Bishop dies of pneumonia at the age of 57
By Peter Jennings and Mark Greaves
7 March 2008

Bishop Kevin Dunn of Hexham and Newcastle has died peacefully in hospital at the age of 57 after suffering from pneumonia. The bishop was admitted to Freeman Hospital in Newcastle on February 5 and moved to intensive care a few days later.

His family, including his 88-year-old mother Cath, were at his bedside when he died in his sleep on Saturday evening. Canon Seamus Cunningham led the family's prayers. Bishop Dunn was ordained as bishop in 2004 and previously served as a priest and episcopal vicar in Birmingham for almost 30 years.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham paid tribute to him on Sunday. He said: "I am deeply sorry to hear of the death of Bishop Kevin Dunn. His last months were marked by suffering.

"As a priest he made an exceptional contribution to the life of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, serving both as an episcopal vicar for religious and also as episcopal vicar for Kidderminster, Walsall, Wolverhampton and the Black Country.

"His brief period as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle promised so much for the future."

The Archbishop of Birmingham added: "The priests, religious and people of this diocese, saddened at his death, will keep him and his family very much in their thoughts and in their prayers at this time."

A statement from the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle said that the bishop's death would be "greatly felt". It added: "The diocese extends its sympathy to Bishop Kevin's mum Cath, his sisters Elizabeth, Mary and Julia and his brothers Stephen and Peter, and to his nieces and nephews, who will all miss him greatly.

"The diocese also extends its prayers and sympathy to Pamela Hyland, Bishop Kevin's housekeeper for the last three and half years in this diocese as well as many years previously in his home diocese."

Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins, a close friend of Bishop Dunn, told the Evening Chronicle newspaper that the bishop would be "sadly missed". "He an important leader not just for the Catholic faith but for the broader faith community on Tyneside. I had a huge respect for the humanity of his views and for the good humour and sensible way that they were always expressed," he said.

Kevin Dunn was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, on July 9, 1950. He studied for the priesthood at St Mary's College, Oscott, and was ordained as priest at Our Lady and St Werburgh's Church in Clayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 1976. He served at St Patrick's, Walsall, and was chaplain to Stuart Bathurst High School. He served as chaplain to the West Indian community in the Archdiocese of Birmingham from 1980 to 1988 and then as parish priest at Our Lady of the Angels and St Peter in Chains, Stoke-on-Trent, from 1988 to 1989. He was also chaplain to the Royal Infirmary and to Staffordshire University.

He went on to study at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome and was awarded a doctorate in Canon Law in 1992. On his return to England he served as parish priest of St Austin's, Stafford, and also lectured in Canon Law at Oscott College.

In 1999 he became a Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of St Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham.

The late Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville of Birmingham appointed Canon Dunn as episcopal vicar for religious in 1993. Archbishop Nichols appointed him as episcopal vicar for Kidderminster, Walsall, Wolverhampton and the Black Country in 2001.

Pope John Paul II appointed Canon Kevin Dunn as the 12th Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle on March 26, 2004, to succeed Bishop Ambrose Griffiths OSB. His episcopal ordination took place in St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle, on May 25 that year.