Emmaus Partnership
Work is now well under way on creating a lasting memorial to the late Mgr Peter McGuire, former Vicar General of the Diocese of Leeds, and Dean of the Cathedral between 1981 and 2003.
Mgr McGuire was staying with friends in the Lancashire village of Parbold when he died unexpectedly but peacefully late in the evening of Tuesday, 13th January 2015, aged 82.
On completing his studies in philosophy, he transferred to the Venerable English College in Rome. He was ordained priest in Rome on October 28, 1956; one of his classmates ordained in the same ceremony was Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who was a close personal friend for more than 60 years.
Between 1957 and 1970, Fr McGuire served in a number of parishes in the diocese: St Marie’s, Sheffield (in the days before the Diocese of Hallam), St Theresa’s, Cross Gates, Leeds, and St. Anne’s Cathedral in the city centre.
In 1970 he joined the team at the Diocesan Catechetical Centre, established by Bishop Wheeler in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. The following year he was appointed Chaplain to the University of Bradford and in 1974 became the Diocesan Vocations Director, resident at Our Lady of Lourdes parish, Headingley. He was appointed a Prelate of Honour by Pope Paul VI in 1975.
From the autumn of 1976 until 1981, Mgr McGuire was the Parish Priest of St Brigid’s, Churwell. In the summer of 1981 Bishop Wheeler appointed him as Administrator of the Cathedral and later the same year as Vicar General of the diocese. He was also appointed a member of the Cathedral Chapter. For the next 22 years he was at the heart of events both in the city and diocese of Leeds,
and held in great esteem both by his own flock and by many people of other faiths and
none.
During his time at the Cathedral, it became a spiritual home to countless people who came from far beyond the parish itself but who found there a place of worship characterised by an atmosphere of warmth and welcome.
In addition, his careful stewardship of the fabric of the building during these years laid the foundations for the restoration and re-ordering of the Cathedral completed under Bishop Roche in 2006. He was, without doubt, one of the great figures in the history of the Cathedral over the past century and more.
When Bishop Konstant came to Leeds in 1985 he asked Mgr McGuire to continue as Vicar General and this he did for the next 18 years. In 2003 he stood down both as VG and (by then) Dean of the Cathedral.
In recognition of his long years of service in both capacities he was appointed a Protonotary Apostolic by Pope St. John Paul II in June 2003. From 2003 until 2006, he was Parish Priest of the Holy Name in Leeds and it was here he celebrated his Golden Jubilee of Priesthood. In 2006 he became Chaplain to the Sisters of Notre Dame at their Provincial House at Parbold near Wigan where he remained for the next five years.
In 2011, he returned to the diocese and took up residence with the Little Sisters of the Poor at Mount St Joseph’s in Headingley, where he lived in retirement, keeping in close touch with his family and very many friends.
The death of Mgr Peter McGuire was an occasion of sadness, not to say grief, across the Diocese of Leeds, and he is still held in deep affection by its priests, religious and lay people.
The memorial to Mgr Maguire has been designed by the Cathedral Architect, Richard Williams, and is being made in the workshops of Houghtons of York who specialise in high quality architectural joinery and fine woodcarving.
With joinery workshops based at Dunnington, York they directly employ a team of highly skilled joiners, carpenters and woodcarvers.
The memorial is being made from English Oak and will incorporate the mosaic panel that was the centrepiece of the pulpit that stood in the Cathedral until the reordering of 2005-6. It was originally designed for the old St Anne’s Cathedral in 1898, by John Francis Bentley, the Yorkshire-born architect of Westminster Cathedral.
The mosaic depicts the scene in St Matthew’s Gospel where St Peter is given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven by Our Lord, and will now establish a tangible reminder of the connection between Mgr McGuire and his patron saint.
On completion, the new memorial will be installed in the north transept of the Cathedral and formally dedicated during the summer of 2023.
For information about how to donate towards the cost of the memorial please follow this link:Â https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/heritage2022
Alternatively, please contact the Cathedral Office on 0113 245 4545 or office.cathedral@dioceseofleeds.org.uk
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