Mourners bid farewell to Right Rev Kevin Dunn

Mar 12 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal

AROUND 800 mourners crowded into St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle yesterday to bid a final farewell to the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.

The two-hour long Requiem Mass was held to honour the Right Rev Kevin Dunn, 57, before he was laid to rest in the cathedral crypt.

Around 240 clergy had gathered to take part in the service, led by Archbishop Patrick Kelly, of Liverpool, the metropolitan archbishop covering Newcastle and Hexham. And the homily to the much-loved figure, who died on March 1 and had been in post in the diocese since 2004, was preached by Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

He said: “Mourning is about love, but in more sombre tones.”

Likening Bishop Dunn, who was originally from Newcastle under Lyme, to the Northumbrian Bishop Saint Chad, who hailed from Lichfield, he said: “Kevin came from the Potteries to the North East. He brought with him a high energy and zeal for the faith, the best that we could offer.

“At this moment I can’t help thinking back to St Chad. He of course was a family man. So too was Kevin. He was one of a large family who gave him great support.”

The Archbishop paid tribute to Bishop Dunn’s mother Kath, and described “Their Kev”, who died after contracting pneumonia, as an open, warm and friendly man.

Speaking about the Bishop’s ordination to the Cathedral on the feast of St Bede, May 25, 2004, he said: “There was much rejoicing, so great it spilled into the street and literally, a red carpet welcomed the new Bishop to his family home.” He added: “He had an ability to put people at ease and to create a sense of belonging which was so precious.”

Archbishop Nichols also announced that an annual event, the Bishop Dunn Memorial Lecture, was now to be held each year on the anniversary of his ordination.

The service, by invitation only, was attended by two cardinals, the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Coun Peter John Arnold, five MPs and representatives of the University of Durham, as well as hundreds of members of the congregation of St Mary’s, who had gathered at the back of the church to pay their respects to Bishop Dunn.

The service, which began with a 15-minute procession by church members and the hymn Immaculate Mary, was also broadcast outside the cathedral on loudspeakers. Bishop Dunn’s body arrived at the building ahead of a special public Mass on Monday evening and a prayer vigil that lasted late into the night.

A 16-page tribute edition of Northern Cross, the Catholic newspaper for the diocese, had been produced in time for the funeral and was available from the cathedral’s courtyard.

An area of the cathedral has also been set aside so that candles may be lit in remembrance of the bishop, who was ordained as a priest in his home town in 1976 before serving communities in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire.

Comment: Page 10