from the priesthood by St John Paul II lasted over three decades.
Known for his trademark black beret and loose white peasant shirts, the author of works such as '...
Fr Martin Newell CP, gave the following homily at the funeral of Fr John Sherrington CP in Minsteracres in 20 February 2020.
A long time ago, someone said that to understand John Sherrington, you always have to remember that he was an artist first. And then of course he was a Passionist. And then an ordained priest. As a Passionist, the image that John seemed most fond of was th...
Mary O'Neill died in Welwyn Garden City in January at the age of 99. Her funeral was on 12 February at her parish of Holy Family. Here her son pays tribute to a woman who was a long-time CAFOD volunteer and participant in Catholic People's Weeks.
Faith, family, friends - a tribute to Mum
I had a number of quite jokey conversations over the years with mum about what...
Mgr Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese gave the following homily at the Funeral Mass of murdered seminarian Michael Nnadi on 11th February 2020 at Good Shepherd Seminary, Kaduna. Michael was just 18 years old. The homily was widely reported across Nigeria. 1. We have gathered around the remains of Michael in supplication but also as solemn witnesses to the penet...
Father John Sherrington was a designer, Passionist priest-worker, street sweeper and trade unionist, anti-apartheid activist and domestic carer, friend of Catholics and other Christians living with HIV and AIDS, Passionist Provincial and finally a good neighbour in Byker estate, Newcastle. He was gentle, sensitive and quiet. He was also a passionate, determined and radically prophetic presence ...
Paschal Somers writes:
Our beloved friend and brother Fr John Sherrington CP died peacefully last night at St Joseph's Care Home in Newcastle after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease.
John had been sitting up and was comfortable earlier in the evening when his friend Fr Barrie visited. But he had been getting progressively weaker over the past week. John's passing will...
Dr Edward P Echlin, eco-theologian and organic gardener, died just before Christmas at the age of 89 years. We in the UK churches have lost a great advocate of "ecological conversion". The natural world has lost a dedicated friend.
I have known Edward and his wife Barbara since Christian Ecology Link (or CEL, now Green Christian) was founded in the early 1980s.
He spoke at conferenc...
The founder of HCPT, Brother Michael Strode died today, Friday 27th December at the age of 96.
Doctor Michael Strode, or Brother Michael as he was called after he became a Cistercian monk in later life, was born in Woking, Surrey, on 5th June 1923. He trained to be a doctor at St Thomas's Medical School, London, qualifying in 1946. In September 1945 he was received into to Catholic Church...
Fr Giancarlo Politi, a Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) missionary died last night. He worked for a long time in Hong Kong and China, building strong and stable links with Chinese bishops and Catholic communities. He was also formerly editor of 'Mondo e Missione' - the monthly magazine of PIME, and of AsiaNews.
Fr Politi was 77; he had been a PIME priest for 53 years. Two ...
The funeral took place on Wednesday 27 November in Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath of Irish missionary, Fr Michael Sinnott, who was kidnapped in 2009 by Islamic militants in the Philippines and held for 32 days before he was released unharmed.
He died in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan on 23 November, the feast of St Columban, patron of the Missionary Society of St Columban.
Fr Sinnott was ...
Emeritus Bishop Brian Noble of Shrewsbury has been laid to rest in a Wirral churchyard after a vigil Mass and Requiem Mass. In keeping with his wishes, the 10th Bishop of Shrewsbury, the vigil Mass was celebrated in Shrewsbury Cathedral and his funeral at the Church of St Michael and All Angels in Woodchurch, the Wirral.
Preaching at the vigil Mass in the company of Archbishop Bernard Lon...
