Our Priests

Mgr. Andrew Summersgill has been Parish Priest at St Stephen's Skipton and St Margaret Clitherow since January 2011. Originally from Bradford, Fr. Andrew trained at the Venerable English College in Rome, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986.

He was secretary to the Bishop of Leeds and subsequently General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

In 2009 he was appointed as organiser of the Papal Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK.

Fr. Andrew was inducted as Parish Priest in March 2011. Click here for picture.

 

Fr. Andrew

     

We are also served by Mgr. Patrick Hennessy.

Mgr Hennessy is the Judicial Vicar of our Diocese and in charge of the Marriage Tribunal. He lives in Harrogate where he is chaplain to the Community and Nursing Home run by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. He is a keen walker and avid reader.

  Fr. Pat
     

Our much-loved former Parish Priest, Fr. Peter Dawber, was with us for ten years, but became ill in early 2010 and had to retire early at the end of the year. Fr. Peter sadly died at home in Bentham on 14th July 2012, but remains very much in our thoughts and prayers.

 

To read an obituary of Fr. Peter please click here. To read Fr. Pat's homily at the mass at St Stephen's for Fr. Peter the evening before his funeral, please click here.

 

Previous priests at St Margaret's were:

Canon Edward McSweeney

Fr. George Doherty

Mgr. Thomas Brady