John Patrick Crowley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Styles of John Patrick Crowley


Reference style	The Right Reverend
Spoken style	Your Lordship
Religious style	Bishop
Posthumous style	not yet applicable

John Patrick Crowley (b. 23 June 1941, Newbury, England) is former Roman Catholic Bishop of Diocese of Middlesbrough, England.

He was ordained a priest in 1965 and ordained bishop and appointed an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Westminster in 1986. On 3 November 1992 he became the 6th Bishop of Middlesbrough. On 2 July 2005 Crowley wrote in The Tablet that he advocated mixed (celibate and non-celibate) clergy [1].

His resignation from his post was accepted by the Holy See on 3 May 2007, ten years ahead of the normal retirement age of 75. However, the drive for his departure came not from Rome, but from the bishop himself. Reports have said that it was only granted after the bishop emphatically cited the toll the office had been taking on his health. Crowley said that "once my health is restored, I dearly want to exercise my priestly ministry again... but now without those leadership responsibilities I am no longer able to sustain.[2] " It would seem in reality that the bishop never recovered from the strong reproof he received from Rome for his declared intention to preside at the silver wedding of two homosexuals. It can also not have been easy for a Southerner in Middlesbrough.