Maurice Taylor

Who is Maurice Taylor?

Maurice Taylor was the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Galloway, Scotland from 1981 until 2004.

Born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire he attended St Cuthbert's Primary, Burnbank, before going on to St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow, and, later, Our Lady's High School, Motherwell.

He studied philosophy at Blairs College, Kincardineshire, from 1942 to 1944 and then served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, at home, in India and in Egypt. He attended the Pontifical Scots College, Rome from 1947 to 1951, studying theology at the Gregorian University and being ordained a priest in Rome on 2 July 1950.

After a year as assistant priest in St Bartholomew's, Coatbridge, he returned to Rome in 1952 where he took his doctorate in theology in 1954. For 10 years from August 1955 he taught philosophy and theology at St Peter's College, Cardross.

From 1965 until 1974 he was rector of the Royal Scots College, Valladolid, Spain. He was ordained Bishop of Galloway by Cardinal Gordon Gray on 9 June 1981. For more than ten years he represented Scotland on the Episcopal Board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, and was its chairman from 1997 until 2002. He retired as Bishop in 2004 and was succeeded by John Cunningham.