Bishop Dunn is buried in cathedral

BY ED WEST AND PETER JENNINGS
THE FUNERAL of Bishop Kevin Dunn of Hexham and Newcastle took place on Tuesday at St Mary's Cathedral in Newcastleupon-Tyne.
The Archbishop of Birmingham gave the homily at the Mass, saying that the Staffordshire-born bishop, who died on March 1, "was, in the very best sense, father to this diocese even though his time here has been short. A canon lawyer by training, yet he had such a big pastoral heart."
Bishop Dunn died from pneumonia in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at the age of 57.
His body was brought to the cathedral on Monday, where it lay so that parishioners could pay their respects.
At the funeral, which was followed by burial in the crypt, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham praised the bishop's passionate interest in Northumbria's Christian heritage. "Bishop Kevin quickly became part of the great spiritual family of the North-East" he said. "He would always talk, in these last years, of Aidan, Cuthbert and Bede. His passion for the potential of the little church on Holy Island led him to mount the campaign to have it restoted and enlarged.
"His commitment to raising funds for the Bede Chair of Catholic Theology at Durham University also tapped into that long and distinguished tradition of Catholic scholarship here in the North-East."
It was announced, after the bishops' death, that Durham University would hold an annual Bishop Dunn Memorial Lecture in his honour. Archbishop Nichols called it a "lasting tribute to Kevin".
Bishop Dunn had been in hospital for over a month after falling ill before Christmas, returning in February when pneumonia was diagnosed. His condition deteriorated and he died in his sleep in the intensive care unit of the hospital. His mother, Cath, 88, sisters, Elizabeth. Mary and Julia, and his brothers, Stephen and Peter, were at his bedside when he died. The Vicar General, Canon Seamus Cunningham, said prayers with Bishop Dunn's family at the hospital. "We are very grateful to the doctors and nurses at the Freeman Hospital," he said. "for the loving care and concern given to the bishop and his family throughout his illness."
The bishop had studied for the priesthood at Oscott College, Birmingham, where he was later to teach.
He was ordained to the priesthood at Our Lady and St Werbergh's Church in Clayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 1976, and served as a parish priest in Stoke-on-Trent and Walsall before becoming chaplain to Stuart Bathurst High School in Staffordshire. Fr Dunn later became chaplain to the Caribbean community in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, the Royal Infirmary in Stoke, and Staffordshire University.
After further study in Rome, he returned to England in 1991 and worked as a parish priest in Stafford before becoming fulltime episcopal vicar for the areas of Wolverhampton, Walsall, the Black Country and Worcestershire. A year later he was made a Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of St Chad and a member of the Episcopal Council in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Archbishop Nichols said: "As a priest he made an exceptional contribution to the life of the Archdiocese of Birmingham."
Fr Dunn was ordained as the 12th Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle by his predecessor Ambrose Griffiths at St Mary's Cathedral in 2004.
At the funeral Archbishop Nichols spoke about Bishop Dunn's firm Catholic background. He said: "He was one of a large family which was so firmly rooted in the faith and consistently gave him great support. Our prayers today are so obviously for his mother, Catherine. and all this wonderful family. But Kevin was a family man in the wider sense too. He had a marvellous ability to put people at their ease, to create around him a sense of belonging, a family sense, which was so precious."