Gordon Wheeler

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named William Wheeler, see William Wheeler (disambiguation).

Reference style
The Right Reverend
Spoken styleMy Lord
Religious styleMonsignor
Ordination history of
Gordon Wheeler
History
Priestly ordination
Ordained by
Eugenio Cardinale (Nepte)
Co-consecratorsGeorge Brunner (Middlesbrough)
George Laurence Craven (Sebastopolis in Armenia)
Date19 March 1964
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Gordon Wheeler as principal consecrator
Gerald Moverley25 January 1968

William Gordon Wheeler (5 May 1910 - 21 February 1998) was an English

Titular Bishop of Theudalis.[1]

Early life

Wheeler was born on 5 May 1910 in

Anglo-Catholic tradition of the church in Worsley which he attended during his time at the grammar school.[4]

Career

Church of England

From 1932 to 1933, Wheeler trained for

Anglican priest in December 1934 by Edmund Pearce, Bishop of Bristol.[2] He began his ministry as a curate at St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton in 1933, and then at St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield in 1934. He was an assistant chaplain at Lancing College, then an all-boys public boarding school in 1935.[5]

During this period, Wheeler became more and more convinced by the writings of Cardinal

Catholic priesthood.[7]

Catholic Church

On 31 March 1940, Wheeler was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest by

domestic prelate by Pope Pius XII in 1955.[2]

Wheeler was named by the

episcopate as the coadjutor bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough in 1964, immediately after which he participated in the last two sessions of the Second Vatican Council. Wheeler was named Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds in 1966 and was an enthusiastic supporter of the spirit of the council. One example is that, immediately after his return from Rome, he founded a new ecumenical centre at Wood Hall in Wetherby, Yorkshire. Later, despite his feelings about the historic structure of the diocese, he followed part of its instruction by supervising the division of his diocese in 1980, in keeping with the conciliar mandate that dioceses be of such a size as to be truly manageable under the supervision of one bishop.[4]

Wheeler remained a staunch conservative in matters of

cappa magna and had a strong attachment to the Tridentine Mass.[7] He submitted his resignation as bishop of the diocese at the mandatory age of 75 in 1985. He then entered an active retirement[4] at the College of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Headingley under the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor.[citation needed
]

Death and legacy

Wheeler died on 21 February 1998, aged 87, after a brief illness. At his request, he was buried near his predecessor and the bishop who had ordained him in the Catholic Church, Bishop

Henry John Poskitt, also a convert from the Church of England, in the Church of St Edward the Confessor in Clifford, West Yorkshire.[7]

A noted author,[8] Wheeler's memoir, In Truth and Love, was published in 1990.[7]

In March 2013, Catholic primary and secondary schools in north west Leeds and Bradford joined together to gain academy status from the government, as a Catholic multi-academy trust. The trust, the second in the Diocese of Leeds, took the name "The Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust". At present, 6 schools form the parts of the trust, however 10 other Catholic schools could join in the future.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ "Bishop Wheeler to retire", The Times, 24 August 1985 p. 10.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69464. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ISBN 9780199540877
  4. ^ a b c Finnigan, Robert E. (7 March 1998). "Obituary: The Right Rev Gordon Wheeler". The Independent. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Wheeler, Rt Rev. (William) Gordon, (5 May 1910–20 Feb. 1998), RC Bishop of Leeds, 1966–85, then Bishop Emeritus". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Bishop William Gordon Wheeler †". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney.
  7. ^ a b c d e Monckton, Christopher (27 February 1998). "Bishop Gordon Wheeler". The Catholic Herald. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  8. ^ Among other works, Wheeler wrote Homage to Newman (1945) and More Truth and Love (1994), British Library catalogue Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  9. ^ The Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust
  10. ^ McIntyre, Annette (5 March 2013). "Five Catholic primaries and one secondary school leave council control". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 21 April 2013.

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds
1966–1985 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gordon_Wheeler&oldid=1200247022"