THE
P RTAL
November 2018
Page 24
Mgr Paul Watson R.I.P.
M
any in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will be saddened by the news of the death of
Mgr Paul Watson, parish priest of St Benedict’s in Atherstone, Warwickshire and the Director of the
Maryvale Institute, Birmingham from 2000-2012. He died on Tuesday 16 October 2018, aged 69.
As the web site of the
Archdiocese of Birmingham
states, “Mgr Paul was the
second director of Maryvale
Institute, the internationally
acclaimed
distance-learning
centre in the Catholic faith,
specifically for the formation
of lay people in the Church. He
oversaw the life and work of the
Institute for 12 years, building
on the foundations laid by the
founding director Mgr Daniel
McHugh.
Mgr
Paul
strengthened
Maryvale’s academic standing
through new partnerships
with universities in the UK
photograph used with permission
and abroad. Whilst continuing
in its original role as the catechetical centre for the
Archdiocese, links flourished with countries including
Ireland, Scotland, the United States and Cameroon;
all places which Maryvale engaged in the work of
Catechesis.
It was during Mgr Paul’s time as director that
the Institute was granted ecclesiastical status and
established as a Higher Institute of Religious Sciences,
recognised by the Holy See as a place of learning that
combines academic excellence with fidelity to Catholic
teaching. It remains the only such institution in the
English-speaking world.”
When the first wave of Ordinariate clergy came to
the end of their initial formation at Allen Hall, those in
the Midlands continued their formation at Maryvale
under his direction.
“Mgr Paul’s areas of special interest as a teacher
included the scriptures and spirituality (which he
studied at a higher level during a two-year sabbatical
in Rome in the 1980s), as it is there above all that he
believed we encounter most closely the person and the
message of Jesus Christ.
As well as his teaching ministry at Maryvale, which
he continued even after he left, as far as his health
would allow, Mgr Paul was also
in demand as a visiting lecturer
around the UK and abroad and
he wrote extensively, reaching
a worldwide audience through
his reflections on the daily
scriptures in the monthly
publication Bible Alive.”
He was interviewed for T he
P ortal , and if you search our
archives, you will find a most
illustrative exchange.
Mgr Paul not only had a great
capacity for friendship, he had
a good sense of humour, and
was humble and holy, as well as
being learned. We pray for his
soul.