Monsignor Mark Langham Well-liked priest and Cambridge University Catholic chaplain
MONSIGNOR MARK LANGHAM, who has died aged 60, was Chaplain of Fisher House, the Catholic Chaplaincy to the University of Cambridge, and a former administrator of Westminster Cathedral. His early death has robbed the Church of a priest who would surely have played a major role in future years.
He was born in London on November 28 1960 and educated at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. Feeling called to the priesthood, he wanted to enter the seminary, but was advised by Cardinal Hume to go to university and see something of the world first.
He read Classics at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and after graduating was enrolled, first, at Allen Hall in Chelsea, and then at the Venerable English College in Rome for theological studies. He was ordained in 1990.
Being a fine musician with a good voice, he served as precentor at Westminster Cathedral. He was later parish priest at St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, where he succeeded Father Michael Hollings, famous for running an “open” presbytery.
Langham was sent to Bayswater to restore order to the parish, which he did, while winning the confidence of the people. He took a regular part in the Notting Hill Carnival, organising a parish float and hosting lively parties.
After Bayswater, he was appointed to the Cathedral as Administrator by the incoming Archbishop, Cormac Murphy O’connor (soon made a Cardinal).
As the one in charge not just of the fabric of the building, but also of the pastoral care it provided, he was valued for his warmth and kindness. And under his leadership, the Clergy House became a true community. His sense of humour played a part: on Ash Wednesday there was a clerical weigh-in, and during the Lenten fast a competition to lose weight. Bets were taken on who would win and an exercise bike appeared in the Clergy House basement.
As Administrator Langham was created Monsignor. After completing his time at the Cathedral, he was sent to Rome and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where he drew on his long-standing interest in inter-church relations. It was here that he was diagnosed with the leukaemia which effectively stopped his promotion to the episcopate.
Langham would have made a superb diplomat and for part of his time in Rome was co-secretary to the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the body charged with bringing the two churches closer together.
He was involved in the delicate negotiations that led to the setting up of the Ordinariate for former Church of England clergy, a structure within the Catholic Church that enabled them to move en masse to Rome while retaining elements of traditional Anglican liturgy. Langham lived at the Venerable English College in the Via di Monserrato, where his presence considerably lightened the atmosphere.
After the usual five years in Rome, he was appointed Chaplain in Cambridge: there his commitment to comforting all those in distress made him popular, indeed loved.
On top of his pastoral duties he completed a doctorate on the Caroline Divines and their relationship with Rome, while contributing frequently to various publications.
Mark Langham, a direct and eloquent preacher, was also a keen amateur painter, a numismatist, a gardener and a dog-lover.
At the end of last year his cancer returned in a form resistant to chemotherapy. In a letter to friends and parishioners, he gave thanks for “a wonderful and varied ministry”, but asked for no fuss, adding: “I am a firm believer in the communion of saints, and it is your love and prayers that will sustain me most at this time.”
Monsignor Mark Langham, born November 28 1960, died January 15 2021