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Homily in memory of Professor V Alan McClelland
by Mgr Daniel McHugh

5 December 2025

On 5 December 2025, the Feast of St Birinus, founding director of Maryvale, Mgr Daniel McHugh celebrated a memorial Mass for Professor V Alan McClelland, a former academic and, more recently, Fellow of the institute. In Alan's memory, Mgr Daniel delivered the following homily:

I am very pleased to be presiding at this Memorial Mass for Professor Alan McClelland, and to have with us Marie his wife, and Alkelda, his daughter. I am conscious that on this occasion, it is the Maryvale First Friday Mass; one that Alan would have attended in years past.

Some of you who have attended First Friday Mass here for a number of years will recall students attending courses and resident in the Institute for the weekend would come in to join the First Friday Mass from near and far. What you may not have known was that once they had settled in for a residential weekend, they would come to this Chapel for evening prayer and morning Mass on Saturday and Sunday, and take the opportunity to visit the little Chapel/Shrine of the Sacred Heart over the weekend. Those who came on Day Courses also came to the Chapel here and the Shrine to pray: a personal relationship with the Sacred Heart and Our Lady in prayer was nurtured at the same time as the adults coming here studied our Catholic Faith, Catechetics and Religious Education with a view to playing a greater part in the mission of the Church.

Those of us who lived and/or worked here at various times from 1980 to the present, are sad that, due to financial pressures in the Diocese and the condition of some parts of the building, the Adult Education Institute has now moved on and is developing elsewhere. This evening’s Mass gives me the opportunity to share with you who come here on First Fridays something of what was achieved in those 45 years; it was a great deal and it would take a lot longer than one Homily to cover it; and at the same time to thank you, who keep the First Friday Devotion alive in this historic place, for being here and so enabling us to return to the place that means so much to us.

The Mass is being offered in Thanksgiving for the part Prof McClelland played here and the contribution he made here and elsewhere to the Mission of the Church, and in prayer for Alan’s rising in glory for eternity. Writing to me on the occasion of Alan’s death, Archbishop Bernard said, “Thank you for letting me know about the recent death of Professor Alan McClelland and that you have been in touch with his wife, Marie. I shall remember Professor McClelland in my prayers, with gratitude for all he contributed to the Maryvale Institute.” Bishop Evans, who oversees the Chapel and the ongoing work of the Institute, expressed his pleasure that the Mass to remember Prof McClelland would take place this evening.

When Archbishop Dwyer asked me to become Director of Religious Education (Schools) and Parish Catechetics in 1980, a new dimension was Adult Education, and we began this straight away with an Adult level study of key matters in our Faith. When Archbishop Couve de Murville came in 1982 he was especially interested in Education and encouraged us to go on to Higher Education: he had come from being a University Chaplain and was the Bishop entrusted with the link to Europe, so he wanted to see us develop that pathway.

It took time, of course, and I was fortunate to have some outstanding priests with me (Fr. John Redford, Fr. Kevin Preston) as well as this building so rich in Catholic history, and space to develop Open University style courses with day + residential courses, and room to build new facilities like the Lecture Hall and Library, and later a Convent for the Bridgettine Sisters.

After 3 years of preparation, the BA (Divinity) was launched in October 1990, linked to Maynooth in Ireland, with approval from Rome. And, in September 1991 the M.Ed. in Religious Education and Catechetics began, linked to Hull University, where Professor McClelland was head of the Faculty of Education: we became an Associate College. And in April 1992, the first Research Degree Students were registered with the Council for National Academic Awards, later the Open University, through another great man, Dr Francis Clarke. Without Hull, we couldn’t have moved forward. Alan came to visit regularly: a lovely man who would sit in with my kitchen cabinet, Teresa and Sr Philomena, who looked after him; join us in prayer here and in the Sacred Heart Shrine, and at the same time bring his learning to bear in lectures, and guidance as a key member of our Academic Board.

Sr Kathleen, who was in charge of the launch of a Secondary RE PGCE, kept in touch and has been responsible for this Mass taking place this evening. She said of him in relation to the student teachers, “he was always compassionate.” I noticed the same; he would keep in touch and send me his books: one I’ve brought with me, “From Without the Flaminian Gate” which he co-edited with Michael Hodgetts, another great contributor to Maryvale’s developing infrastructure, also deceased.

At the heart of our academic development - which was recognised by Pope John Paul II on the visit of the Hierarchy to Rome in 1992 – was this Chapel and Shrine which goes back to the 10th Century (c.f. Beth Mulvey’s history and Oscote Chapel)

The Mass takes place on the First Friday, which is also the Feast of St Birinus, who came to England to continue the Mission started by Pope Gregory the Great and St Augustine, who came at the end of the 500s and died 604 in Canterbury. Birinus arrived in 634 and established his See at Dorchester-on-Thames in our Diocese. The people in our part of the world were still in need of evangelisation. By the time he died in 650 he had established Churches, ordained Clergy and formed new communities of prayer. Whatever remains of his relics are in Winchester Cathedral following the Reformation. We ask the prayers of Birinus that the great mission started here with the generous help of Alan may continue to flourish through the many people who studied here, and the courses which continue to flourish elsewhere.

To Marie and Alkelda: thank you for supporting Prof Alan in his great work here: the mission goes on, enriched by his Faith, generosity and academic achievements.

Eternal Rest ….

I share with you a favourite prayer of mine found in a Church in Salthill Co. Galway:

Lord, we give our loved one back to you,
and just as you first gave him to us
and did not lose him in the giving.
so we have not lost him
in returning him to you.
For life is eternal,
Love is immortal,
Death is only an horizon,
and an horizon is nothing
but the limit of our earthly sight.
We hold him close within our hearts,
and there he shall remain,
to walk with us throughout our lives
until we meet again.