Canon John Marmion RIP

Canon John Patrick Marmion

Canon John Patrick Marmion, the oldest priest of the Shrewsbury diocese, died peacefully on January 20th 2023, aged 96.

He was born in Birkenhead in 1926 and studied for the priesthood at Ushaw College, Durham. He was ordained priest in 1951, serving as assistant in a number of parishes in the diocese before being appointed parish priest first in Market Drayton, Shropshire.

Fr John had a number of diocesan appointment including secretary of the Schools Commission and Diocesan Archivist. To prepare for these tasks he completed an MA in Keele ('The Legatine Synod of Cardinal Pole' unpublished, Keele, 1974), followed by an MEd in Manchester ( 'The Educational Principles of Eight Catholic Teaching Orders from 1550 to Vatican II, unpublished, Manchester, 1978) before completing his doctorate at Manchester ('Cornelia Connelly's Work in Education 1849-1879', 2 vols., unpublished, Manchester, 1984), work which resulted in a number of important articles in both the fields of education and post-Reformation history. All of this accompanied by the regular round of parish commitments. He was appointed Canon in 1984.

Feeling fit and active, he was a reluctant retiree, postponing his eventual retirement in 2004 for as long as possible, but refused to cease work, spending time working in priestly formation first in Burundi and Tanzania, later in Ethiopia, with little thought for the problems of hot climates and health insurance.

John was a man driven by a pastoral and missionary zeal, something which pervaded his life. He was perhaps the last of a generation of priests brought up on the outdoor collection and house visits, family by family, week by week, month by month. He wanted to draw people together around the celebration of the Eucharist. It was the same with his work with youth: organising long walks and pilgrimages in both Britain and Europe with no thought for caution or prior risk assessments.

Whether it was abseiling out of his bedroom window in Sale, with the rope anchored to his bed-post and just about missing the telephone wires, or enthusiastically leading groups across country or into the mountains, and leading was the word, his enthusiasm drove him to show that he, an old man, could outwalk or out climb the younger members of the group. There was a naïve innocence in all this - a truly, holy simplicity - that sometimes tottered on irresponsibility, for drivenness, as well as a strength, was also his greatest failing. Especially late in life, John could easily be moved to tears. I remember him weeping as he talked of meeting and talking with Padre Pio in Italy; many of us have witnessed a tear while he was preaching on a theme that touched his heart.

John had big ideas, which were not always judicious - he had a scheme for solving the problem of the shortage of priests; he had a scheme for solving the migrant question: after returning from Ethiopia one year, he was particularly concerned about some of his students exposed to violence and decided to appeal to the Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome - it would surely respond to his concerns. Unfortunately, he had not foreseen that it was a holyday in Rome and that the Jesuit Curia would be shut for the day - undeterred he managed to clamber into the locked building by some backway and collar a lone official to make his case. His enthusiasm was endearing, infectious, but not always comfortable or successful, and invariably, not a little disconcerting.

Such missionary zeal enveloped everything John touched and spilled out over those whom he encouraged to work with him.

May the drivenness which determined his life give way the gentle drawing of Christ's loving call. May he be drawn into the loving and healing embrace mystery of the Father's love. Let us remember him in the words of St Thomas More, whom John revered so much. Writing a last letter to his beloved daughter Meg just before his martyrdom in July 1535, More wrote: 'pray for me, and I shall for you and all your friends, that we may merrily meet in heaven'.

John's funeral, presided over by the Bishop of Shrewsbury, and attended by diocesan clergy, family, friends and parishioners, was held in St Michael and All Angels, Woodchurch, Birkenhead, on February 15th 2023, followed by burial in Fankby Cemetery, Wirral. God give him rest after his labours.

Peter Phillips