+ DEREK ESMOND FATHERS +
1927 – 2007
On the wall of the Parish Office is
a collage of photos of the Parish Conference in October 2005. There are photos of the discussion groups, of
interactions over coffee and of all the different conversations that make up
such an important event of planning and fellowship. In many of those
photographs we see Derek Fathers, in animated conversation or quietly and
attentively listening and encouraging. For this writer they express something
of the person whom we knew as Derek our friend and priest.
Derek was very much an encourager,
be it in his preaching, which was homely and rooted in experience (and how
fitting it was that he should have preached at Caldy only a few days before he
died), or his reflections on parish practice and policy, or be it, as many bear
witness, in prayerful counselling and holy listening. His priesthood, begun as
tutor at St Aidan’s College, Birkenhead, continued in this Parish in the
building up of St Michael’s Newton, fruitful in so many years at Thornton
Hough, then at Arrowe Park
Hospital, and finally in retirement here in West Kirby was a bearing and
imaging of Christ the true Priest. We and many others have cause to thank
God for his grace in our brother Derek.
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The work as the first full-time
chaplain at Arrowe Park particularly needs to be noted. The Diocesan
authorities had, I am told, to work hard to convince the Health Authority that
the chaplaincy should be full time. By the time Derek retired the case had been
well proven, and he had earned the respect of medical and administrative staff
for his care and commitment, and his willingness and ability to share ministry
with volunteers and part-timers, lay and ordained. He laid the foundations of the effective
chaplaincy we see at Arrowe today.
Derek was a scholar too, with a
capable mind, always seeking and enquiring. He taught New Testament to
ordinands at St Aidan’s, and later to those preparing for Reader ministry
(including our Curate to be, Tina Upton) and he was not afraid to grow and
change in his understanding, and through his reading, pondering and praying.
Derek had a facility with languages, which stood him in good stead again and
again, in his national service, in his ministry, and in retirement also. He had
in recent years learned Welsh, and, to the envy of this writer, was able to
watch “Pobl y Cwm” (the
Welsh-language “soap opera” on S4C) without having to avail himself of the
English subtitles !
Derek the family man was never far
away, for he was very much at the centre of his family, husband to his beloved
Hilary, father to Jeremy (himself now a priest), to Simon and Deborah, and so much loved by his grandchildren.
For a life of so many facets, and
for the privilege of having known him we give thanks to our God for Derek and
pray with confidence that he may rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.
Roger Clarke
February
2008