Maurice Taylor (bishop)

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Maurice Taylor (5 May 1926 – 14 June 2023) was a British Roman Catholic bishop. He served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Galloway in Scotland from 1981 until 2004.


Maurice Taylor
Bishop Emeritus of Galloway
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseSt Andrews and Edinburgh
DioceseGalloway
Appointed4 April 1981
Term ended7 April 2004
PredecessorJoseph McGee
SuccessorJohn Cunningham
Orders
Ordination2 July 1950
by Eliseu van der Weijer
Consecration9 June 1981
by Gordon Gray
Personal details
Born(1926-05-05)5 May 1926
Died14 June 2023(2023-06-14) (aged 97)
Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland
Previous post(s)Rector of the Royal Scots College, Valladolid
(1965–1974)
EducationOur Lady's High School, Motherwell
St Aloysius' College, Glasgow
Alma materBlairs College
Pontifical Scots College
MottoAmbula coram Deo [1]

Biography edit

Born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, he attended St Cuthbert's Primary, Burnbank, before going on to St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow, and, later, Our Lady's High School, Motherwell. He studied philosophy at Blairs College, Kincardineshire, from 1942 to 1944 and then served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, at home, in India and in Egypt. He attended the Pontifical Scots College, Rome from 1947 to 1951, studying theology at the Gregorian University and being ordained a priest in Rome on 2 July 1950. After a year as assistant priest in St Bartholomew's, Coatbridge, he returned to Rome in 1952 where he took his doctorate in theology in 1954. For 10 years from August 1955 he taught philosophy and theology at St Peter's College, Cardross.

From 1965 until 1974 he was rector of the Royal Scots College, Valladolid, Spain. He was ordained Bishop of Galloway by Cardinal Gordon Gray on 9 June 1981. For more than ten years he represented Scotland on the Episcopal Board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), and was its chairman from 1997 until 2002. He retired as bishop in 2004 and was succeeded by John Cunningham.

In 2013, it was revealed that Diocese priest Paul Moore had confessed to Taylor that he sexually abused a boy the year prior and that Taylor opted to send Moore to a treatment centre in Toronto and to Fort Augustus Abbey in the Highlands instead of turning him into the authorities.[2] Taylor later cooperated during Moore's trial, which resulted in a conviction in 2018.[2] Taylor died on 14 June 2023, at the age of 97.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ "Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway".
  2. ^ a b "Priest convicted 20 years after first confessing". BBC News. 14 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Death of Bishop Maurice Taylor". Scottish Catholic Media Office. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  • Maurice Taylor
  • The Catholic Directory for Scotland 2004 (Glasgow 2004)
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Galloway
1981–2004
Succeeded by