The Right Reverend John Rawsthorne
Bishop of Hallam
Bishop John Rawsthorne was born in Crosby, Merseyside on 12th November 1936, the first son of Harold and Miriam Rawsthorne. He has two brothers, Paul and Christopher, and three sisters, Elizabeth, Ann and Katherine. His father died in 1945 and his mother in 1989. Bishop Rawsthorne was educated at St Peter and St Paul 's Primary School, Crosby and studied for a year at St Mary's College, Crosby before training for the priesthood at St Joseph 's College, Upholland.
He was ordained to the priesthood by the then Archbishop of Liverpool, John Carmel Heenan, on 16th June 1962 in the College Chapel at Upholland. He then studied natural sciences at Cambridge Technical College until 1965 when he returned to Liverpool working as an assistant priest in the parish of St Timothy, West Derby. In 1967 he began work with the Catholic Missionary Society in London, a body which engages in parish renewal work. During his time there he was also Director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre from 1971 to 1975.
In 1975 he undertook a course of studies at the Institute of Religious Education in Dundalk, Ireland in preparation for his next appointment in 1976 to the Christian Education Centre of the Archdiocese of Liverpool as a Schools RE Adviser. During his time with the Christian Education Centre he also worked in the parishes of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, Croxteth; Christ the King, Childwall and St Mary's, Highfield Street, Liverpool.
On 10th November 1981 he was appointed titular Bishop of Rotdon and Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. He was ordained Bishop by Archbishop Derek Worlock in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool on 16th December 1981. He worked alongside Archbishop Worlock for the next fifteen years and after the Archbishop's death in February 1996 he became Administrator of the Archdiocese until the installation of Archbishop Patrick Kelly in July 1996.
In June 1997 he was appointed Bishop of Hallam in succession to Bishop Gerald Moverley, and was installed in St Marie's Cathedral by Archbishop Patrick Kelly on 3 July 1997.
On a national level with the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales he chairs the Bishops' Committee for the Pastoral Care of Deaf People and is now the Chair of CAFOD.
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