We announce the sad news of the death in the early hours of this morning of Fr David Barnes, Parish Priest of St Anselm and St Cecilia, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Fr David died peacefully at St John’s Hospice in St John’s Wood, having turned 80 years of age yesterday, 23 December.
Fr David was born on the Isle of Man on 23 December 1944. He had ministered as a priest of the Church of England before becoming a Catholic. He was ordained as a Catholic priest at Leeds Cathedral on 6 January 1976.
Condolences are extended to Fr David’s family, including his sister Jennifer and nieces Angela and Joy, to his friends and colleagues and to Mgr John Conneely and the parishioners at St Anselm and St Cecilia, and parishioners elsewhere in parishes and chaplaincies in Leeds and Westminster where Fr David served.
Information about funeral arrangements, and an obituary, will be circulated in due course. Fr David was a member of the Deceased Clergy Association.
We pray for the peaceful repose of Fr David’s soul:
Hear with favour our prayers,
which we humbly offer, O Lord,
for the salvation of the soul of Fr David your servant and priest,
that he, who devoted a faithful ministry to your name,
may rejoice in the perpetual company of your saints.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Today’s Psalm response:
I will sing for ever of your mercies, O Lord.
May the soul of Fr David, and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
Obituary
As a seminarian at the English College in Rome, from 1973-77, David Walter Barnes would not have known that the Diocese of Leeds, for which he preparing to serve as a priest, and the Diocese of Nottingham would be divided to form the Diocese of Hallam in May 1980 and that he would be transferred as a priest of Leeds to being a priest of Hallam soon after ordination. Nor would he have known then that, in due course, he would request incardination into the Diocese of Westminster and be released by Gerald Moverley, Bishop of Hallam, and welcomed by Cardinal Basil Hume OSB, the Archbishop of Westminster. And he would not have known that his seminary Rector, Fr Cormac, would be his Bishop in due course in Westminster.
Born on 23 December 1944, in Douglas on the Isle of Man to devout Anglo-Catholic parents, David Barnes attended Murrays Road School in Douglas from 1949-55, then King William’s College, Castletown from 1955-63. His strongest subjects were Languages. He was an altar server at St Matthew’s Anglican church in Douglas and was well known to the Vicar who guided his spiritual life. He went to Durham University until 1966 to study Theology, Psychology and German. He became fluent in German and spent a year in West Berlin teaching English, from 1966-67. While there he travelled to East Berlin to attend classical concerts and operas. He loved Wagner’s music. He returned to England to study for ministry in the Church of England in Oxford. Following ordination in 1969 by the Bishop of Rochester after studies at St Stephen’s House in Oxford, David ministered as Curate in Sevenoaks from 1969-72 before joining the Royal Navy as a Chaplain from 1972-73. His father had served in the Navy. Catholic Navy Chaplains had a strong influence on David, and David’s love of the Catholic Church was affirmed. After four years of ministry as an Anglican, David’s long-standing desire to become Catholic in its fullness was fulfilled. He was Received by the Bishop of Leeds on 5 May 1973 and accepted as a student for Catholic priesthood and was sent to the English College in Rome. In January 1973 the Vicar who knew David well from his childhood had written to the Bishop of Leeds. His letter concluded, 'In whatever Church, David would be a good priest and while in a sense "our" loss is "your" gain, all the profit is God’s. David comes to you with our love and our prayers and we shall watch and pray over him in the years ahead.'
David was ordained as a Catholic priest on 6 January 1976 at St Anne’s Cathedral in Leeds. After his ordination Fr David returned to Rome to continue studies for a Licentiate in Psychology at the Gregorian Institute of Psychology. He completed this in 1977. He was appointed Assistant Priest at St Austin’s in Wakefield, serving there from 1977-78. His next appointment was to serve as a Chaplain to Sheffield University, from 1978-82. As a priest then of the newly-created Diocese of Hallam Fr David felt a possible vocation to the religious life, specifically to the Society of Jesus. He joined the Jesuit novitiate in September 1982 and left in January 1984. From May to August 1984 Fr David served as Assistant Priest at Holy Rood in Barnsley, and then came to London as Assistant Chaplain to London University, living on Gower Street. He wanted to remain in the Diocese of Westminster and had the support of the Bishop of Hallam to do so. In commending him to the Diocese of Westminster Bishop Moverley told Cardinal Hume that Fr David 'is a charming, intelligent and able fellow. He has always wanted to practice his psychology, however, and though he did quite a bit of it and vocational discernment in Sheffield he really wanted to be doing it full-time, even though he was a jolly good university chaplain'. Bishop Moverley gave Fr David the space to explore a possible vocation to religious life in response to Fr David’s insistence: ‘I let him go, for even though I was pretty certain that he did not have a vocation to the religious life I knew he would never be satisfied until he had found out for himself.’ Fr David was reluctant to return to the Diocese of Hallam. During the time he spent with the Jesuits his mother, at the age of 80, became a Catholic and moved from the Isle of Man to live in Broxbourne in the Diocese of Westminster. In 1984 Fr David also moved south, appointed to join the University Chaplaincy at 111 Gower Street in central London to provide pastoral care for students at the University of London, the City University and other colleges and polytechnics in London.
