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Obituary: The Revd Paul Skirrow

by
31 March 2023

Canon Chris Beales writes:

THE Revd Paul Skirrow had retired early from parish ministry at St Michael with St Thomas, Ditton, in Widnes, owing to health issues. But he remained active for the next decade, supporting his wife, Wendy, when she was Warden of Ferrar House, a retreat centre in Little Gidding, providing chaplaincy cover in Gothenburg, Fontainebleau, Heidelberg, Copenhagen, Lanzarote, Tenerife, and Bucharest, and latterly assisting his local parish in Pateley Bridge, in north Yorkshire, where his ministry with the small community of Bewerley Chapel was greatly valued.

Paul was born in west Leeds, growing up with his older sister, Susan, and younger brothers, the twins Stephen and John. I first met him in 1976, when I took up my title post at Christ Church, Upper Armley. The Vicar, Charles Hutchins, had a profound influence in shaping and influencing Paul, who was at that time a milkman and parish worker and lived with Wendy opposite the church.

In 1979, he and Wendy, with their young son, Paul Matthew, moved to Hull, where their second son, Thomas, was born. Paul took a degree in theology, and became a lay industrial chaplain in Leeds.

Four years later, the family moved to Liverpool, where Paul joined the Industrial Mission team. A former colleague, Randall Moll, described him as “a prophet of our times. His work in the city was widely respected, and his commitment to the poorest was absolute.”

During this time, Paul was a member of the European Contact Group (ECG) on urban and industrial mission. At an ECG meeting in November 1989 in Prague, proceedings were abandoned as Paul and the others hastened to join the crowds heralding the Velvet Revolution and collapse of communism. In 1996, Paul attended a World Council of Churches conference in Bogotá. Inspired by Latin American theology, he spent several months working with Church communities across Columbia.

Paul was ordained in 2000 and served his title at St Luke in the City, Liverpool before moving to Widnes.

He was a fine theologian, widely read and able to articulate complex ideas in straightforward ways. He made vivid and practical the connections between faith and society, working especially with marginalised urban communities and with workers and unemployed people.

This approach he also applied to the Church. In March last year, he published, on the Surviving Church website, “Bullying in the Church of England”, in which he argued that many clergy felt undervalued and threatened by a culture of centralisation and managerialism.

Two years earlier, in June 2020, he wrote a thoughtful theological paper, “The Church, Theology, and Coming Out of Lockdown”. Like other public buildings and spaces, churches had been closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Paul challenged this, insisting that “we are called not to save the life of the Church but to offer it for the life of others. Then the Church can be hopeful and confident in God.”

Paul’s most significant theological work, with his Liverpool colleague, the Revd Peter Winn, was an online commentary, “Urban Matthew”, with freely available new chapters appearing monthly. “The commentary . . . argues that an authentic understanding of the biblical message is only possible if it begins with the situation of the marginal poor. This is not just a theme in Matthew’s text but one that is rooted in the whole biblical witness.”

Paul was a fine photographer, especially of the natural world. His strong family life and his warm and generous personality — along with his sharply perceptive mind and wicked sense of humour — made him a popular and much-loved member of the many communities and networks with whom he lived and worked. He will be greatly missed.

The Revd Paul Skirrow died on 2 February, aged 70.

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