BISHOP AT

Mgr. DINN'S
REQUIEM
BBy B. A. Harrington ISHOP DWYER of Leeds flew back from the Vatican Council to deliver the Panegyric
at the Requiem Mass for Mgr. Canon John Dinn, who died in
a Sheffield nursing home last week after being in a coma for
several days following a brain operation.
Mgr, Dinn, Provost of Leeds Cathedral Chapter and parish priest of St. Marie's, Sheffield, was horn in Bradford in October 1903. and had his early education at St. Bede's Grammar School there.
He was trained for the priesthood at Mount Melleray, Co. Waterford, and at the English College in Rome. where he was ordained after gaining EL double doctorate in theology and philosophy at the Gregorian University.
His service to the diocese from 1929 until his death was a combination of pastoral, academic and administrative work. He occupied the Chair of Dogmatic Theology at St. Joseph's Seminary. Leeds, from 1929 until 1936, when he was appointed Rector in succession to Dr. H. J. Poskitt, who had been made Bishop of Leeds.
YOUNGEST RECTOR.
At 33. he was the youngest seminary rector ever known in England. When the seminary closed at the outbreak of war he became Administrator of St. Anne's Cathedral and in 1941 was created a Privy Councillor.
His influence on the religious and civic life of Leeds was tremendous. He was Diocesan Director of Ecclesiastical Education. Catholic chaplain at Leeds University, chaplain t o the Catholic Social Guild and a member of innumerable civic bodies.
Bishop Poskitt appointed him Vicar-General in 1949, a role which threw additional burdens upon him during the bishop's long illness. He led the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Rome for the C.P.E.A. in 1950. In 1951 he moved to Sheffield and was appointed Domestic Prelate to the Pope. He relinquished the VicarGeneralship in 1957 and became Provost in 1959.
Mgr. Canon J. J. Kelly, VicarGeneral of the Diocese, paid this tribute to him: "Mgr. Dinn was a man of clear and concise mind. He brought influence of his training and learning to bear on the religious and civic life of the community. He was much respected by civic and non-Catholic leaders in Leeds. The diocese mourns the passing of a very great priest."
Dr. J. F. Taylor, Bishop of Sheffield, said of him: "Mgr. Dinn's courtesy and dignity sprang from a deep sense of vocation and were plainly the cause of the high regard in which he was held."