Former Midland churchman Rt Revd Kevin Dunn dies aged 57

Mar 4 2008

THE Roman Catholic Church is mourning the death of the of a well-known Midland churchman who went on to become Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.

The Rt Rev Kevin Dunn died on Saturday in the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he had been treated for a number of weeks. He was 57.

Bishop Dunn, who was ordained in 2004, was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, in 1950 and studied for the priesthood at Oscott College, Birmingham, where he later taught.

He later served in Walsall, was chaplain to Stuart Bathurst High School and became chaplain to the Caribbean community in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

In 2001 he was also appointed full-time episcopal vicar for the areas of Wolverhampton, Walsall, the Black Country and Worcestershire. A year later he became a Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of St Chad and a member of the Episcopal Council in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols said: "As a priest he made an exceptional contribution to the life of the Archdiocese of Birmingham."