Bishop Thomas Holland

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) with its post-conciliar documents inspired the episcopate of Thomas Holland. He attended all four sessions and returned from the Council with one main purpose: “What I would most wish to see is one single family, one community, all consciously united in the bonds of truth and love. This is the point to which my efforts will be directed.” Following the Council, he oversaw the provision of new structures in the diocese in the fields of liturgy, ecumenism, education, social welfare, missionary activity at home and abroad, the deaf apostolate. It was a time of intense activity, with Bishop Holland involved in England especially with the Bishops’ Ecumenical and Mass Media Commissions and abroad in the Vatican Secretariats for Promoting Christian Unity and for Non-Believers and the Joint Working Group of the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. He gave a vigorous lead on pro-life issues and shared prominently in the civic life of the cities and towns of the diocese. The University of Salford made him an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1980.

Thomas Holland came to the diocese from Portsmouth. He had been coadjutor bishop there since 1960. He welcomed the fact that he was coming home to Lancashire.  Born in Southport on 11th June 1908, he studied at Upholland College, Wigan, and the English College, Valladolid. He was ordained priest on 18th June 1933. After a short time as curate in Liverpool he went to the Beda College in Rome and took his Doctorate in Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. His thesis on the action of the Holy Spirit in non-Catholic Churches cut new ground and won him the gold medal in theology. He taught dogmatic theology and other disciplines at the English College, Valladolid, and the English College, Lisbon, between 1936 and1943. A naval chaplain from 1943 to 1946, he was awarded a DSC for services in the Normandy landings. From 1946 to 1948 he was port chaplain in Bombay, India. Returning to England he was a member of the Catholic Missionary Society based in London from 1948 to 1956, before becoming secretary to Archbishop Gerald O’Hara at the Apostolic Delegation in Wimbledon, London, from where he received his appointment to Portsmouth.

The highlight of his episcopate was the visit of Pope John Paul II to the diocese in 1982. The Holy Father said Mass and ordained priests in Heaton Park, Manchester, before an immense crowd. Bishop Holland retired as Bishop in June 1983 but remained as Apostolic Administrator until his successor came in April 1984. In retirement he lived in Nazareth House, Prestwich. He died on 30th September 1999.