Fr. John Gaul

Father John Gaul was born on January 6, 1934 and was 87 years old. He took his first vows on March 19, 1953 and was ordained priest on December 8, 1958.

He was currently living in St John’s, Stockport (England). He belonged to the Province GBI.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me. (Jn 14:1)

I’m sorry to inform you of the sudden death this morning of Fr John Gaul at St John’s, Stockport, after so many years of service to our Province.  We are all shocked by John’s sudden death.  Although he had been showing signs of his age, he was still going about life normally, though like everyone he had slowed down.  We pray for the community in Stockport and for John’s relatives at this sad time, as we commend them to God.  John gave his life in service of the Lord, through the ministry of the Province.  We pray that he may receive the eternal reward promised by the Lord.

John was born on 6 January 1934 in Balham, London. He was professed on 19 March 1953 and ordained on 8 December 1958.

A great deal of his time and energy was spent in doing vocations work for the Province. In the late 60s he was part of the vocations team in Liverpool, later moving to Woodcote, where he worked on the ‘Stream’ and vocation magazine ‘TOM’. In August 1971 he took over as editor of ‘TOM’ and was also appointed as Bursar at Woodcote.

He moved in 1972 to St Joseph’s, Malpas, where he continued to work on the magazine, while doing supply work in parishes. In December of this year his father was also ordained. In 1975, he went to Barton under Needwood and was also working on the ‘Contact’ magazine, which he continued to do when he moved to the parish in Northampton in 1976 to help out there with parish work.

In September 1980 he was appointed as Parish Priest at Ampthill, later moving to the new church in Flitwick. In the late ‘90s he served in the parishes of Northampton, Market Rasen and Newport Pagnell. His last appointment as Parish Priest was to St Joseph’s, Malpas, where he stayed on to look after the parish after the retreat centre closed in 2006. He retired to St John’s, Stockport in February 2013.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Fr. John Kelly scj, provincial superior