An announcement from Archbishop Bernard Longley:
“It is with great sadness that I am writing to let you know that Canon Giles Goward, the Rector of St Mary’s College Oscott, died peacefully yesterday afternoon (Thurs) in the Seminary after a brief illness.”Please pray now for the happy repose of his soul, as well as for the intentions of his family and friends, together with Fr Paul Keane and all the Seminary community at Oscott.
“Fr Paul has agreed to serve the seminary as Acting Rector for the time to come and I am very grateful to him for his readiness to take up this responsibility, as well as for all the support that he and the staff have given to Canon Giles in recent weeks.”
In due course information will be made available about the funeral arrangements for Canon Giles.
Canon Giles was ordained at St Chad’s Cathedral 14 July 1995. He served as Assistant Priest at Holy Trinity, Newcastle-under-Lyme from 1995 to 1996. He was then appointed as Archbishop’s Secretary from 1996 to 2000; Parish Priest at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Worcester from 2000-2005; Parish Priest Our Lady and St Anne Caversham 2005-2013; Pastoral Director, Formation Tutor and Director for the Permanent Deacon Programme at St Mary’s College from 2013 to 2020. He was appointed as Rector of St Mary’s on 28 June last year.