Bishop David McGough

March 2023: It is with great sadness we announce the death of Bishop David McGough, retired auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Bishop David passed away recently at his home in Tean aged 78.

David Christopher McGough was born on 20 November 1944 in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He attended the Sacred Heart School, Tunstall; St Joseph’s Preparatory School, Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent, and Cotton College, North Staffordshire.

He studied for the priesthood at St Mary’s College, Oscott - the Diocesan Seminary - from 1963. He also studied at the Venerable English College in Rome and obtained a degree in Theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on 14 March 1970 by Bishop Joseph Cleary in his home Parish, the Sacred Heart, Tunstall. After a year teaching at the Diocesan Seminary he returned to Rome for Post Graduate Studies and gained a degree in Sacred Scripture in 1974.

Bishop McGough spent 15 years teaching Scripture to students for the Catholic Priesthood at Oscott College from 1974 until 1989. In 1986 he was appointed as Parish Priest at Christ the King, Kingstanding, Birmingham. He has been Parish Priest at Our Lady and All Saints, Stourbridge, since 1990.

His other responsibilities in the Archdiocese of Birmingham have been as Dean of the Dudley Deanery and Canon of St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. He was appointed Episcopal Vicar for Walsall, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Worcestershire in 2004. His hobbies are photography and heritage railways. He follows Stoke City Football Club from a distance.

He was ordained Bishop by Archbishop Nichols in St Chad’s Cathedral on 8 December 2005.