Grove Park congregation remembers Fr John Seagrove with a plaque

Fr John Seabrook (1947 – 2020), former parish priest of St Joseph’s, Grove Park

The “colourful” and “compassionate” priest who was St Joseph’s parish priest for 21 years

The congregation of St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Grove Park, Chiswick, have remembered their former parish priest Fr John Seabrook with a commemorative plaque.

Fr John died on 15 April 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, so parishioners were unable to say goodbye to him properly at the time. He died peacefully at Hammersmith Hospital having been ill for a while.

He was baptised at the age of 21, having converted to Catholicism as an adult, and after leaving school in Shoreditch and working initially in a bank and then as an Assistant Examiner in an Estate Duty Office, he was called to the priesthood at the age of 26.

His obituary on the Westminster diocesan website describes him as a ‘colourful personality’ and quotes from a report when he was a seminarian at St Edmund’s College, Ware, which noted he was: ‘a welcome addition to the community despite, or perhaps because of, harmless eccentricities’.

If one of those eccentricities was talking to strangers on buses, it is one I share. We used to wait for the same bus often in Grove Park and he would often strike up a conversation. He was always friendly and entertaining.

St Joseph’s RC Church Grove Park 

One of his parishioners told The Chiswick Calendar:

“He would start a homily by saying something like: ‘I know you won’t be interested in this’ but then be super interesting but then would cut himself off with something like ‘I’m sure you’ve had enough of that’. He was super clever.

“He bubbled over with ideas in many directions. He wasn’t big on ‘rules'” and was “very compassionate”.

Fr John served as an RAF chaplain between 1982 and 1991, when he was appointed parish priest at Isleworth. He moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1994 and came to Grove Park in 1999.

The Church says he received a lot of support from dedicated parishioners during his illness in 2019. Since his death the priests of Our Lady of Grace on Chiswick High Road have taken turns to hold mass in Grove Park on Saturday evenings.

St Joseph’s RC Church Grove Park 

Blessing the plaque and drinks afterwards – Saturday 26 September

Canon Michael Dunne is returning on Saturday 26 September to say mass at 6.30pm and bless Fr John’s memorial plaque. Fr Dunne was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Westminster in July.

There will be a drinks reception afterwards in the Parish Room and the Church says all are invited – including local people Fr John knew and supported who were not churchgoers.

Fr Dunne will also be returning to Our Lady of Grace for his own thanksgiving mass and farewell on Sunday 18 October to say goodbye to his congregation after ten years in Chiswick.