St Joseph's Society
John Benedict Thompson was born on 10th June 1935, the son of William and Alice Thompson. He was educated at St Mary’s College, Crosby, and then at St Joseph’s College, Upholland. He was ordained priest by Archbishop John Carmel Heenan at St Peter and St Paul, Crosby on 12th June 1960.
He served at St Joseph’s, Leigh, for four years as assistant priest, before being sent for further studies in the Autumn of 1964. He resided for two years at the Beda College in Rome whilst completing a licentiate in canon law at the Gregorian University. Upon his return to the Archdiocese, he was appointed assistant priest at Sacred Heart, Liverpool, in September 1966 and also as a notary in the Metropolitan Tribunal. The following September he was appointed secretary to Bishop Augustine Harris, the then auxiliary bishop, and also chaplain to la Sagesse School, Grassendale.
In February 1972, following an invitation from Fr Agnellus Andrew, then Director of the Catholic Radio and Television Centre at Hatch End, he went to work at the BBC in Manchester in the Religious Broadcasting Department, which he did for the next four years. After a brief secondment at Hatch End, he returned to the Archdiocese in June 1976 as chaplain to Liverpool Polytechnic and also to work at BBC Radio Merseyside. He was very much part of BBC Radio Merseyside during the early years of local radio, building up a following through his Sunday morning programme ‘All in Good Faith’, which ran until 1987. Even when his regular programme finished he continued to contribute to ‘Thought for the Day’. During his time as Religious Producer he broadcast many live discussion programmes during Lent and played a major part in the coverage of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Liverpool in 1982. He will be remembered for his warmth and humour, which made him a friend to all through his many years of broadcasting.
He will be remembered too with great affection by his parishioners at St Leo’s, Whiston, where he was Parish Priest from 1982 to 1984 and especially at St Francis de Sales, Walton, where he was Parish Priest for 32 years. He also undertook missionary work with the charity SURVIVE-MIVA, playing an active part in delivering their vehicles overseas.
His funeral Mass was celebrated at St Francis de Sales, Walton, on Wednesday 9th November 2016, followed by burial, alongside his brother, Fr Paul Thompson, at St Peter and St Paul's, Crosby. May they rest in peace.