George Patrick Dwyer

George Patrick Dwyer (September 25, 1908, Manchester – September 17, 1987) was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham from 1965 to 1981.

The son of John William Dwyer, a wholesale egg and potato merchant, and his wife Jemima, he was educated at St Bede's College, Manchester (1919–26), then at the Venerable English College, Rome after being accepted by the Salford Diocese as a candidate for the priesthood. Dwyer proved an outstanding student, and was awarded doctorates in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained priest on 1 November 1932, and returned to England to study languages at Christ's College, Cambridge.cite book |last=Worlock |first=Derek |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39997 |accessdate=2007-12-20 |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Dwyer, George Patrick (1908–1987)]

Following postgraduate studies in Rome and Cambridge from 1932 to 1937, he returned to St Bede's as a member of the teaching staff before joining the Catholic Missionary Society as vice-superior in 1947. He also edited the "Catholic Gazette" for four years until his appointment of Superior of the Catholic Missionary Society in 1951.

He was ordained as a bishop on September 24, 1957 following his appointment as Bishop of Leeds, before his appointment as Archbishop of Birmingham in October 1965.

After the death of John Carmel Heenan (a close friend of Dwyer's) in 1975, Dwyer was seen by some as a natural successor as Archbishop of Westminster. However, Dwyer informed the Apostolic Delegate he felt that at sixty-seven his age was too great for him to be considered for the post. He was, however, elected president of the Bishops' Conference during the first three years of Basil Hume's archbishopship, becoming the only bishop ever to hold that position who was not also Archbishop of Westminster.

References

* The Birmingham Post Year Book and Who's Who 1973-74, "Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd, July 1973"