Funeral arrangements confirmed for long-serving Wigan parish priest who died just months after retirement

Wigan’s Catholic community is in mourning following the death of Father John Johnson on Wednesday at Wigan and Leigh Hospice.

The 85-year-old resigned as parish priest of St Mary’s Church, on Standishgate, earlier this year due to ill health.

It was a role he had held since September 1991, having previously spent five years as parish priest at St William’s Church in Ince.

Before that, he had been assistant priest at several parishes, including St Oswald’s in Ashton.

It has been announced that evening prayers will begin at 7pm on Thursday, April 18 at St Mary’s Church, followed by reception of the body and vigil mass at 7.30pm.

A requiem mass will take place at 12.30pm on Friday, April 19 at St Mary’s, followed by interment at Gidlow Cemetery at 2pm.

Tributes have been pouring in since the death of Fr Johnson, who worked as a butcher on Wigan Market before being ordained as a priest in 1967.

Canon Christopher Cunningham, from the parish of Sacred Heart and St Alban in Warrington, went to St Joseph’s Primary School with Fr Johnson and remembers him wanting to become a priest then.

They were both altar boys and joined Whit walks, before they were ordained together at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

He said: “He served the people in St Mary’s parish with great devotion for more than 30 years, also at times taking on pastoral care in the nearby St John’s parish as well at Sacred Heart in Springfield. He had great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and he often took groups on pilgrimage to the shrine at Walsingham in Norfolk.

"He was well loved by the people and so dedicated to them that he was reluctant to retire, but after surgery and deterioration in his health, he was forced to resign from St Mary’s earlier this year.

“We were in touch but I had not seen him for some time. As it happened, I was pleased to visit him in the hospice just a few hours before he died. May he rest in peace and receive his eternal reward.”

Tributes have also been paid online, with some referring to Fr Johnson’s nephew Billy Joe Edwards – brother of Wigan Warriors legend Shaun Edwards – who played for Wigan’s under-21s team before his death in a car crash in 2003.

On Wigan Today’s Facebook page, Debby Meadows said: “Lovely person and together again with Uncle Jimmy, sister Phyllis and Billy Joe.”

Susan Rynn said: “Rest in peace, a truly wonderful person, friendly, funny and a gentleman. Together again with Billy Joe.”

Julie Davies said: “Remember him from his days at St Oswald’s with Canon Ripley, he was a lovely priest.”

Vicky Miranda Nelson said: “Father Johnson was such a kind and caring priest, a true gentleman and will be greatly missed. Rest in eternal peace Father Johnson. Thank you for everything.”

John Clinton said: “RIP Father Johnson. Many memories of him, not just as parish priest of St Mary's, but also when he was a priest at St Oswald’s and I was at school at St Edmund Arrowsmith.”