Priest and hospital chaplain;
Born January 16, 1949;
Died March 13, 2008.

FATHER Hugh McGinlay, who has died of cancer aged 59, was a Catholic priest who worked extensively with drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless.

He was also widely respected for his mission among young people in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and for his care of the sick at the Marian Shrine at Lourdes.

The Most Rev Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow, and the Rt Rev Philip Tartaglia, Bishop of Paisley, along with more than 90 priests and representatives of the many organisations with which Fr McGinlay had close connection, celebrated a requiem Mass to mark his death in St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow, where he was an assistant parish priest.

The huge congregation also included staff and patients from Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where he was chaplain. Representatives were also present from the Wayside Club, an organisation for the homeless in Glasgow, and many also attended from addiction groups across Scotland, notably Cenacolo UK, with which he had worked closely in recent years.

In his homily, Archbishop Conti paid tribute to the work done by Fr McGinlay, in particular during the latter years of his ministry. The Archbishop had regularly visited him at the Marie Curie Hospice at Huntershill, Glasgow, during the time of his illness.

He said: "Father Hugh was a wonderful, caring, compassionate pastor, whose ministry in the cathedral in recent years had a powerful impact on countless lives. Though small in stature, he was a giant in faith, who had a special gift for communicating that faith in a winning and often humorous way."

Fr McGinlay was born in Dumbarton, the son of Hugh McGinlay and Mary Beattie, and went to both primary and secondary school at St Patrick's High in Castlehill.

When he left school he chose to go to Rome, where he studied at the Scots College before being ordained a priest in his home parish of St Michael's in 1977.

His uncles, Monsignor Hugh and Father Felix Beattie, were both priests. His sisters, Rita Bellamy-James and Eileen Kidd, did the readings at the Mass, which was attended by many relatives and friends from Dumbarton, where Fr McGinlay's funeral took place at the local cemetery.