OBITUARIES 2010
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DEATH OF AN EX-PROVINCIAL
Br Noel O'Dwyer Departs this Life
In the early hours of Sunday, 24 January 2010, our Brother Noel O'Dwyer left us to go to his heavenly home. He was 84 years old and had spent his last years in St Francis Nursing Home, Glasgow, where he was cared for by the Franciscan Minoresses and died as a member of the community of Blessed John Duns Scotus in Ballater Street, which he still visited once or twice a week until the last months of his life.
Noel O'Dwyer was born in Newcastle, Co Tipperary, on 23rd May 1925. The youngest of eleven children he was baptised Richard. He entered the novitiate at Chilworth in 1946 and was ordained in 1953. He was a Guardian in Glasgow and Gorton and in 1975 he was elected Minister Provincial and served in this office for nine years. Later he was appointed General Visitator in Malta and South Africa. After a short time as Guardian in Ipswich he returned to Glasgow in 1985.
Read a profile of Noel O'Dwyer in Franciscan News for June 2007: click here and scroll down
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The Funeral
Br Noel's body was brought to our friary at Ballater Street, Glasgow, on the morning of Sunday, 31st January 2010, and the coffin was left open in one of the public rooms for private visits and prayers. On Sunday evening the coffin was solemnly conveyed into the church and placed overnight at the side of the altar. Br Michael Copps, Minister Provincial, presided at this ceremony and welcomed the many members of the O'Dwyer family who had come to be present. On the following day the funeral Mass was celebrated at 11.30 a.m. by the Minister Provincial in the presence of the Archbishop who assisted at the faldstool. There were many priests from the archdiocese and from the Franciscan Province who concelebrated the Mass and assisted at the burial which took place immediately after the Mass at Dalbeth cemetery followed by a reception at St Francis church hall.
To read the Provincial's Funeral Homily click here
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Br WALTER HOBSON IS RELEASED FROM LIFE IN THIS WORLD
- Fr Walter Hobson 1919 - 2010
In the early hours of Tuesday, 9th February 2010, our Brother Walter Hobson, over 90 years of age, was released from the sufferings of this life and called to his Father's home. He had been in hospital a number of times but died peacefully at home in Woodford friary where he had been since 1993. Fr Walter was born in Crewe on 24th April 1919 and entered the Order on 4th September 1937. He made his first profession on 5th September 1938 and was ordained priest on 24th February 1945. He first went to Craigmillar (Edinburgh), then successively to Manchester, Dundee, Hatch End (The Catholic Radio and Television Centre), Liverpool, Edinburgh, Aldridge (Birmingham), and again to Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
In 1995 on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee of Priesthood, the Provincial of the time wrote to him, "From your youth you have found fraternity in practice, unsung, not made a great fuss of, no elaborate theories, but just the life of friary and parish service. ... Thank you for the immense personal generosity with which you have steadily given yourself to every task you have been given or taken on. People will point to your years of office as the achievements. Far more important is the gentle perceptive and constant service of spotting what is needed, and doing it. You bring humour, joy, optimism and a tremendous compassion to the service of the little people."
Read the account of the celebration of Fr Walter's 90th Birthday click here and scroll down
The Funeral
Fr Walter's body was received into the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury at Woodford Green on the evening of Thursday, 18th February 2010, by the Guardian, Fr Austin Linus McCormack. On Friday morning at 10.00 a.m. the funeral Mass took place celebrated by the Minister Provincial and concelebrated by a number of priests from the diocese and from the Province. The Mass and the customary absolutions were followed by burial at St Patrick's cemetery in Leytonstone, where a large number of friars have been buried over the years. Those who were unable to go to the cemetery gathered in the Becket Centre after the Mass, while those who attended the burial returned later to the Friary and met together in the refectory. As in any family, the funeral of a Brother is always an occasion for the friars to get together.
To read the Minister Provincial's Homily at the funeral Mass click here
- The Guardian receives the body
- The cord is placed on the coffin as a sign of Br Walter's commitment to the Franciscan life
- The stole is a sign of his priestly ministry
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BR LESLIE ROBERTS, O.F.M., R.I.P.
On 28th February 2010 Fr Leslie Roberts died in Southmead Hospital, Bristol, where he had been taken from the Campania Care Home in Weston-Super-Mare. He died on the exact anniversary of the death of his twin brother Stanley, also a friar of our Province, in 1990.
For an appreciation of Leslie's life read the funeral homily by Fr Michael Copps, O.F.M., Minister Provincial click here
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