Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Brian Newns, who died on

Sunday 18th October, aged 90 years. He was in the 63rd year of the priesthood.

The funeral arrangements for Father Newns are as follows:

Vigil Mass: Monday 9th November at 7.00 p.m.

St Oswald and St Edward Arrowsmith, Liverpool Road, Ashton-inMakerfield, Wigan, WN4 9NP.

Bishop Tom Neylon will be the principal celebrant.

Canons of the Cathedral Chapter will lead the reception of the body into

church and a celebration of Evening Prayer of the Dead at 6.30 p.m.

Requiem Mass: Tuesday 10th November at 10.30 a.m.

St Oswald and St Edward Arrowsmith, Liverpool Road, Ashton-inMakerfield, Wigan, WN4 9NP.

The Archbishop will be the principal celebrant.

Requiescant in Pace

Obituary

Brian Anthony Newns was born on 23rd April 1936 in Manchester, the son of Joseph and

Elizabeth Newns. He was educated at Leigh Grammar School and Wadham College,

Oxford. Following his university studies, he applied for admission as a student for the

priesthood, and he was sent to the Venerable English College in Rome, where he

completed his studies in philosophy and theology, obtaining a licentiate in the latter. He

still retained, however, the keen interest in history that characterised his time at Oxford,

as witnessed by his article Catholic Oxford, 1559-1603 contributed to the May 1961 edition

of The Venerabile.

He was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on 27th October 1963, whilst the Second

Vatican Council was in its second session. One of the fruits of that session was

Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. It is perhaps not

surprising, therefore, that following his ordination he was asked to pursue further studies

in liturgy. He left Rome for Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where he attended the Institut Catholique,

and obtained his diploma Peritus of Sacred Liturgy (PSL). He returned to the archdiocese

in the summer of 1966 and took up his first appointment on the staff of the senior

seminary at St Joseph’s, Upholland. He remained on the seminary staff until the departure

of the senior seminarians to Ushaw in the mid-1970s, at which point he joined the staff

of the newly created Upholland Northern Institute. More widely, he contributed his

liturgical expertise by serving on the archdiocesan liturgy commission from the mid1960s until 1981, and being its chairman between 1974 and 1977.

In August 1977, Fr Newns was asked to leave behind the institutional life and move into

parish ministry. For the next five years he ministered as an assistant priest and hospital

chaplain in the Southport area: firstly, at Holy Family (1977-79) and then at Our Lady’s,

Birkdale (1979-82). In September 1982, he took up his first appointment as parish priest

at St John Fisher, Widnes.

In September 1991, he succeeded the renowned Canon Francis Ripley as parish priest of

St Oswald’s, Ashton-in-Makerfield. This turned out to be by far his longest appointment,

as he ministered faithfully for 28 years as parish priest and custodian of the shrine of St

Edmund Arrowsmith. He loved the parish and was devoted to his parishioners, and it is

probably true to say that he would have been happy to die in harness. However, he came

to realise that this would not happen, and so he accepted the need to retire on health

grounds in September 2019. In retirement he continued to live for a short time in the

presbytery at Ashton, before moving into care at Ince Blundell and, finally, at Christopher

Grange, West Derby.

He died on 18th October 2026 aged 90 years and in the 63rd year of the priesthood.

May he rest in peace