Long-term future of pair of Catholic churches in doubt after retirement of veteran priest

A meeting was held to discuss the future of St Mary's, Standishgate, after Fr John Johnson stood down from active ministry at the end of last year due to ill health.

The meeting, which was for parishioners only, was a chance for people to share their thoughts and concerns with Fr Gordon Abbs, dean of the Wigan and Leigh deanery, and Fr Philip Inch, episcopal vicar for pastoral organisation and synodal implementation.

Following the meeting, it was announced by the Archdiocese of Liverpool that a review of all the buildings would be undertaken urgently and a small committee will be formed to continue "necessary conversations”.

St Mary's is within 200ft of another Catholic church – St John's. They were built originally in a spirit of competition with each other and were completed in the same year, 1819. They are also both grade II*-listed buildings.

The Catholic church has long suffered from a recruitment crisis, with the number of new priests dwarfed by the number of retirees.

Suggestions such as allowing women to become priests – which has long been the practice in the Anglican church – or alternatively scrapping the requirement for celibacy or allowing married men to become priests have so far failed to make any headway.

Fr Johnson was first ordained as a priest in 1967 and after appointments as assistant priest in various parishes (including at St Oswald’s, Ashton) was parish priest at St Mary’s for 32 years.

He was originally from Scot Lane, Wigan, and before entering the ministry worked as a butcher. He is well-known to many as the uncle of Wigan rugby legend Shaun Edwards.

Fr Johnson's retirement at the age of 85 was announced at all churches across the deanery of Wigan and Leigh after it was accepted by the Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Rev Malcolm McMahon.

Under Fr Johnson's stewardship, St Mary’s became one of the few town centre churches to remain open during the day for visitors to call in for private prayer, along with daily mass.