'PRIEST OF THE SILENT PEOPLE'

Sudden death of Canon Hayward
By Terence McQueen
CATHOLIC deaf and dumb people in all parts of the country mourned the death last week of "the priest of the silent people"—Canon W. J. Hayward, their National Chaplain for nearly 35 years. It was to very many of them a greater blow than the death of one of their dearest relatives, said Fr. Charles Hollywood, assistant to Canon Hayward at the Deaf and Dumb Mission, Old Trafford, Manchester.
Canon Hayward, 66, had been
working for the deaf ever since he lost his hearing as a young soldier in the first World War. Under a rehabilitation scheme for ex-servicemen, he worked first at Boston Spa Deaf Institute as a lay teacher, but his attach Canon Hayward, photographed during a retreat which he gave in sign language three months ago for 130 deaf and dumb Catholics from London and the Home Counties.
ment to the deaf became so strong during those years that he decided to offer himself as a priest for the deaf.
More than anything else, he said, he wanted to be a profitable servant of the Lord who made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. But no seminary in Europe could take him in for studies because of his deafness, and it was only after great difficulties that he was admitted to Oscott College and later the Leeds seminary.
When he was ordained with special dispensation Irons Rome in 1921. it was said that he probably had the distinction of being the only one in the history of the Church who had studied in order to be a priest for the deaf only. There were then only two small clubs for the Catholic deaf in the whole of England, and there was no other priest who could preach or hear confessions in sign language.
From the very start as a priest, Canon Hayward was the champion of the deaf's forgotten cause. He immediately started a dub for Catholic deaf in Manchester, and shortly afterwards began work for the deaf in the Tyne area. With help from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, centres in Birmingham, Leeds, Preston and London quickly followed, and Canon Hayward visited them all frequently. He also gave regular Missions in sign language, from Bristol in the south to Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Greenock in the north.
He kept in touch with all his people through a typewritten monthly news-letter which included a short. but always inspiring, little piece of spiritual guidance. Fifteen hundred copies of this went out monthly, many of them going to deaf and dumb people as far away as Australia and South Africa.
Wide acclaim followed his tireless efforts. He was principal guest of honour when the fifth convention of the international Catholic Deaf Association was held in New York, and local newspaper columnists welcomed him as "the famous English priest, dedicated to the silent people".
On the occasion of his silver jubilee, and in recognition of his work for the deaf, he was made an Honorary Canon of the Salford Chapter in 1953.
At his Requiem on Monday, in St. Wilfrid's church, Hulrne, Manchester, the coffin bearers were all deaf and dumb people. Nearly a hundred priests and nuns were present, among them the Vicar General of the Leeds Diocese, Mgr. Canon John Joseph Kelly, and Fr. Felix McAtarsney, Chaplain to the Deaf and Dumb in the London area. Also present was the Mayor of Blackburn, Aid. McNamee, and representatives from deaf and dumb schools in Dublin, Liverpool. Glasgow and Scorton.
The Panegyric, by Mgr. Canon William Sewell, was translated into sign language for the several hundred deaf and dumb people present by Fr. Hollywood.