It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Bishop Ambrose Griffiths, who passed away peacefully on Tuesday 14th June following his recent serious illness.
Bishop Ambrose, who was 82 and was suffering from acute leukaemia, was greatly loved by clergy and lay people alike during his time as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. One of his many charitable roles was as an ex-officio trustee of St Cuthbert’s Care; a position he held until his retirement at the age of 75 in 2003.
As Michael Griffiths he had attended Ampleforth School in North Yorkshire before going on to study Natural Sciences at Balliol College, Oxford where he obtained a first class honours degree. Following this he joined the Benedictine Community at Ampleforth Abbey where he took the religious name Ambrose by which he became known from then on.
He was sent to the Benedictine House of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome where he studied Theology and was ordained priest on July 21st 1957.
Returning to Ampleforth to teach in 1958, he was appointed Abbot of the Abbey by the Community in 1976, a post he held for eight years before becoming parish priest of St. Mary’s in Leyland, Lancashire and Abbot of Westminster.
He was appointed Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle by Pope John Paul II in 1992, a post he held for eleven years, succeeding Bishop Hugh Lindsay who had retired due to ill health.
He will be remembered as one of our most approachable and caring bishops and for the contribution he made to the spiritual and social wellbeing of the people of his diocese.
St Cuthbert’s Care’s Chief Executive, Austin Donohoe, visited Bishop Ambrose a few weeks before his death, when he had just returned home from hospital. The bishop invited Austin to join him in a prayer for the charity, for those it seeks to help and for the continued success of its work.
Austin said: “He was a very humble and selfless man who brought intelligence and compassion to his role as bishop. While very saddened by his death, I am glad I had the opportunity to meet him one last time and thank him for his invaluable support of our charity and its work. He was an inspiration to everyone at St Cuthbert’s Care and continued to take an interest in the charity after his retirement. He viewed the prospect of death with calmness and acceptance. He will be deeply missed.”