Blacksmith turned Prinknash screen maker dies

From the bishops' diaries
SILVER jubilees (golden even more so) are taken seriously by priests, just as they are by married couples, and are seen as suitable occasions to thank God for the gift of a life devoted to the priestly ministry.
Bishops, when they can, often go along to concelebrate at
' thanksgiving masses and join in the festivities, and this week sees Bishop Joseph Gray of Shrewsbury attending the golden jubilee mass of Fr Bernadine Comerford at St Francis'. Chester, on Friday morning.
Meanwhile amongst the many silver jubilee celebrations to be attended by bishops this week is that of Fr Michael Donnollan of St Joseph's, Neath, when Bishop Daniel Mullins of Menevia will join guests for a mass on Tuesday evening.
The same day Bishop Howard Tripp, auxiliary in Southwark, will be in Hartley, Kent, for the silver jubilee of Fr John Ryan, and Bishop Cormac Murphy
:O'Connor of Arundel and Brighton will be at St George's, Polegate, for the 25th anniversary mass of Fr Dermot Keaveney, having spent
• Thursday with another golden : jubilarian, Fr Edmund O'Shea . of St John's seminary, Wonersh.
" And Bishop James O'Brien, auxilary in Westminster, attends : Fr Joseph Finnegan's golden jubilee at St Joseph's, Carpenders Park, on Saturday.
• Meanwhile Bishop Augustine • • Harris of Middlesbrough spends
• Sunday with Catenians and their families for a day of recollection
• at the cathedral, and Bishop : Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth will be at the diocesan RE . centre in Southampton on . Sunday for a workshop on
• music and the new order of Christian funerals.
Obituaries
FORMER blacksmith Dom Patrick Bergin, who turned his hand to making altar rails and church screens after he joined the community at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucester, has died at the age of 76.
Dom Patrick was born in Tipperary, Ireland, and became a lay brother at Prinknash in 1956. There he used skills he had learned in his earlier trade as a blacksmith to make the wrought iron screens and altar rails which can be seen today in the Prinknash Abbey church. Further examples of his work are in Clifton cathedral, St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, and in the Catholic church in Neath in West Glamorgan, Wales.
A WHITE Father who was imprisoned by the Nazis during the second World War has died aged 76.
Fr John ("Jack") Maguire, who was born in Manchester, joined the Missionaries of Africa, or White Fathers, in 1931 after St John's College at Southsea.
He was ordained at Carthage, North Africa, in 1938 and was appointed to the White Fathers senior missionary college at Rossington Hall in Yorkshire. He was in Brittany in 1940 with a group of students when the Nazis invaded, and the party was interned for the rest of the war.
The group, which included 17 students, continued their studies and spiritual life while in the prison camp, and the experience, though arduous, enriched the remaining 47 years of Fr Maguire's life as a priest and missionary.
He was twice superior of the White Fathers senior missionary colleges, and was also provincial treasurer, provincial superior of the UK and Ireland, and superior of the congregation's community in Rome.
Fr Maguire became a soughtafter retreat-giver, and guided many religious congregations and communities towards fulfilling their vocations in the world of today.
LEADING Catholic journalist Michael Fallon, who was the Edinburgh news editor of the Catholic Herald's sister paper the Scottish Catholic Observer, died recently aged 83.
Cardinal Gordon Grey said he regarded Mr Fallon, who joined the Edinburgh Catholic Herald at the age of 14 as a copy boy, as "the best Catholic journalist in Britain".
In 1936 Mr Fallon became editor of the Scottish edition of the Irish Weekly, a job he held for 46 years. In 1971 he was awarded the Bene Merenti medal to commemorate his contribution to Catholic journalism in Scotland.
Following the closure of the Scottish edition of the Irish Weekly, Mr Fallon moved to the Scottish Catholic Observer. AN ecumenical evening of prayer for Londoners is being held at Westminster cathedral on June 6 at 7.30 pm. Cardinal Hume will be joined by the leaders of the Anglican, Baptist, Black, Methodist, Orthodox and United Reformed churches, and the Salvation Army.
ADULTS and young people aged 18 and over who work with or would like to work with youngsters within the Arundel and Brighton diocese are invited to apply for a place on the Youth Leadership Course 1991-2. The course, which is based on three residential weekends, will be held at Maryvale Pastoral Centre in Guildford. For more details contact the Diocesan Youth Officer, Maryvale Pastoral Centre, Snowdenham Lane, Bromley, Guildford, Surrey GUS ODB.
THE parish of St Francis de Sales, Longfield, is planning a jubilee celebration which will take place between June 6-9. A programme of events will take place to recognise this year as the year of vocations to the priesthood, and coincidentally to mark the 25th anniversary of the parish priest of St Francis de Sales, Fr John Ryan MBE. For further details, please contact Barry Bunting on 0474 834214.
THE interfaith programme of the diocese of Westminster's North London Pastoral Area are holding a residential course entitled "Living Judaism" between July 12 and 14. For more information, please contact Chris Lawson on 021 472 5171.