Fr John Gott  The Good Shepherd Church Royal Fold, New Road Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire HX7 5EA     Thank you for the invitation to pen a few words about myself, St Austin's and the hereafter! My appointment to St Austin's on August 15th 1974 was most unexpected!  Indeed I sent the letter back to Bishop Wheeler fearing it was a mistake, and perhaps it was.

I was working as school chaplain to St John Bosco school in North Leeds while working in St Anthony's parish in Beeston, South Leeds.  The Bishop promised to move me to a parish in North Leeds so you see when I opened the letter and found that not only was I appointed to St Austin's but Wakefield Prison as well, you can imagine my shock horror!

My first night at St Austin's was one of the loneliest in my life.  I had come to replace Fr Ken Taylor as senior curate and the other curates were out.  Monsignor Thompson was  technically on holiday in his rooms and so was not to be disturbed.  I wandered through Wakefield ending up in a pub but it was almost deserted and after a pint I returned to the presbytery to unpack.  Mgr had kindly had half the study ceiling painted  as a sign of refurbishing it, but when I turned on the light I could hear the wires buzzing in the walls.  The window looked out onto a red brick wall.  Later when I was ill with pneumonia and abandoned, I would do a painting of that wall.

My work in the prison was challenging, interesting and depressing.  The anachronistic address "Love Lane" where there was no love lost.  The bizarre experience of walking down the wings while visiting the cells where it was possible to hear the tanoy at Wakefield Westgate announcing the imminent arrival and departure of trains.  I could only think of this as torture for the residents, though I suppose they became oblivious in time.

It was a difficult time for the prison with Irish Republicans, Loyalists and "Bloody Sunday" paratroopers inside all at the same time.  As a misguided so called Republican sympathiser Catholic priest from Coventry, I received vilification in the Irish press, poison-pen letters from Republicans, and had to have my mail opened by the prison security officers.  The undersides of my car had to be inspected before driving to and from the prison but as well as the constant tension there was also light and laughter.  The other Catholic residents sympathised, supported me and gave me great encouragement.

The "Mountbatten Report" was published recommending an "Alcatraz Unit" involving several months of solitary confinement for the most disruptive prisoners.  Without much consultation such a unit was introduced and as luck would have it the first four residents were Catholics.  Regulations made it impossible to minister to them as a cell door when open had to have at least two officers present and if Mass was to be celebrated it had to be alone with the presence of four officers!  Confession and counselling was naturally out of the question and the prospect of four extra masses each week was impossible.  I made representation without result and when I eventually suspected the regime was deranging the minds of the prisoners I went "on strike". 

The results of these actions became public and the unit was eventaully closed.  However I was eventually asked to resign by the Home Office.  I explained that I was not free to do so as I had been placed there by the Bishop.  However, I think that a lot of pressure must have been placed upon him since shortly after it was announced I was being withdrawn.

Meanwhile things were not going well in the parish.  The swift departure of another curate left us with three priests and ten Sunday Masses, Hospital visits, sick calls, chaplaincy to the Police Training Academy etc, it was never ending and we always seemed to meet ourselves coming back.

In the midst of it all there was an amazing group of young people we managed to gather together.  It began with a simple request from the Anglican Sisters asking me to do a Harvest Festival at the County Hospital.  I asked a few young people to help me with a simple dance drama on 'creation'.  After that came a request the following Spring to see if I could get some young people to join the Anglican group at the Cathedral to do "something for Holy Week".  To cut a long story short "Petroc" was born.  This was a rock musical of the Passion seen through Peter's eyes.  The lyrics and music were made up by the youth and Fr Michael played Jesus.  120 young people were involved.

Out of all the pain and suffering I had experienced, I still look back on my time in Wakefield with a great deal of pleasure after the happiness that Petroc brought me - a miracle in itself!
 

So what has happened since?
 

In 1976 I was invited to go to Dewsbury.  As chaplain to the developing and growing St. John Fisher Comprehensive School I had an exciting time.  There was the opportunity to experiment with school liturgies, drama and dance, and a very supportive staff and headteacher soon blew any fears away.    It was a happy time and I felt very fulfilled.  we held an exhibition of the life and work and writings of St John Fisher.  It was the first time many of the objects, lent by Cambridge University and Rochester Cathedral, had been exhibited.  We were also kindly lent the Holbein engraving by the British Library.

While at Dewsbury I was invited to visit Pakistan.  The experience changed many of my attitudes.  We travelled from Karachi to the North West Frontier and the Khyber Pass, staying at Mission Stations, in hospitals, mud huts and a leper colony.  We visited Amritsar and the Golden Temple of the Sikh community, Delhi and of course the Taj Mahal.  We met so many interesting people and recieved overwhelming hospitality.  However, after picking up a bug on the return journey I was advised against returning to the tropics.

Shortly after this in 1980 came the fateful call from Bishop Wheeler asking me to be responsible for the parish at Hebden Bridge.  I have been here 21 years and we have moved from three elderly and venerable old buildings spread over the valley, to our present Parish complex, for which the parishioners have now cleared the debt of £350,000.  The parish covers 28 square miles and after administering city centres for all my priesthood until now, this has been an entirely new experience.  Hills and valleys, sheep, and of course the technicolour population of Hebden Bridge of artisans, gays and witches and musical groups of every description.    The Green Technology Centre, Mill Shops, we have them all and nothing that happens surprises anybody!

We are currently supporting our friends in Peru setting up pre-school nurseries in shanty towns.  We enjoyed visiting them 18 months ago.  We raised £26,000 for Hazeim, a Muslim boy we met on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, to go through Salford University and study Mechanical Engineering.  He is now back in the centre of things in Palestine.  In Poland and Russia we have excellent relationships with the Orthodox Archbishop of Kirov and Sloboda, some 900 miles North East of Moscow, whose Archdiocese is the size of France.  We also maintain links with the Catholic Church in St Petersburg and Fr Stefan, whom we shall be visiting with a group of our young people immediately after Easter.

In spite of having cancer nine years ago and the chemotherapy and radiotherapy which went with it, life is never dull and the Lord is constantly opening new challenges and opportunities for me.

This is certainly an adventure in living.

Best Wishes

Fr John Gott