Obituary

An old hand at the Mass

Leo Darroch remembers Fr Wilfrid Arthur Elkin

Father Wilfrid Elkin was born in Gateshead on 2 May 1935 and entered Ushaw College as a junior seminarian at age 11. He was ordained on 19 July 1959 for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and went on to serve in parishes in Sunderland, Newcastle, Consett, Ryhope, and Barnard Castle.

In his younger days, he and his father would go sailing off the Northumberland coast. Aptly, the boat was named The Welkin, derived from his name and was also a nickname given to him in seminary [Welkin: the celestial abode of God].

He was in Consett parish when the changes in the liturgy were introduced. At the time he was enthusiastic and encouraged everyone to welcome them. The congregation, however, was not as enthusiastic. He would sing “The Lord be with you”, and the response would be, “Et cum spiritu tuo”.

From Consett he was given his first parish at St Patrick’s, Ryhope, and was so admired by his parishioners that they successfully petitioned the bishop on one occasion to extend his stay there.

In many ways he was content with his simple life as a priest and was not one for golf or priest gatherings. He always had a dog for companionship and always from the local dogs’ home. He had diverse interests ranging from walking to keeping Koi carp, but he also kept up to date with modern technology and had a blog – named, appropriately, The Welkin. Despite being active in his community and being supportive of numerous activities he was naturally modest and reserved. He once said that he had no favourites among his parishioners – everyone deserved the same equal respect. But he also said, “I am obliged to love my parishioners, I am not obliged to like them”.

In the early 1990s the Latin Mass Society obtained permission for a weekly Sunday Mass at St Dominic’s Priory in Newcastle and Fr Elkin volunteered to assist. He said he had to look out his Latin books to refresh his memory, but he quickly got back into the swing of things. He then started to celebrate Mass regularly in his parish at Ryhope and trained his teenage servers in the rite. He was transferred to Barnard Castle in 2001 where, of course, he also reintroduced the ‘old Mass’. He commented once that as soon as he uttered the words of consecration, he envisaged the altar and sanctuary being surrounded by myriads of angels darting around like fireflies in joy in the presence of God.

In April 1998 Michael Davies visited his parish at Ryhope and gave a talk on the liturgical changes. In October of that year, he went to Rome to join the pilgrimage celebrating the tenth anniversary of the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei Adflicta. He greatly enjoyed the experience of mingling in Rome with hundreds of likeminded clergy and meeting Fr Josef Bisig, the superior of the Fraternity of St Peter.

He was a staunch supporter of the Catholic Truth Society and for more than 30 years he ran the CTS bookshop in Newcastle. This bookshop was quite independent of the diocese, and he was dismayed when he was obliged to adopt the diocesan charity number, thus losing its independence. This proved to be fatal when, in 2001, the bishop closed the CTS shop in favour of the bookshop at St Mary’s Cathedral. Fr Elkin was devastated and took legal advice on the matter but without success.

In 2010 the LMS organised a priest training conference at Ushaw College. Fr Elkin immediately volunteered to be a trainer. As a very experienced priest, who had been celebrating the ‘old Mass’ before the liturgical changes were introduced, he was very much the respected ‘old hand’. One of his young priest students from Glasgow, Fr Mark Morris, remembers Fr Elkin warmly for his great kindness, that he was tutored very well and that he was both very thorough and very specific in his teaching. Towards the end of 2010 the closure of Ushaw College was announced. Fr Elkin made the comment, “Ushaw College is my alma mater, and is an essential part of the Catholic Church in the North of England; it should not be allowed to close”. He joined The Ushaw Catholic Heritage Group, and a business plan was submitted to the relevant authorities but to no avail. Although the college closed as a seminary it has remained in Catholic hands, and its religious significance and its past as a place of education and learning has been retained. Father was so content in Barnard Castle that he stayed there in retirement. He died on 13 March 2021 and his sung Requiem in the Traditional Latin Rite was celebrated by Bishop Robert Burn, CO. There was a full serving team and choir and the retired Bishop, Seamus Cunningham, and ten fellow priests attended in choir dress. Requiescat in pace.

Fr Elkin offering Mass in St Cuthbert’s Chapel, Ushaw College