Death of only recently retired Battersea-born Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith

By Suresh Abboodass

The Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark has announced the sudden demise of its retired Archbishop Peter Smith who passed away last Friday.
The former Archbishop, who retired in July last year and was only recently diagnosed with cancer, was 77.
Glowing tributes were paid all over the parish churches of the Archdiocese of Southwark.
The tributes were led by his successor and present Archbishop of Southwark Most Reverend John Wilson who recalled the services of his predecessor and said that he was a very humble and pious man, who will be very much missed.

He had been born in October 21 1943 in Battersea and educated at Clapham College. His Grace had served as the Bishop of East Anglia for seven years and then Bishop of Cardiff fir eight years, before being appointed Archbishop of his home diocese Southwark in 2010.
His Grace had a repuatation for being well loved by the laity as well as the clergy in his Archdiocese and also outside. Colleagues said he was a very humble and simple priest, who always had a special place for the poor in his
heart.
In an exclusive interview given last year to this newspaper, just before his retirement, he had expressed grave concern over the rising number of people seeking the help of food banks and called on the government to put more money into providing houses and jobs for the disadvantaged people.
“There must be a commitment by the government to have it as a priority,” he had stressed.
The plight of the refugees was also close to his heart. “One of the priorities should be looking after the poor and the homeless,” he said.
Archbishop Peter had himself visited the Calais refugee camp – he was also proud of the contribution made by the immigrants. “In Southwark we have hugely benefitted from migration, not as refugees, but people coming from other countries,” he said. “In Southwark it is like the United Nations – all sorts of people from different backgrounds, countries. It has given vibrancy to the parishes they are in.”
There has been a significant increase in the number of people going to church during his tenure. “The Mass number is now 87,000 and above on every Sunday.”
The former Archbishop was also a strong advocate of Brexit and wanted Britain to come out of the European Union. He said last year: “We have to get out of Europe. It is a huge bureaucracy and I don’t think that is good for the country. Personally I don’t want to have a foreign country telling us what to do legislatively. I don’t agree with that.”

Archbishop Peter also appointed three women as lay trustees for running the charity work of the archdiocese for the first time in the history of Southwark.
Even in his last year as Archbishop, aged 76, he led the washing of the feet of his congregation – or ‘Mandatum’ ceremony – on Maundy Thursday, re-enacting the action of Jesus just before the Last Supper.
He had wanted to do supply work after his retirement. “I won’t be idle,” he said. “I will be ready to do supply work
whenever it is required.”

Archbishop Peter Smith is pictured in 2016 with Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales