p01-17_covers 30/07/2021 15:33 Page 4
A new Bishop for Liverpool The Archdiocese will welcome its ninth Auxiliary Bishop when Canon Tom Neylon is ordained on 3 September. For Canon Tom Neylon, his upcoming appointment as the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s new Bishop ‘came out of the blue’. It began with a call from the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, summoning him to a meeting in Wimbledon. There, at the nuncio’s home, he learned that his days as a parish priest were over and that a new role beckoned as the ninth Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool. Currently parish priest at St Wilfrid’s in Widnes, Canon Tom will be ordained as a bishop on Friday 3 September at the Metropolitan Cathedral, but already he has gained a sense of the fresh challenge that awaits. ‘Since it was announced, I’ve had letters from bishops around the country and they’ve been very supportive, saying they’re praying for me and looking forward to meeting me and working together,’ he reflected. ‘I suppose that is encouraging as well. You’re part of a team of people that have got responsibility for the Church in England and Wales and seem to have a good way of working together. Before, the focus would be on the parish primarily and then the deanery you are part of and then the diocese, and the bishop has a broader horizon to be looking out on.’
4
Catholic Pictorial
Archbishop Malcolm McMahon underlined his own confidence in Canon Tom when announcing his appointment on 6 July. He said: ‘When I came to the Archdiocese in 2014, Canon Tom was already a Vicar General and trustee of the Archdiocese and his excellent pastoral and administrative skills have been invaluable to me in my ministry as Archbishop. He will now be able to use those God-given talents at a higher level in assisting me in taking the Church forward in the coming years.’ According to the Archbishop, the 63year-old’s experiences of pastoral ministry will serve him well. Canon Tom’s first appointment in 1982 was as assistant priest at St Cuthbert’s, Wigan, and four years later he moved to join the team ministry serving Skelmersdale. In 1996 he became parish priest at St Julie’s, Eccleston before also filling the same post at St Teresa’s, Devon Street, and English Martyrs, Haydock. He served as Dean of St Helens from 2006, as a Vicar General of the Archdiocese from 2007 and as a member of the Chapter of Canons of the Metropolitan Cathedral from 2008. Since September 2020, he has been at St Wilfrid’s. ‘He has always offered excellent pastoral care and been alongside his parishioners in times of need and times of joy –
‘He has always offered excellent pastoral care and been alongside his parishioners in times of need and times of joy.’ Archbishop Malcolm qualities which will serve him and the whole Archdiocese well in the coming years,’ said Archbishop Malcolm. Brought up in St Oswald’s Parish in Padgate, Warrington, where he attended the local primary school and then English Martyrs’ Secondary School, Orford, the Bishop-elect began training for the priesthood at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, at the age of 16. He had started exploring his vocation as an altar boy in his early teens when Father Bill Cook, a curate in his home parish, asked him, ‘Have you ever thought about becoming a priest?’. ‘It was a casual question, but it sowed the seed,’ recalled Canon Tom, who completed his training at St Cuthbert’s College, Ushaw, Durham. However joyful next month’s ordination as a Bishop proves to be, it will not be on the same scale as his ordination as a priest in 1982. After all, the then 24-year-old was ordained by Pope St John Paul II in front of 250,000 people in Heaton Park, Manchester, on Monday 31 May – the day after the Pontiff’s visit to Liverpool. ‘The focus of the Papal visit was the sacraments, so they made a decision about having priests ordained at Heaton Park,’ Canon Tom remembered. ‘There were six of us who were diocesan priests and another six who belonged to religious congregations. All the ritual that goes with ordination was shared among the 12 of us – the questions were asked and collectively we responded together. ‘On the Monday morning, which was a bank holiday, the Pope went by
