Fr. Jim was ordained in June 1993, he was appointed assistant priest at St. Edward’s, Whitley Bay the following August and he died in March 1994.
His life was short, but it was very full and very fruitful. His real vocation in life was teaching, and when he had finished that and could look forward to a well-deserved rest, he continued to respond to the call to be a priest.
We (the people of St. Edward’s) were very fortunate that we had him for the whole of his life as a priest. It was a very special time. For the whole of that time he must have been a sick man. There was a lack of energy which didn’t allow him to be as involved as he would have liked to have been.
But he loved celebrating the Eucharist and administering the Sacraments. He united his own physical weaknesses and frustrations with the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, and that made his Masses very special.
It was only after Christmas that we noticed a loss of appetite and weight and when it was investigated at the beginning of February, it was discovered he had inoperable stomach cancer. That was a great shock to him and to us. The discovery was made a month before he died. He made the journey from shock to complete resignation within that month. That month was very special to me. We both decided that even though he had cancer, he wasn’t dying of it, he was living with it, and would continue to live and serve to the very end.
Each day I visited him in hospital and prayed with him, and he prayed for us. He knew he would need nursing care right to the very end, and he decided to go to the Little Sistcrs in Sunderland where he would receive professional care and be surrounded by a very loving and God-filled presence.
He was very close to his own family. They were able to visit him every day. He died peacefully, loved into eternal life.
While Fr. Jim’s stay with us was very short, it was very fruitful because of the number of lives he touched. He may not have been with us long enough to teach us how to live, but he was with us long enough to teach us how to die.
His body was received into St. Edward’s, Whitley Bay on Friday, 18th March. The concelebrated Funeral Mass took place the following morning at St. Cecilia’s, Sunderland and was followed by burial in the family grave at the local cemetery.
May he rest in peace.
(The above was written for St. Edward’s parish magazine by the Parish Priest. Fr. Dick Cass).