I arrived in Our Lady and St. Joseph's Parish on 4th October 2011 and I am delighted to be back in my native Carlisle. I was born just round the corner from the church in the Old City General Maternity Unit in 1950 (1st July) and was brought up in St. Bede's Parish before we moved up to the newly created St. Edmund's Parish. I attended St. Bede's Primary School and then went to the Junior Seminary at Underley Hall and then completed my studies for the priesthood at Upholland College. I was ordained in St. Bede's Church by Bishop Pearson in 1974 at the tender age of 23 and from there went to the Cathedral in Lancaster where I worked for 6 years. After that I spent 8 years in Cleator as curate to Fr Val Cahalane, and then I spent 15 years as Parish Priest at the Parish of the Blessed Sacrament in Preston and the last eight years I was at St. Cuthbert's in Wigton, looking after St. Edmund's for 3 of those. So in almost 38 years of priesthood I have been in only 4 parishes - I tend to stay in once place for a while, so by my present track record you could be stuck with me for some time!

I know a little of Our Lady's Parish my parents were married here in 1940 and as a boy I was in the cubs which used to meet in the Waterton Hall where we were looked after by a then youthful Father Cocherane. Events such as the May Procession and Corpus Christi Procession round the Square were always highlights of the year. In more recent times after my Dad died my mother moved back into this parish and lived on Rydal Street for a number of years until she died and I celebrated her Requiem Mass here in this church And so, as a Carlisle lad, I am conscious of the history of the parish and honoured to be parish priest here and I know that my parents would be proud of the fact - and probably quite astonished too - that I am here as parish priest.

In addition to my duties as parish priest I also serve as the Dean of St. Herbert’s Deanery and I am the Director of On-going Formation for the Priests of the Diocese.

John was born in Athlestane Ford Mains in East Lothian on a farm where he spent his childhood. His family moved to Penicuik where he went to school. After school he went back to the country life and worked on a farm for a few years until he joined the Army, serving four years in the First and Second Battalions of the Scots Guards. In the meantime his family moved to Carlisle and after John left the Army he, too, joined them in Cumbria

In Carlisle he met Mary and they were married in Christ the King Church in 1965. They were blessed with four children, all girls, Diane and Lorraine (twins), Jeannette and Lorna, and are now the proud grandparents of five girls and five boys.

John worked for nearly thirty years with the John Lewis Partnership, based at Stead McAlpine at Cummersdale, starting out as a fork lift truck driver and ending as a shift manager. 

John, who was baptised in the Church of Scotland, became a Catholic in 1974, and in some form or other has always been active in parish life - helping with the Youth Club, serving at the altar, being a Minister of the Eucharist - just in time for Pope John Paul's visit to Manchester in 1982. After much deliberation John started training for the Permanent Diaconate in 2002 and was ordained Deacon in our church on July 6 2005.