Fr David wrote to Bishop Moverley from Gower Street in February 1987 requesting support for his hope of incardination into the Diocese of Westminster. Episcopal correspondence between Hallam and Westminster led to Fr David’s incardination on 30 March 1987. It was recognized that he was now ‘at home’ in London, and happy. In the autumn of 1987 he was appointed Senior Chaplain at the Catholic Chaplaincy in succession to Fr Pat Davies. When he moved on from this ministry, in March 1992, Fr David had a short sabbatical in Rome, his request being approved by Cardinal Hume. He lived at the international clergy residence on the Via della Scrofa and studied at the Gregorian University. He soon received news of his next appointment, as Parish Priest at Moorfields, effective from September 1992. In 1994 Fr David issued a press release announcing the news that on Friday 1 April the Catholic Church of St Mary Moorfields on Eldon Street, EC1 would come within the City of London due to boundary changes, 'the first Catholic church in the City since the break with Rome at the Reformation in 1533' This was a boundary change that brought Fr David great personal satisfaction, unlike the boundary changes that created the Diocese of Hallam! Fr David had a strong appreciation of, and respect for, the history of the parish. He was conscious that among the many famous people born within the parish boundary were St Thomas More and Cardinal John Henry Newman, 'a founder of the Oxford Movement and convert to Catholicism who did so much to re-establish the Catholic Faith in nineteenth century England'. On Friday 1 April 1994 – Good Friday – Fr David celebrated the first liturgy to be celebrated in a Catholic parish church within the City. This made him very proud as he marked the end of 461 years of the absence of a Catholic church in the City of London. Fr David oversaw the renovation of the church leading to the rededication in July 2000. While serving as Parish Priest Fr David also served as Dean of the deanery of Westminster, an appointment that would be given to him again, in 2014, when Parish Priest at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
In 2002 Fr David left Moorfields to take up his next appointment as Parish Priest at Bishop’s Stortford. After six months health issues necessitated moving from the parish for a period of sabbatical leave. He spent some time at Downside Abbey. He requested a break from parochial ministry and was keen to engage with some additional work in psychotherapy, Marian studies, music and art and to be accommodated in the presbytery at Bayswater then in Queensway. In the autumn of 2004 Fr David was appointed Chaplain to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, a ministry he found to be very satisfying. He was now living in the presbytery at Soho Square and assisting the Parish Priest. In February 2005 Fr David was appointed to St Anselm and St Cecilia parish, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. He became a familiar figure to local people as he walked his dogs – first, Orry and Machol, then Branoc and Carraig, named after Manx saints. He remained at Lincoln’s Inn Fields beyond the usual retirement age of 75 because he loved his ministry and his people. Each year he asked Cardinal Vincent if he could remain and permission was readily granted. In the autumn of 2024 Fr David’s health declined. He was diagnosed with terminal illness but he continued to minister to his people until he required care at St John’s Hospice in St John’s Wood where he died peacefully on Christmas Eve, the day after his 80th birthday. He had been looking forward to celebrating the Golden Anniversary of his ordination as a Catholic priest on 6 January 2026. In an interview with a local newspaper, published on 28 November, Fr David said, 'I feel at peace. This church is where I have had my happiest years'. The report commented that he was deluged with well-wishers after his diagnosis. A local councillor commented that Fr David “is a very thoughtful person, very well educated, and a very special person”.
Fr David was a sought-after confessor, spiritual director and counsellor. His training in therapy gave him valuable insights into the human condition and the workings of the mind, and the discernment of spirits. His training and experience as an exorcist, a ministry he was mandated for in and since 1993, enabled him to bring deliverance and healing to those in need. His ministry was characterized by deep compassion for others. He was wise and kind and always had a ready smile and gentle humour. He came through times of difficulty in his own life with absolute trust in the Lord and he was always grateful for the kindness and understanding shown by his family and friends and by the various Bishops he encountered in Leeds, Hallam and Westminster. As a priest of the Diocese of Westminster Fr David was devoted to his parishioners, providing for their liturgical, sacramental and pastoral needs, and to the life and work of the Diocese. He was also devoted to his family. His sister, Jennifer, had two daughters who, even as adults, referred to their uncle as ‘Funcle’, because he was always fun to be with. To the end.
May the soul of this compassionate priest, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
