When Cardinal Thomas Winning died suddenly in 2001, ushering in uncertain times for Scotland’s Roman Catholic community, a safe pair of hands was needed to step up and into the gap.
That safe pair of hands belonged to Monsignor James Clancy, who was chosen to take short-term charge of the archdiocese of Glasgow, the largest Catholic diocese in Scotland.
Mild mannered, self-effacing and remarkably quiet in the way he went about his priestly life for 50 years, Mgr Clancy began his priesthood in 1967 as a lecturer on the staff of St Mary’s College, the seminary for training Scottish priests, at Blairs in Aberdeen.
His later years spent in Rome close to the Vatican hierarchy went a long way towards preparing himself for the rigours ahead.
On his appointment as diocesan administrator in Glasgow, Mgr Clancy outlined his priorities. “We must keep the archdiocese running as smoothly as possible until the Holy Father appoints a successor” he said.
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“I know I can count on the support of all the staff to ensure the archdiocese continues to function well. I would ask for prayers that the Holy Father will give us a strong and courageous new bishop, like the cardinal, to lead us in faith in the years ahead.”
Mgr Clancy served as rector of the Scots College in Rome from 1981 until 1986. Previously he had been an assistant priest in St Andrew’s, Bearsden. He also took on the role of confessor to the nuns at the Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Ghost in Kirktonhill, Dumbarton.
A major event of his tenure in Rome was the pastoral visit of John Paul II to Scotland in the summer of 1982. The first trip of its kind, it was followed two years later by the Pope’s visit to the college on the Via Cassia to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the new college building.
Mgr Clancy’s time at the college began at the start of the new academic year in 1981. One of the new intake of students that year was the present spiritual director of the college, Father Mark Cassidy. He remembers his first rector as “a good priest with a fruitful ministry, which included the five years he guided us in our formation in this college”.
Father Mark also has fond memories of him at the end of a visit by the Holy Father to the college. “My abiding memory of Monsignor Clancy would be from the day he, as rector, had the privilege of welcoming Pope St John Paul II to the college,” he says.
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“There was a visible, simple joy radiating from him, epitomised by the image of him joining in the singing of Will ye no’ come back again as the Holy Father prepared to leave.”
After his service in Rome, Mgr Clancy returned to Glasgow in 1986. He was appointed assistant priest at St Ninian’s in Knightswood and vicar-general of the archdiocese. His dedication to his pastoral duties is underscored by the fact that while at Knightswood, he took on the additional burden of chaplain to Gartnavel Hospital. He also served at St Kessog’s in Balloch and St Joseph’s in Faifley, Clydebank.
In 1999 Mgr Clancy was elevated to become a prelate of honour (an honorary bishop) and two years later he took charge as parish priest of St Andrew’s Cathedral in Clyde Street. In 2004 he moved from the cathedral parish to St Paul’s, Whiteinch, and then finally as parish priest to St Michael’s, Dumbarton, his parents’ home parish, where he retired in 2014.
Latterly Mgr Clancy had been resident with the Little Sisters of the Poor in Robroyston, Glasgow. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease exacerbated by a stroke.
He persevered bravely and determinedly with his illness for a number of years and died on the morning of November 6 at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
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Archbishop Philip Tartaglia said at the time of Mgr Clancy’s retirement: “He took this decision as much for the parish as for himself. It was a decision he came to slowly and which emerged out of caring and affectionate conversation with his family, out of supportive exchanges with his priest friends, and out of some meetings with me in which we discussed the various options which began to open up. Above all, I believe, this decision emerged mostly out of Monsignor Clancy’s own prayer and reflection.”
Mgr Clancy was born in Belfast during the Second World War to Thomas Michael Clancy and his wife, Bridget, who was known as Delia. The family moved to London and he was first educated at Westminster Cathedral primary, then subsequently at St Colman’s and St Teresa’s, Belfast. He attended St Aloysius’s College, Glasgow, for two years until 1956 when he went to Blairs.
He completed his priestly formation at the Scots College in Rome, where he was ordained in March 1967 by Bishop Giovanni Canestri.
Mgr Clancy is survived by his brothers Kevin and Thomas, both retired school teachers, sisters-in-law Clare and Patricia, his nephews Kevin John, David and Martin and niece Frances.
James Clancy, priest, was born on March 3, 1943. He died in Glasgow on November 6, 2017, aged 74