Father Tom's Golden Jubilee

The Reverend Monsignor Canon Thomas McGovern, Protonotary Apostolic, or as we know him, Father Tom, was born in Leitrim, Ireland. He entered St Kieran's College, Kilkenny and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Peter Birch DD in St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny on the 7th June 1970.

As you can imagine, being a priest for 50 years he has got to know the Diocese very well, working in the parishes of: Divine Infant of Prague, Syston (1970-71), St Joseph’s, Leicester (1971-76), St Peter’s, Leicester (1978-79), St Hugh of Lincoln, Lincoln, (1979-1997), St Philip Neri, Mansfield (1997-99), St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham (1999 – 2006), Our Lady and St Patrick in the Meadows, Nottingham (2000 – 2006), St Augustine, Apostle of England (2000-2006), St Joseph’s, Oakham (2006 -2010), Ss Peter & Paul, Lincoln, (2010 – 2017), St Bernadette’s, Scunthorpe (2017 – 2019), and is currently the 33rd Parish Priest of St John the Baptist, Melton Mowbray (2019 – date).

In 1997 he was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Nottingham by Bishop McGuinness. Ten years later, in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fr Tom as a Protonotary Apostolic Supernumerary, an honourary title, which allows Fr Tom (amongst other things) to be addressed as Monsignor.

Following the installation of Bishop Malcolm as Archbishop of Liverpool in 2014, Fr Tom was elected by the College of Consultors to be the Diocesan Administrator – a position whereby ordinary power, usually exercised by a Bishop, is provisionally given to another priest until the Pope chooses a new Bishop. 

His time as Administrator, could be described as rather eventful. During this period, a rather unusual situation occurred, namely the discovery of the mortal remains of a medieval English Catholic King buried under a car park in Leicester. As the provisional head of the Diocese, Fr Tom along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, offered prayers for Richard III at the reburial in Leicester Cathedral.

Following the episcopal ordination of Bishop Patrick in July 2015, Father Tom’s time as Administrator came to an end and a few years later he stood down as Vicar General. You might think that retiring from Diocesan duties would mean more free time, however if you’ve been reading Father’s messages in the newsletter you’ll know that a parish priest’s work is never done, even in a small parish like ours.

A big thank you to Father Richard at St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny, for sending the photographs of Fr Tom at College. Fr Richard is also a past pupil of St Kieran’s (ordained in 1984).