Obituary of Rev. Bruce H. Noble

Along with his elder twin brother David, Bruce was born in Brisbane, Australia, to proud parents, Elsie and Victor. Both twins became celibate priests, first in the Anglican Church, and later in the Roman Catholic Church. The story is an intertwining one, until David’s demise in February 2011, leaving Bruce as sole survivor until his recent death on February 17, 2017. Their schooling at the Anglican Church Grammar School, Queensland University, and St. Francis Theological College, led to their first ordination at St. John’s Cathedral Brisbane, which had been carved by their grandfather LJ Harvey. David went to the Bush Brotherhood, and Bruce to Queen’s College, Oxford, where he was actively involved in review of the University Statutes, and was elected by his peers as sole Graduate Rep, and Chairman of the Constitution Committee. It could be said, “Bruce left his mark on Oxford, and Oxford left its mark on him”. Bruce served as Vicar of St. Georges, an Anglo-Catholic shrine similar to the shrine in Walsingham. From there he was sent to serve the parish of Coventry Cathedral. The call then came to cross the Atlantic to New York City, where his brother David was attached to Trinity Church at the end of Wall Street. Together the twin brothers took up the Marriage Encounter ministry, bringing them ultimately to Houston. They located at “Braeswood House” near the Houston Medical Center. He and his brother did over 40 weekends a year on a worldwide circuit, taking him as far afield as South Korea for Engaged Encounter, and West Germany for military couples, and was the keynote speaker at the International Anglican M.E. Convention in homeland Perth. With such firm convictions about the reality of marriage, the Catholic Church was really the only place to go. Conversion to the Roman Catholic Church came in 1986, reception in St. Mary’s Basilica Sydney, and ordination in St. Mary’s Seminary Houston. Dual assignments were made to the Catholic Chaplain Corps – Fr. Bruce to Methodist and Fr. David to MD Anderson. Over the next 26 years of pastoral care for cardiovascular and cancer patients, they made contact with innumerable families of the Archdiocese. Likewise for 20 years of contractual service to the military they maintained connection with army personnel of the 75th Division and First Brigade Reserves. Additional responsibilities came to Fr. Bruce with being temporarily named priest-in-charge of Our Lady of Walsingham parish, and then years later serving as its parish administrator. After fifty years of continuous ministry (both Anglican and Catholic), may Fr. Bruce rest from his labors, and rejoice with those who were encountered in the course of his life. