ONE of Burnley's longest-serving parish priests has died, aged 78.

Father Joshua Sheeky was in the priesthood in Burnley for 40 years. He died this week in Nazareth House in Blackburn.

Fr Sheeky was born in Burnley in 1926 and was baptised at St Mary's Church. He attended school at St Mary's and Burnley Grammar before going on to study at Leeds University.

Before entering the priesthood he worked as a teacher at St Mary Magdalene's, Burnley, but he switched careers and began to study for life in the church in 1958 at St Sulpice in Paris. He was ordained at St Mary's on June 29, 1963.

Between 1977 and his retirement in 2002, Fr Sheeky served two churches, St Teresa's in Gannow and, from 1984, as parish priest at Christ the King.

Fr Michael Walsh, of the Salford Diocese, said: "Fr Sheeky was a very courteous man, full of faith and a very pastoral man. He was a good person."

A reception and Requiem Mass will be at Christ the King on Tuesday evening, followed by a Requiem Mass at St Mary's, Yorkshire Street, on Wednesday morning and interment at Burnley Cemetery.