The Reverend John Fitzsimmons (2 December 1939, in Paisley – 17 May 2008, in Gourock) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

and radio presenter who presented ''The Greetings''

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

on BBC Radio Scotland for many years. John Fitzsimmons was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1939. He was ordained priest of the

Diocese of Paisley The Diocese of Paisley ( la, Dioecesis Pasletana) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Erected on 25 May 1947 from the Archdiocese of Glasgow, the diocese covers the historic county o ...

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in 1963. Involved in broadcasting for more than 40 years, he had also served as the rector of the Pontifical Scots College in

. In addition to his work at

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

, Fitzsimmons was known for his sometimes controversial criticisms of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

hierarchy.Father John Fitzsimmons’s online confession
Stephen McGinty, The Scotsman, 15 July 2012 After a long illness, John Fitzsimmons died in his sixty ninth year on 17 May 2008, in Gourock. Maggie Cunningham, the director of programmes for

, said of Fitzsimmons, "He was a big man with a big personality, erudite and compassionate, and anybody who met or worked with Father John would benefit from his life-enhancing qualities."

References

External links

Father John Fitzsimmons
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The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

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Father John Fitzsimmons, Outspoken and scholarly Scottish priest popular with his parishioners but often at loggerheads with his superiors
obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

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Obituary
'' The Herald'', 2008
Fr John Fitzsimmons: An Appreciation
''The Herald'', 2008 1939 births 2008 deaths BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists 20th-century Scottish Roman Catholic priests Scottish radio presenters Journalists from Paisley, Renfrewshire Broadcasters from Paisley, Renfrewshire {{RC-clergy-stub