Tribute to a holy priest
Giving thanks for the life of Fr Jon Bielawski
Holy friends are a gift from God. Holy priests are an immense gift from God. Over the 25 years that I've known Fr Jon his priestly holiness impacted my life in many ways and for this I want to give thanks. His holiness was humble and discreet and may have gone unnoticed. This is why I want to put into words, what I consider to be the powerful witness of the ‘ordinary’ or ‘everyday’ holiness that we are each called to live.
Fr Jon was someone who lived each day to the full. He was always on call for Jesus, fully available, constantly at his service. He had a unique passion and zeal for bringing souls to Jesus and his Church, an unshakeable faith and a fidelity to prayer that was unwavering.
There are, most notably, three ways in which Fr Jon was an instrument of God in my life, all of which are very simple and yet had huge repercussions. The first was a simple encounter and invitation. I met Fr Jon for the first time when I was 15 at our former parish in Bideford, North Devon. He was the new, young, parish priest and my family were back home, visiting, on holiday. It was at the end of a weekday Mass, and he could have let us leave without greeting us, but he never missed an opportunity for the Lord. Seeing this young family at Mass, he came to greet us and invited us to the Youth 2000 summer festival which was soon to take place. This was a very simple and ordinary thing to do and yet it changed the trajectory of our whole family. It was during my first Youth 2000 retreat that I encountered Jesus in the Eucharist and my faith came alive. Thanks to the Youth 2000 retreats we all grew in our faith, individually and as a family, and each became missionaries in our own way. All thanks to a simple greeting and invitation.
Then, on my gap year, with the Youth 2000 mission team, Fr Jon came to give us some input for our formation and told us his vocation story. He shared how at university he had been dating a girl, whom he loved and envisaged marrying, but heard God calling him to the priesthood, so he left everything to follow Jesus. This startled me, as I had always thought that if in your heart you wanted to get married, or were in love, then that would be your vocation. I suddenly realised that there was more to discerning one's vocation than I had thought. This opened my heart to a possible vocation to religious life. Maybe the Lord could call me, even if I was in love and wanted to get married. I saw that this wasn't a criterion for not discerning. So, I began to ask God to show me His Will and nine months later was overjoyed to embrace a call to contemplative life! All thanks to the simple sharing of a testimony.
15 years later our community was looking for a bigger convent in the UK. Our General Prioress had said we would have to close our foundation in the UK if we couldn’t find a suitable convent before September! We reached out by email to Fr Jon asking if there were, by any chance, any empty convents in his diocese and if his Bishop might be willing to welcome us? He responded, “Yes and yes!” and did everything he could to make it possible for us come to Lynton Convent. The email was sent on Divine Mercy Sunday, the week after Easter, and we moved in on the 1st of August. It all came together so quickly thanks to Fr Jon's mediation and the willingness of Bishop Mark O'Toole (the former Bishop of Plymouth).
Three very simple interventions which perhaps Fr Jon was unaware of and yet which caused three hugely significant changes in my life: a new faith, a new vocation, a new home. Indeed, it is not just home to our community but a place where many souls come and find rest and meet the Lord. All thanks to Fr Jon’s intercession. So much to give thanks for.
A father, an apostle, a friend of Jesus and a friend and brother to me.
His zeal for souls and for Jesus and the Church made him ardent in prayer and in evangelisation. For Fr Jon evangelisation wasn't just an idea or something to be talked about but something he lived. Every day he was a soldier for Christ, vigilant and on active service for the Lord, going out to meet people, to speak to them about Jesus and bringing them to Him in the Eucharist. The Mass and Eucharistic Adoration were the center of his life, from where he drew all his strength. He was a tireless missionary and at the same time a wonderfully present parish priest, so down to earth, so present to everyone and at the same time so radical in his personal way of living out his vocation. He lived a radical poverty. He was totally unconcerned about himself; his focus was the mission: souls. He had a beautiful uprightness and purity of intention that nothing could sway. He was totally focused on God and on doing his will. So determined. A rare soul. An inspiration.
Friends from the parish in Bideford recounted how he would come to their weekly prayer/discussion group, often so tired from all his labours, that rather than sit in a chair he would kneel next to it so as not to fall asleep! Totally given. He was also very attentive to encouraging the young people in his parishes and was a great supporter of the Youth 2000 retreats. He would always bring with him groups of young people from his parishes.
From all his parish experiences of evangelisation grew the “Genesis Mission” with the desire to form others to become missionary disciples. For Fr Jon it wasn't enough to talk about evangelisation or to tell people how to do it. You had to show them, do it with them, walk alongside them. His go-to read was Evangelii Nuntiandi(Announcing the Gospel, an Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Paul VI.) I’m re-reading it now in remembrance of him. I’m so aware that this was what helped to form his understanding and urgency to evangelise. He was so passionate about his mission that he didn't want to die, there was still so much more he had to do… he wanted to continue forming missionary disciples and bringing souls to Christ. He was especially passionate about forming future priests as missionaries, he was so excited about the work he and Michele Thompson (co-founder of Genesis Mission) were doing at Allen Hall Seminary.
So, when he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last summer [2025] it was a huge blow and totally unexpected. He was a very strong man, both physically and spiritually, whom normally nothing could stop. Yet in the space of a couple of weeks, he received the double blow of his parish church being condemned as unsound and his body being condemned to death.
I had the privilege of sitting with him at the We Believe Festival last summer, as he told me all his news, and of praying with him silently as he was choked for words at the struggle of letting go of his mission. We didn't think he would make it through that summer, but his determination, faith and strength enabled him to fight valiantly for life, and he fought his cancer bravely for a whole year. He was determined to live, to carry on the mission, and had so much faith for a miracle that we all believed it was possible. But it was not to be and after much suffering Our Heavenly Father called him home on the 22nd of July 2026, the feast of Saint Mary Magdalen, apostle to the apostles, so fitting.
The day he died I felt him smiling on me so strongly all afternoon, as if to say, “You were right, sister! Heaven is the better part! From here the mission does continue!” That afternoon I chuckled to myself when I thought, “He has enough faith to rise from the dead!” Then I realised that's exactly what has happened. He has so much faith he has risen from the dead! I think that now, as it was for St Therese, his mission for souls can truly begin. There are no longer any limits to what is possible. He didn’t rest on earth, and I don't think he's going to rest in heaven! I truly believe that he is going to help us powerfully from the other side, for the mission in this country, bringing many souls to Jesus, forming missionary disciples, filling our churches and drawing many young men to the seminary, and hopefully young women to our convents too! Let us pray for his soul but also ask for his intercession and for a share in his missionary spirit!
Fr Jon Bielawski, thank you for being you! Pray for us, we pray for you!
Funeral Arrangements:
Fr Jon will be buried from the cathedral with a Vigil Mass at 6.00pm on Wednesday 26th August– the Feast of Blessed Dominic Barberi.
His Requiem Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Nicholas on Thursday 27th August at 12 noon at the Cathedral.