We announce the sad news of the death of Fr James Mallon. Fr Jim died peacefully at Maryville Care Home, Brentford on Sunday 17 November 2024. Fr Jim had retired from parish ministry in 2018.
Fr Jim was born on 8 May 1940 and ordained to the priesthood on 23 November 1975 by Cardinal Winning in Glasgow, the city of his birth.
Condolences are extended to Fr Jim’s family and friends, to the Sisters, staff and residents at Maryville, and to the clergy and parishioners of the parishes where he served.
Fr Jim’s Funeral Mass will be at Westminster Cathedral at 2.30pm on Tuesday 17 December with the Cardinal presiding. Fr Jim’s mortal remains will be received just before the Funeral Mass. Fr Brian O’Mahony will give the homily.
We pray for the repose of Fr Jim’s soul:
Lord Jesus, our Redeemer,
you willingly gave yourself up to death so that all people might be saved and pass from death into a new life.
Listen to our prayers, look with love on your people who mourn and pray for Fr Jim.
Lord Jesus, holy and compassionate, forgive his sins.
By dying you opened the gates of life for those who believe in you.
Do not let our brother be parted from you, but by your glorious power give him light, joy and peace in heaven
where you live for ever and ever.
Psalm 15, said or sung at yesterday’s Mass, includes the words:
R/ Preserve me God, I take refuge in you.
You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
Obituary
Fellow Glaswegian Sir Billy Connolly CBE, now 82 years of age, said in a recent interview that he felt proud of making Glasgow laugh at itself. He is known and appreciated for his idiosyncratic and often improvised observational comedy. Perhaps something similar could be said of Fr James Mallon who was born in Glasgow on 8 May 1940 and who died in London on 17 November 2024, 84 years of age. Fr Jim had a lively sense of humour and was able to make light of serious situations. He preserved his strong accent and largeness of character throughout the various circumstances of his life.
Jim Mallon was the son of James and Easter (formerly Corrigan) Mallon, the eldest of three boys. His parents had firm Irish Catholic roots. Jim was baptised at St Thomas the Apostle church in Riddrie, Glasgow E1 eleven days after his birth. At the age of nine years he was confirmed at St Peter’s, Partick in Glasgow, taking the confirmation name Joseph. He was educated locally at St Paul’s School from 1945-56. He was never happier than when serving at the altar at Mass and working in various youth groups. He started work in the printing industry, following in his father’s footsteps, and trained as a letter-press printer. He joined the White Fathers, now more widely known as the Missionaries of Africa, in 1962. He went to live at the White Fathers’ House on Holland Villas Road in a salubrious part of west London. In 1965 the White Fathers arranged for him to engage in further studies in management at the London College of Printing to acquire knowledge and skill to be used in Africa. He made the Oath of Profession as a Brother of the Society in July 1968. In 1969 he was sent to Tanzania in east Africa but his stay was short due to contracting hepatitis while on the language course, necessitating a return to west London. This was a disappointment to Jim. Ongoing concerns about potential ill health prevented a return to Africa. It was perhaps because of this that Jim’s vocational path took a different direction, with Westminster the destination. When his Oath of Profession expired after three years he decided not to make his final profession, leaving him free to consider other options. For some time he had felt a call to priesthood as a diocesan priest.
Having been with the White Fathers for ten years Brother Jim offered himself to the Diocese of Westminster for acceptance as a student for the priesthood. While in London he became involved with the parish of Holy Trinity, Brook Green. He made a good contribution to parish life and was praised by the Parish Priest as having ‘a great influence on the parish’. His White Father superiors saw in Jim a man of energy and diligence, honest and hard-working. He was kind towards others and good in community. ‘A man of prayer with unshakeable convictions, a man of zeal who has always shown a pastoral bent’, wrote the Provincial Superior in a letter of commendation to the Diocese of Westminster, with the comment that, at times, there were concerns about his judgement, stating that he is ‘…apt to be very intolerant towards people whose ideas he does not agree with’. He could express himself forcibly. The Provincial Superior advised further study, wise spiritual guidance and counselling to help Jim’s development. The candid comments did not prevent Jim’s acceptance for formation for priesthood by the Diocese. In September 1972 Jim began his studies for the priesthood at St Edmund’s College, Ware in Hertfordshire. Because of his age and experience his course was shortened. He was ordained to the diaconate in June 1975 and returned to Brook Green parish for ministry as a deacon in formation for priesthood. He was ordained to the priesthood on 23 November 1975 in Glasgow by Cardinal Thomas Winning.
Fr Jim’s first appointment was to Marylebone where he served as Assistant Priest from 1975-78. He was then appointed to join the team of Cathedral Chaplains until 1982. During this time he assisted with the production of the diocesan directory, the Westminster Year Book. He moved from the Cathedral to Hillingdon to serve as Assistant Priest from 1982-83. He was then appointed Parochial Administrator at Broadfields and then Parochial Administrator at Edgware where he served from 1985-88. His next appointment was to serve as Parochial Administrator at Brentford until 2005. After a short period of sabbatical leave he was appointed to Poplar, in 2006, to serve for a few months as Parochial Administrator before going to Stonebridge until 2012. His next appointment was to Harefield as Parochial Administrator and Chaplain to Harefield Hospital. This was to be his last appointment. He retired in 2015 at the customary age of 75.
Fr Jim retired to live independently in a ground floor flat owned by the Diocese on Morpeth Terrace, close to the Cathedral, in 2015. He was grateful for the support he received from the Diocese and the opportunities to have Sunday lunch in Clergy House, at which he would regularly share amusing stories from his time at the Cathedral and elsewhere in the Diocese. He was content to live simply, to celebrate Mass in his flat and to pray the Prayer of the Church until his failing eyesight made this difficult. As his health declined and his need for care increased he went to live at St Peter’s, a care home in Vauxhall. He felt ill at ease outside the Diocese of Westminster and relocated to Maryville Care Home, The Butts, in his beloved Brentford. There he felt secure and he enjoyed visits from his brother and friends old and new. Visitors noticed his ubiquitous enormous White Fathers rosary, hung on the wall of his room as it had been hung on the walls of his previous places of residence, a reminder to him and to others of the missionary vocation at the heart of Fr Jim’s priesthood. He lived, and died, as a missionary disciple.
Fr Jim enjoyed the independence of being a priest in charge of various parishes. His entrepreneurial spirit was instrumental in the acquisition of land in Brentford and the building of a new and well-equipped school. His strength of character enabled him to work with people of other disciplines and expertise to achieve what was needed. His happiest years were spent in Brentford, both in active ministry and more recently to receive the care he needed. Fr Jim died peacefully in Maryville Care Home on Sunday evening, 17 November. Two days later, at the annual Requiem Mass for deceased clergy of the Diocese, Cardinal Vincent recalled something of Fr Jim’s life and ministry in his homily: ‘A mischievous Scot, with a big heart and ready riposte, never short of generosity even if it needed unpacking sometimes’. Many people recall a humorous placard with the message ‘Under New Management’ carried by Fr Jim in procession on Ambrosden Avenue from the Cathedral Hall, when the new Archbishop was being installed in Westminster Cathedral, referenced by the Cardinal as his Requiem Mass homily continued, ‘He is now really under new management!’
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Mgr Martin Hayes
