Remembering John Richards

John Richards died on the evening of Sunday 24^th May, a few weeks short of the sixty-fifth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. He had been ill for just over a year, an illness born with fortitude and faith.

When I went to visit John shortly after his diagnosis, he said to me, "You know, I feel I have been prepared for this all my life" He meant that he had been prepared for that moment by his life and ministry, by his faithful celebration of the Eucharist and his saying of the Daily Office. He sensed that he had been shaped and formed by his Lord, and was able in His strength to face what lay ahead. In just a few words it was a remarkable testimony to a faithful priest and to a faithful God.

John began his ordained ministry after training at Westcott House, Cambridge. He served as Curate in the border parish of Chirk (His predecessor was the poet R.S.Thomas), but shortly after priesting in 1944 he went to France as Chaplain to the Forces. It was a privilege to hear him preach on Remembrance Sunday. He knew for himself the experience of many in the pews and could apply to it the medicine of the Gospel.

After the war he served as Curate of Bollington in east Cheshire, and then as be Vicar of St Peter's, Macclesfield, before coming to Wirral to All Saints, New Brighton and then to Hoylake. In many ways his ministry at Hoylake epitomised classical Anglicanism - externally no "extremes", but a deep devotion, formed by the Eucharist, the Offices, and pastoral care not just for the gathered congregation but the whole parish. His years in Hoylake were not always easy, for it was in John's time that the decision had to be made to close the structurally unsafe Holy Trinity Church, but it was the place where John and Rachel felt they were much blessed and where they made many friends. On retiring to Meols John became something of an "elder statesman", and it is the measure of his professionalism that his successors did not feel threatened by the presence nearby of one who had made the parish so much what it was.

He ministered and assisted in many west Wirral parishes, but especially at St Bridget's and Caldy, where he won a place in our hearts. On a one-to-one basis he was an attentive and discerning listener and wise counsellor. His preaching, always in that rich distinctive voice, was illustrated by references to poetry, drama and novels (and not always referenced either, so that one could get distracted for a few minutes wondering what the source of the quotation was !), always relevant and illuminating. When celebrating the Eucharist, especially the Prayer Book Liturgy, one had the sense that John was not simply reading the texts (as if he could ever have done just that) but praying them - there was nothing showy or self-promoting, just a priest doing the very things that gave his ministry meaning and direction.

John's ministry was never formally recognised by an honorary Cathedral Canonry or other acknowledgement (which some of us found strange) but John was content to be a parish priest, army chaplain, husband, father and friend. We have been privileged to have him in our midst. The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner writes that a new priest's first celebration of the Eucharist is the beginning of an action that day by day or week by week will become part of his very being, until finally he is caught up in Christ for ever. I think of that when I remember our dear friend and Christian brother John. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Roger Clarke

July 2009