Derek Worlock

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Carmel Heenan
Personal details
Born
Derek John Harford Worlock

(1920-02-04)4 February 1920
London, England
Died8 February 1996(1996-02-08) (aged 76)
Liverpool, England
BuriedMetropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool
NationalityBritish
DenominationRoman Catholic Church
ParentsHarford and Dora Worlock
Previous post(s)Bishop of Portsmouth
MottoCaritas Christi eluceat[1]

Derek John Harford Worlock

Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Liverpool.[2]

Life

The coat of arms of Archbishop Derek Worlock

Worlock was born in

Roman Catholicism and raised their son in that faith.[5]

Worlock was a student at

St Edmund's College from 1934 to 1944. By this time the family home was in Winchester. As a small boy he was rebuked for "having an answer to everything", a trait that remained. He was ordained at Old Hall Green on 3 June 1944 as a priest of the Diocese of Westminster,[6]
seminarians being exempt from military service so they could be rushed through to serve as chaplains.

Not long afterwards, he was appointed private secretary to Cardinal Griffin, and assisted successive cardinal-archbishops of Westminster for almost two decades. He attended every session of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965.[6]

Worlock was appointed

consecrated at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth, on 21 December 1965.[6] While in Portsmouth
he set about renewing parishes, as well as undertaking the work of developing ecumenical relationships and the building of over 30 new churches in his diocese.

In 1976, he was appointed

Council of Churches of Britain and Ireland. Worlock contributed to the work of reconciliation after the Toxteth riots in 1981 and in the aftermath of the football stadium tragedies at Heysel in 1985 and Hillsborough in 1989.[7]

Worlock was committed to evangelisation and collaborated with his fellow Christian leaders, as demonstrated by the books Better Together and With Hope in our Hearts which he and his Anglican counterpart in Liverpool, Bishop

Roman Catholicism.) In July 1992, Worlock underwent major surgery for lung cancer. He survived long enough to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood two years later, before succumbing to the disease in 1996.[8]

Legacy

In January 1994, along with David Sheppard, he was awarded the

, but died of cancer four days after his 76th birthday and one day after the 20th anniversary of his appointment as archbishop, just a week before he was due to be invested.

On 11 May 2008, during the Christian Walk of Witness, the Sheppard-Worlock Statue in the form of two bronze doors was unveiled to honour both Worlock and David Sheppard. The memorial was designed by the sculptor Stephen Broadbent and was funded by public donations. The memorial is situated halfway down Liverpool's Hope Street, which joins both the Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Archdiocese of Liverpool". GCatholic.org.com. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  2. ^ Hebblethwaite, Peter (9 February 1996). "OBITUARY: The Most Rev Derek Worlock". The Independent. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  3. ^ "The Most Reverend Derek Worlock, C.H." (PDF). Archdiocese of Liverpool. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Worlock, Derek J. H." FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  5. ^ Hebblethwaite, Peter (9 February 1996). "Obituary: The Most Rev Derek Worlock". The Independent. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  6. ^
  7. ^ a b "Archbishop Derek John Worlock". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  8. ^ "Anniversary Mass for Archbishop Derek Worlock". Archdiocese of Liverpool. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  9. ^ Coslett, Paul. "Statue for two Bishops". BBC. Retrieved 15 June 2011.

Sources

  • Kay, David J. S. (2003). The People of St Edmund's College (The Edmundian Association).

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
John Henry King
Bishop of Portsmouth
1965–1976
Succeeded by
Anthony Joseph Emery
Preceded by
George Andrew Beck
Archbishop of Liverpool
1976–1996
Succeeded by
Patrick Altham Kelly