Death of popular priest with a 'wonderful smile'

Father Kevin Lowry died early on Sunday at Blackpool Victoria Hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Fr Kevin was most recently parish priest at St Annes, Westby, but had also served at Holy Family Freckleton, St Peter and Thomas More in Lancaster, Our Lady and St Edward’s and St Anthony’s both in Fulwood, Preston and in Millom and Whitehaven.

Father David Burns, from St Joseph’s Ansdell, said: “Father Kevin was such a personable man, approachable, a wonderful sense of empathy which is very important as a priest.

“He had a great sense of humour and a wonderful smile. His empathy shone through his pastoral work and his ministry. He loved his sport and was a keen golfer.”

Born in Carlisle in June 1950, he attended Austin Friars school and joined the Augustinian Order.

He was ordained in 1976 and became a parish priest in Hoxton in 1977. At the time he was thought to have been the youngest Catholic parish priest in the country.

In 1985 he went on the missions and was assigned to the first Augustinian community in Inchon, South Korea where he remained until March 1993.

He returned to the UK in 1993, and after various posts returned to the Diocese of Lancaster.

His Requiem Mass will be at St Joseph’s, Ansdell on October 18 at 11.30am, followed by a cremation.