Augustine Harris
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2014) ) |
Styles of Augustine Harris | ||
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Reference style The Right Reverend | | |
Spoken style | Your Lordship | |
Religious style | Monsignor |
Bishop Augustine Harris (27 October 1917 – 30 August 2007) was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough and former Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool.
Thomas Augustine Harris was born in
After six months as a curate at
He was a member of the Vatican Delegation to the United Nations' Quinquennial Congress on Crime in London (1960) and Stockholm (1965). Throughout his life, Bishop Harris maintained a personal interest in criminology and published a number of articles in this field.
On 11 February 1966, Augustine Harris was consecrated Bishop of Socia and Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool by Archbishop
On 20 November 1978, Msgr. Harris was appointed as Bishop of Middlesbrough. It was Pope John Paul II's first episcopal appointment in the British Isles. Among his many projects in Middlesbrough diocese, Bishop Harris carried out a major reorganisation of Catholic schools and established four diocesan pastoral centres which have responsibility for assisting the renewal of parish community life. As Bishop, he produced pamphlets including This Decade is Forever for the Decade of Evangelisation, and Serve the Lord with Gladness (his own personal motto) as a reflection of his years in the priesthood.
Bishop Harris acted very much in the ecumenical spirit engendered by Vatican II. While in Liverpool there were instances of his approval of Catholic priests assisting at the baptism of children of mixed confessional identity in Anglican churches with the baptism then registered of parish churches of both confessions.
He consecrated Middlesbrough's Cathedral in 1998 which incorporated many of his suggestions to the architect on the church design. In 1980 he promoted a free monthly diocesan newspaper,
Bishop Harris served as liaison Bishop between the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Prison Department at the Home Office, was Episcopal Moderator to the Federation Internationale des Associations Medicales Catholiques (1967 to 1976), and was President of the Commission for Social Welfare (1972 to 1984). He was Episcopal Chairman of the Commission for Radio and Television, President of UNDA (the Catholic broadcasters' association) in England and Wales, and a member of CRAC, the religious advisory body for the IBA and BBC.
Bishop Harris had a variety of broadcasting experience, including a series of appearances for
In January 1992, Pope John Paul II accepted Bishop Harris's resignation, tendered in anticipation of his 75th birthday in October 1992 (75 is the statutory retirement age for bishops). The resignation was accepted and Bishop Harris remained in office until his successor, Bishop John Crowley, was appointed in November 1992.
In his retirement Bishop Harris returned to his native Liverpool where he continued to serve the Church and administer the sacraments. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of his ordination as bishop, on 11 February 2006, Bishop Harris concelebrated Mass with Bishop John Crowley, his successor in Middlesbrough, and Msgr. Ricardo Morgan, at the time the Vicar General of the
On 22 June 2006, the formal celebration of this event was held in the
In retirement Harris lived in Formby, and later at Ince Blundell Hall, where he died on 30 August 2007, aged 89.