Declan Donnelly expressed his “beyond devastation” over the death of his “darling” brother, who was rushed to the hospital with a “mystery illness” and passed away at age 55.
A beloved Roman Catholic priest from the north-east of Ireland, Dermott Donnelly was receiving care at North Durham Hospital after falling in his parish in Newcastle.
Following the incident, it is said that Donnelly was “very sick,” and parishioners were asked to pray for him before their next gathering.
‘I am heartbroken to tell you that my darling brother Fr Dermott, @TweeterPriest, sadly passed away this afternoon,’ the 46-year-old Saturday Night Takeaway and Britain’s Got Talent presenter wrote on Twitter. All of us are utterly devastated. We appreciate the compassion and support letters you have sent.
Father Dermott Donnelly passed away peacefully on Friday afternoon in the hospital, according to a statement from the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.
It is with great sadness that we must inform you of the passing of Fr. Dermott Donnelly, who passed away peacefully this afternoon in the hospital, according to a statement from the diocese.
“This has really taken all of us by surprise.” In this difficult time, would you kindly pray for the peace of his soul and for his family, especially his mother?
Fr. Dermott Donnelly passed away peacefully this afternoon in the hospital while being attended by his family and close friends, a spokesman for Declan said.
We request absolute discretion for the Donnelly family during this trying time.
He will be “greatly missed in the diocese for his sterling work with youth, on both a diocesan and national level,” according to Hexham and Newcastle Bishop Robert Byrne.
“He was a good and faithful priest,” he continued.
Donnelly frequently attended his brother’s traditionally London-based shows, and the presenter frequently traveled to the region to attend Mass and check out the youth projects that had been the priest’s labor of love since the 1990s.
Following his hospitalisation, a statement from Stanley, Dipton & Byermoor Catholic Parishes read: ‘Please pray for Father Dermott who is extremely unwell in hospital.
‘Tomorrow evening between 6pm-7pm there will be a period of time before the Blessed Sacrament so that we can come together as a community in St Joseph’s Church to pray for Father Dermott’s welfare.
‘Please be respectful to Father Dermott and his family at this difficult time, we will update you as and when we receive the most up to date information verified by the Diocese.’
A source told The Sun: ‘Dec arrived with other family members. There are around 12 of them there at the hospital. It was very sudden and everyone is just praying he pulls through.’
Donnelly had begun out as a curate in Chester-le-Street until, two years later, he was requested by the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle to set up a youth initiative aimed at introducing impoverished youths to the Catholic Church.
He converted the Youth Ministry Team into a successful enterprise, and in 2010 launched the Global Youth Village Centre on a former holiday camp in County Durham.
Over a 30 years span he continued raising money for the youth ministry, creating the Emmaus Student Village and developing youth leaders across the world.
Speaking in 2015, Donnelly confessed his relationship to household name Dec helped him transcend the age divide with youthful parishioners.
He said: ‘I don’t advertise that I’m Dec’s brother, but the kids always seem to know. It eliminates the distance between us.
His Excellency the Papal Nuncio, His Eminence the Cardinal, and representatives of the hierarchy of the Ukrainian church in the UK joined him in praying for peace in the war-torn Ukraine during his visit to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April at 10 Downing Street.
At the moment, he stated, “The quiet was so profound. It was a wonderful joy to kneel in prayer with Christian leaders from across many denominations at Downing Street.”
It was a time when the vulnerability of power met the power of vulnerability. The prayer was the finest weapon we have.
He presided over the celebrity-studded wedding of his renowned brother to Ali Astall in Newcastle in 2015.
Dec, one of seven children, was raised on the Cruddas Park estate in Newcastle alongside his siblings Camelia, Patricia, Moira, and sisters Martin, Eamonn, and Dermott.
Despite his great accomplishment, he once acknowledged that he briefly considered a career in the church before deciding it wasn’t for him.
Growing up was similar to The Waltons, but in Newcastle, he recalled. We all shared a council home in the West End neighborhood of Cruddas Park. The residence had three rooms.
It doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that nine people and three bedrooms makes for a bit of a squeeze.
“The three girls were in one room, the four boys were in another, and my mom and dad shared the third room, which had two sets of bunk beds.
In 1958, Anne and Alphonsus, my mother and father, arrived in Newcastle from Ireland.
I had my first performance experiences at the Tyneside Irish Centre, where you might frequently find the Donnelly family on a Saturday night.
Later, my brother Dermott trained to be a priest, he continued. I did briefly ponder following in his footsteps when I was around 14 years old.
The bus was packed with girls from the neighborhood girls’ school, Sacred Heart, as I arrived home from school one day. I immediately realized that I wasn’t cut out to be a priest.
The ITV staple and wealthy broadcaster has purchased his mother a £600,000 home in the affluent Ponteland neighborhood of Darras Hall, close to Newcastle, where neighbors include former England football star Alan Shearer.
While Dec thought about a career in the church, his older brother, who appeared on Junior Songs of Praise and was interviewed about church life by a puppet named Hacker T Dog, flirted with television.
In 2001, he experienced a more contentious taste of stardom. He was negotiating to host a Channel 4 program called Confess, encouraged by Dec.
The selling premise of the program was that it would entice viewers to publicly confess their faults, with the slogan: “Share your sins, alleviate your soul.”
Dermott was chosen to play the showbiz-savvy priest who would at least give them advice on the right course of action, if not go so far as to absolve them as in a real confessional.
After a pilot show was announced, the Catholic Church’s outcry was sufficiently loud to cause it to be covertly canceled. It was criticized as being “invasive” and “superficial” in some of the milder comments from church authorities.