Scotland: Bishop Emeritus Maurice Taylor has died

Bishop Maurice Taylor

Source: SCMO

Bishop Emeritus Maurice Taylor, the retired bishop of Galloway and the oldest Catholic bishop in Great Britain has died at the age of 97. Bishop Taylor, who grew up in Lanarkshire and served in the Army Medical Corps at the end of the Second World War, was ordained in 1950. He was the Rector of the Scots College in Valladolid, Spain from 1965 to 1974. He served on the Episcopal Board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) and was its chairman from 1997-2002.

He was nominated Bishop of Galloway in April 1981 and ordained bishop by Cardinal Gordon Gray on 9 June 1981. He retired in May 2004. He was latterly resident in the Dundonald House Nursing Home in Kilmarnock, where he died on the evening of Wednesday 14 June.

Reacting to the news, the President of the Bishops' Conference Bishop Hugh Gilbert said: "I was saddened to learn of the death of Bishop Emeritus Maurice Taylor and offer heartfelt condolences and the promise of my prayers for the repose of his soul to the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Galloway, whom he served so fondly."

Former Bishop of Galloway and currently Archbishop of Glasgow, Archbishop William Nolan said: "As a young priest in East Kilbride, Bishop Maurice Taylor led a very active and vibrant parish, inspired by Vatican II. As a Bishop he had an energy that few could keep up with and as a retired Bishop he was very active in the diocese until recent years supplying for Clergy . He managed to find time to write four books, which displayed his sharp mind and keen sense of humour. May his soul rest in peace."

Maurice Taylor was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, on 5th May 1926, the eldest of four children. He attended St Cuthbert's Primary, Burnbank; St Aloysius College, Glasgow and Our Lady's High School, Motherwell. He studied philosophy for two years in Blairs College, Aberdeen. After Military Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps in India and Egypt, he returned to his ecclesiastical studies in Rome where he was ordained a priest on 2nd July 1950 for the newly established Diocese of Motherwell.

After a year as assistant priest in Saint Bartholomew's, Coatbridge, he returned to Rome in 1952 where he received his doctorate in theology in 1954.

Another year as assistant priest followed at Saint Bernadette's, Motherwell, before he was appointed to the staff of Saint Peter's College, Cardross in August 1955. He spent the next ten years there, teaching philosophy and, later, theology.

From 1965 to 1974, he was rector of the Royal Scots College, Valladolid. To mark the bicentenary of the re-establishment of the college in Valladolid in 1771, he published a history entitled 'The Scots College in Spain' in 1971 and, the same year, was named Prelate of Honour to the Holy Father.

On his return to Scotland in 1974, he was appointed parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, East Kilbride, a position he held until his elevation to bishop.

He was nominated Bishop of Galloway on 4th April 1981 and was ordained by Cardinal Gordon Gray at an open-air Mass in the grounds of Fatima House, Coodham on 9th June 1981, the Feast of St Columba.

With his fluent command of Spanish and initiated by an invitation from the Catholic Institute for International Relations, Bishop Taylor became a regular visitor to Central America, raising awareness of poverty and other suffering experienced by the peoples of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica. On several occasions, he served for short periods in Central American parishes, an association which he described as one of the most enriching experiences of his life.

For more than ten years Bishop Taylor served on the Episcopal Board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) and was its chairman from 1997-2002.

Bishop Taylor led numerous pilgrimages to the Holy Land, a place for which he had great affection, showing solidarity and establishing friendships with the people who lived there.

In retirement, Bishop Taylor continued to celebrate Masses and deliver talks throughout the diocese of Galloway and beyond. He wrote several books on a variety of topics including an autobiography. Until his death, he was the oldest living Catholic bishop in Great Britain.

The funeral arrangements will be made known in due course.