Monsignor Ronnie Brown
Ordained: 22 February 1964
Telephone: 0191 455 8092
Email: [email protected]
I was born in Hebburn within the borough of South Tyneside and completed my early primary and secondary education there before moving into the work place. I began an apprenticeship as a draughtsman with a Bushing Company and, after a couple of years, realised it wasn't for me and decided to leave.
Upon leaving the Company, I began training to become a priest in Osterley and Oscott College and finally became ordained in 1964. Upon leaving the seminary, my first post was a curate between 1964 - 1967 in Hackenthorpe in Derbyshire. This gave me vast experience of working alongside experienced members of the clergy and prepared me for my next post as a Royal Navy Chaplain. I had this position for 22 years from 1968 - 1990 and was made Principal Chaplain in 1984. In this time I served in the Far East, Gibralta, Northern Ireland, Falklands and finally in the cold South of the globe - Antarctica.
In 1984 I was awarded an Honorary Prelate form His Holiness Pope John Paul II and in 1989 I was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Upon leaving the Navy I became the parish priest at Ss. Peter & Paul's RC Church in Longbenton before taking up the same post at St. Bede's RC Church in Jarrow. Then in 2002, I retired from full-time priesthood and am now living in South Shields, back where I started in South Tyneside assisting the local parishes when I can.
In my spare time I enjoy travelling around the country as well as special areas in the world as well as using my retirement time to visit friends.