Bishops Diaries

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Leeds visits Rome until Wednesday for the Promulgation of the Catechism for the Catholic Church, while for several of the bishops there is an early start to the festive season this week.
Cardinal Basil Hume attends a carol service for school children at Westminster Cathedral, while Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood attends another at St Thomas's Hospice, Brentwood on Saturday. Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville of Birmingham will be at an international carol service at Carrs Lane Church, Birmingham, while his auxiliary, Bishop Philip Pargeter, attends a Christmas dinner at Besford Court. Liverpool auxiliaries, Bishops John Rawsthorne and Vincent Malone attend a schools' carol service at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on Thursday. Bishop Kevin O'Brien, auxiliary in Middlesbrough, visits an innercity crib in Middlesbrough next Saturday afternoon.
Race relations matters are on the agenda for Bishops Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth, John Crowley, auxiliary in Westminster, Charles Henderson, Howard Tripp and John Jukes, auxiliaries in Southwark, James O'Brien of Hertfordshire and John Rawsthorne who attend a bishops' conference workshop on race awareness. Bishop Hollis also attends a meeting of the BMA Ethics Committee, while Bishop Henderson attends a silver jubilee Mass at Southwark Archdiocese's Irish centre.
In the education arena, Archbishop Michael Bowen of Southwark meets with the South London Schools Committee on Tuesday, while Bishop John Brewer of Lancaster opens new classrooms at Our Lady's Primary School, St Annes on Sea. Bishop Ambrose Griffiths of Hexham and Newcastle celebrates Mass for religious education teachers at St Mary's Cathedral. Archbishop Couve de Murville blesses a new building at Hagley High School on Thursday while Bishop Vincent Nichols of North London attends a meeting at the Office of Standards in Education on Monday. The latter attends a conference entitled "Visible Unity" in Windermere, Cumbria, next weekend.
Also in the ecumenical world, Cardinal Hume preaches at a City University Ecumenical service at St Paul's Cathedral on Monday, while Bishop Leo McCartie of Northampton attends Methodist/ Catholic Commission meeting in London. In Wales, Bishop Daniel Mullins of Menevia celebrates Mass at St Michael's, Brecon, to mark the 350th anniversary of Fr William Lloyd's arrival in the region, while Bishop James Hannigan of Wrexham hosts his diocesan priests' council in Llanduduno on Tuesday. Elsewhere, Bishop Christopher Budd of Plymouth is on a sabbatical until February.
Obituaries
A COLOMBIAN priest whose regualar television slot earned him the popular nickname of Telepadre has died. Fr Rafael Garcia Herreros had a regular audience of millions for his nightly TV broadcast in Colombia, El Minute, de Dios "God's Minute".
Born in 1909, the son of a general, he studied for the priesthood in Switzerland and Rome. He began his "God's Minute" programme on the radio in 1950, focusing public attention to the growing problems of poverty in is homeland. He was also a tireless fundraiser, hosting Columbia's rich and famous annually for a charity banquet where they would eat bread and soup but pay for a luxury meal. The banquets have raised the funds to pay for more than 20,000 homes in the past three decades. He attracted both the anger and praise of fellow countrymen for his often surprising stand on public issues, the most noticeable being the negotiations between the police and infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar.
FATHER Gerry Fallon, a priest serving in the Portsmouth diocese has died at the age of 69.
Fr Fallon was born in Whitehaven in Cumbria in September 1923, but he was really a Scot. He studied for the priesthood at St Peter's College, Cardross and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Glasgow in June 1956.
He served in two parishes Si Jude's, Barlank and St Brendan's, Yoker for 11 years. He then migraed south to the Portsmouth diocese to become assistant priest at Sacred Heart Church in Waterlooville, Hams. In 1974, he moved to St Joseph's, Havant, where he remained for eight years. After a short spell at St Mary's, Alton, Fr Gerry was appointed parish priest at Ss Mary and Philip, Fordingbridge, Hants, where he remained until his death on 4 November.
His funeral was at Ss Mary and Philip on 24 November and he was buried in the church grounds.
DOM Augustine Greene died at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and was remembered at a requiem mass at Fort Augustus, Scotland.
He was born in Co Tipperary, Ireland, in 1916 and was educated at the Abbey School at Fort Augustus, entering the noviciate in 1934. He completed his studies at Edinburgh University and was ordained in 1944.
He served his entire ministry at Fort Augustus, teaching French and Latin at the Abbey School. He had two terms of office as headmaster. For the last two decades, he was novice-master and prior. For more than 20 years, he also celebrated Christmas and Easter with Catholics on the Island of Canna, in the Inner Hebrides.