St Joseph's Society
Vincent Hughes was born in Crosby on 17th January 1931. He was educated at St Peter and Paul’s School and St Mary’s College, Crosby, before studying for the priesthood at St. Joseph’s College, Upholland where he was ordained on 4th June 1955.
In August 1955 he was appointed as Assistant Priest at St Anne’s, Edge Hill and in 1958 served briefly at St Bede’s, Widnes before moving to St Patrick’s, Southport, and then in February 1966 to St Joseph’s, Leigh.
In October 1966 he volunteered for missionary work in Peru where he was to remain for the next fifteen years serving latterly with the Liverpool Archdiocesan Missionary Project. He was in many respects a pioneer of missionary work in Latin America and his accounts of life there were always well received in the Archdiocese. It was this work which made a lasting impression on his priestly ministry giving joyful pastoral support to those he served.
In 1981 he returned to the Archdiocese to become Parish Priest of St Mary’s, Lowe House, St Helens. It was a time of change for the large parish which had been until then staffed by a Religious Order; it was a challenge which he accepted with an enthusiasm which continued throughout his thirteen years there. His knowledge of missionary work was acknowledged when in 1985 he was appointed Episcopal Vicar for Missionary Activity in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, a post which he was to hold until 1992. In June 1987 he was appointed a Prelate of Honour by Pope John Paul II.
In September 1994 he became Parish Priest of Our Lady of Lourdes in Birkdale, Southport, also serving as Episcopal Vicar for sick and retired clergy. He remained in Birkdale until his retirement through ill health in September 1999. He will be remembered there, as in all the places he served, as a joyful, hard working and prayerful priest who offered tremendous pastoral care to all around him.
He died peacefully on the afternoon of Tuesday 14th March 2000 in St Joseph’s Hospice, Thornton following a lengthy illness. May he rest in peace.