Tom Burns, Bishop Emeritus of Menevia - St Mary’s 1974 to 1978
One of the most popular Marist fathers to teach at St Mary’s was Tom Burns who arrived at the beginning of the 1974/75 academic term on the beginning of a journey which saw him eventually become the Bishop of Menevia.
Tom was born in Belfast in 1944, the son of a bespoke tailor and, after moving with his family to Lancashire in 1956, was educated at St Mary’s College, Blackburn, where his headmaster was a certain Fr Philip Graystone.
From there he went to the Marist seminary at Paignton in Devon and then to Heythrop College, run by the Jesuits as part of the University of London, where he obtained a Degree in Theology.
Tom was ordained in 1971 and had just turned 30 when he arrived in Sidcup. A highly-respected member of staff, popular with pupils and other teachers, Tom mostly taught A-Level Economics and looked after the Careers section, helping pupils with university applications. He was also a much-loved form master.
He responded with great enthusiasm when asked by Rod Turner to look after the U14 rugby team which began a great love of the sport which saw him take up refereeing.
Tom said: “There was so much fun in refereeing and in teaching. Even today, I still want to be out in the middle or at the front of a class. But that’s just nostalgia. A pulpit on a Sunday morning is really a much more daunting experience, but unlike refereeing and teaching there is no assessment – not officially, anyway! Amidst the hard work of a classroom, there is lots of humour – in both directions. Some of the amusing exchanges came usually from a double-period in the graveyard slot on a Friday afternoon. The students wanted to be off home for the weekend – and tomorrow’s Rugby was at the forefront of many minds rather than Friedman’s Theory of Controlling the Money Supply.”
He was greatly missed when he left the school in 1978 and returned to St Mary’s College, Blackburn where he stayed until 1986.
He became a Royal Navy Chaplain in 1986, a Principal Chaplain in 1998 and Bishop of HM Forces in 2002. Along the way he was awarded the General Service Medal – Gulf in 1998 and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2002.
In 2008, he became the Bishop of Menevia, which covers the southern half of Wales and had 53 church communities served by 33 active priests (i.e. under 75 years of age), with three Secondary Schools and 16 Primaries.
Tom added: “In 2019 I reached 75, the canonical age when a Bishop offers his resignation to the Holy Father. Normally, a Bishop then continues in office for on average another 18 months, whilst the Papal Nuncio leads consultations about providing a successor. Surprisingly, the Holy See appointed the Archbishop of Cardiff as Apostolic Administrator to care for the Diocese in the interim and conduct a consultation about its future viability. So, after a wonderful Thanksgiving Mass in July, I was gone! It was the end of another era. As one door closed, another has opened – in wonderful retirement, with happy memories, earlier than expected!”