The Archdiocese of Liverpool was saddened to learn of the death of Fr John Joyce. He was 84 years old and in his 59th year of priesthood.

John Thomas Joyce was born in Liverpool on 8 March 1942 to Michael Patrick and Mary Joyce. He grew up in the parish of St Alphonsus and attended the parish primary school. Later he entered the junior seminary at St Joseph’s College, Upholland. Most of his priestly formation took place against the backdrop of the preparation for, and celebration of the Second Vatican Council. He was ordained deacon in September 1967, and was ordained priest by Archbishop Beck on 8 June the following year, one of the second cohort to be ordained priest in the recently consecrated Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

The newly ordained Fr Joyce then began his priestly ministry just as the liturgical changes following the Council were beginning to be implemented. He served in a number of parishes across the archdiocese as an assistant priest: firstly, a temporary appointment at St Laurence, Kirkby, from August 1968; then at St Margaret Mary’s, Liverpool, from December 1968; St Matthew, Liverpool, from November 1975; and St Mary of the Isle, Douglas, from March 1984.

In July 1986, he received his first appointment as parish priest, as he left the Isle of Man to move to St Aloysius, Roby. He readily returned to the Isle of Man in September 1994 when the opportunity arose. This time he was appointed to Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Ramsey, from where he also cared for the parish of St Patrick, Peel. Though he loved being on the island, his final tenure was quite brief as he decided that he needed to be nearer to his father who was quite frail by this time. Thus, in September 1995 he took up his final, and longest, appointment as parish priest at All Saints, Golborne, where he served until his retirement in October 2012.

In retirement he moved to Crosby, where he had always retained a space in the family home and enjoyed the support of his remaining family. He died after a short illness on Friday 31 July 2026.

May he rest in peace.