Father David Barnes is receiving palliative care

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A PRIEST has thanked his parishioners for their companionship as he says farewell to a lifetime devoted to the church.

Father David Barnes is receiving palliative care after being diagnosed with terminal illness but said he was at peace and was this week reflecting warmly on spending nearly 20 years at St Anselm and St Cecilia – the Roman Catholic church in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn.

He said: “I’d like to thank the people of the area and the local councillors, who I have found very supportive.

“I think it’s been quite a thing getting used to but I’m very fortunate, I do feel at peace. I’m very lucky in that way because I know not everyone does.”

Father David was born in the Isle of Man in 1944 during the war to a father in the Navy and a housewife mother, growing up alongside his older sister.

He said: “The Isle of Man was a very beautiful island and we spent a lot of our time as children outdoors. I would say I had a very happy childhood and things were very free and easy. In those days you could go out and play anywhere, being a very safe place as most people knew one another and the community was very friendly.

“There was a lot of support. I always remember we had loads of people around, you’d never be lonely. It was a very family-oriented place.”

At 18, Father David left for the University of Durham where he studied religion and German, and he later travelled to West Berlin to teach English.

Returning to England in 1967 Father David studied for the Anglican Ministry at St Stephen’s House in Oxford, a theological college and then worked for three years in a local parish in Sevenoaks.

He said: “It was after this time I had a spell as a naval chaplain and it was while I was in the Navy that I finally made the decision to become a Roman Catholic. Now that wasn’t some sudden decision – I’d been thinking of doing it for probably about 10 years.

“I was probably about 25 at this time and I was the naval chaplain of an actual boat which is quite rare these days. We toured the whole east coast of America, the West Indies and places like Portugal, southern Spain and Gibraltar.

“It was at that time that I became a Catholic but only after many years of thought – I was always going to do it.”

After some time in Rome in the early 1970s studying for his Catholic priesthood, Father David returned to the UK and started working at the university in Sheffield and then London.

In the wake of the 1987 hurricane, Father David was instrumental in refurbishing university building in Gower Street after serious damage.

He said: “Working with young people is almost easier because you’re working with one age group. They’re all young intelligent people and I very much enjoyed that work.

“I was very adaptive to change when I was young. I would find it hard now but when I was young I used to enjoy change and working in different situations.

“Religion has been marginalised and some people may think it is not trendy to be religious I guess. There are so many options for young people they are spoilt for choice.

“Young people perhaps don’t want to tie themselves down to one way of life – keep their options open. In the end, though, you have to name the morals you want to live by.”

He added: “Very often my experience of young people is when they get older and start to settle down, they start to think about the values they and their children want to live by and the point does come when you ask what your values are.”

Father David settled at St Anselm and St Cecilia church in 2005.

St Anselm and St Cecilia church

He told the New Journal: “What I would say is that the 20 years I’ve been here have been amongst the happiest in my life.

“I’ve found that the people of the parish quite wonderful and just in terms of the experience of being a priest here you could say it’s a very interesting place to be because we have a lot of visitors from all over the world who come to mass.

“We have lots of students because the London School for Economics is on the doorstep so I would say you could never be bored.

“That’s all in addition to our own resident parishioners who, as I say, have been very good to me.

“We’ve done a lot of work in restoring the church since I’ve been here. We completely remodelled the sanctuary and completely redecorated the church and the parish room so it’s in good shape.”

Ward councillor Julian Fulbrook told the New Journal that Father David was an “absolute institution” in their community.

He said: “Father David is a very genial, supportive and utterly devoted person. Everyone speaks very highly of him and of course of his dogs who he was always seen walking in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

“The whole neighbourhood is devastated by the news. An awful lot of people who may not have been regular churchgoers would say he is an important part of their lives – facilitating many marriages and funerals in the local area.”

Cllr Fulbrook added: “He is so family-orientated, and has always been very good with young people and children. I could tell you of dozens of times Father David has intervened and helped people in the area with issues such as housing.

“He is a very thoughtful person, very well educated, and a very special person.”