Long-serving chaplain to St Aloysius’ College

Born: February 6, 1931;

Died: August 7, 2018

FR PETER "Bertie" Banyard, who has died aged 87, was a Catholic priest for 57 years, a Jesuit for seven decades, and until recently chaplain to St Aloysius’ College, Scotland's only Jesuit private school.

Bertie, as he was better known to all his friends, was born in Birmingham in 1931. After a peripatetic school education during the Second World War he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Roehampton in 1948. He undertook the normal formation of the Society of Jesus – in philosophy, theology, teaching and spirituality – and was ordained priest in 1961. He completed his training in St Beuno’s College in Wales and in 1963 he was appointed to the staff of St Aloysius’ College in Glasgow.

His earliest memory of arriving in Glasgow was hearing Acker Bilk’s plaintive clarinet rendering of Stranger on the Shore echoing from a radio in 45 Hill Street. He remarked that that was exactly what he, a distinctive sassanach, felt himself to be. But this changed very rapidly as he involved himself in the life of what was then an all-boys school and the wider community. When asked his role, he would say he taught “religion and rugby football”.

Bertie soon became a very effective games master, organising rugby and cricket throughout the school and inspiring the students with his own enthusiasm for these games. He himself played rugby for the Old Aloysians and was a very popular and well-liked figure among the senior clubs in the west of Scotland and was a much requested after-dinner speaker. He loved the Highlands, even claiming to be related to Flora MacDonald who sailed ‘Over the Sea to Skye’ with Bonnie Prince Charlie, and so established the Highland Hike for Third Year pupils - an annual walking holiday to Skye, then Eigg and finally, in 1971, the island of Vatersay which was to become very special to him.

A vital contribution which Fr Banyard made in this first period in Glasgow was to the pastoral care of pupils. Nowadays all schools have elaborate pastoral care programmes involving many teachers, but in the 60s and early 70s it was rare, so in St Aloysius’ College a great deal of this care devolved onto Fr Banyard and he handled it well. He understood young people very well and was very approachable, sensitive to their needs and quick to provide support when required.

In 1976 he left Glasgow to study pastoral theology for a year at Heythrop College in London, before teaching for three years at Wimbledon College and then being missioned as assistant chaplain at Manchester University. In 1984 he became a member of the Jesuit retreat team at Loyola Hall near Liverpool.

During those ten years away from Glasgow he retained the Vatersay connection, now without the pupil entourage, visiting the island three times a year, assisting the local parish priest on Barra by taking the Christmas and Easter services, as well as spending three weeks each summer saying daily mass and ministering to the Vatersay community. His visits became an integral part of island life. The people had great affection for him and placed their trust and confidence in him. For 47 years he shared their joys and sorrows.

In 1986 he suffered a heart attack at Loyola Hall. When the news reached Garnethill, the Rector Fr Michael Kyne sent word to ask if he would like come ‘home’ to Glasgow to recuperate. Fr Banyard was delighted with this invitation and following discussions with the Provincial, he was missioned back to Scotland and was on the train for Glasgow as soon as he was fit to travel. The following year he underwent major heart surgery - and it gave him a new lease of life.

He was appointed school chaplain, a ministry he relished. He was the chaplain to teaching and auxiliary staff as well as pupils and alumni. He celebrated mass and other liturgical events for the whole school, and retained a great interest in the sporting calendar, his aim being always to ensure that the support appropriate to a Catholic Christian school community was available to all who needed it.

He was very sensitive to the needs of other people and knew when and how to walk with them in time of need. His gentle unthreatening manner, wise counsel, kind words and supportive notes were frequently the tools of his trade. He thoroughly enjoyed the company of others and he celebrated the marriages of many Old Aloysians, baptised many of their children and grandchildren, and was unobtrusively present to many present and former pupils in times of deepest grief.

He had a special place in his heart for the work of the St Aloysius Children’s Fund, a charity which gives holidays for disabled students: raising money, co-ordinating the students as helpers and providing a welcome rest for caring parents.

Peter Banyard was an accomplished poet. Many of his poems began their lives as spiritual gifts to individuals, composed on special occasions such as weddings and birthdays. His compositions were clearly inspired by his Jesuit predecessor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and, through the lens of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, both Hopkins and Fr Banyard saw God in everything and good in everyone.

His modesty, wisdom, cheerfulness, his unstinting helpfulness and, above all, his unflinching trust in the guidance of the Risen Lord during his long life have touched thousands. A huge number of those who have benefited from his gifts regard him as a personal friend. That is his miracle.

RONNIE RENTON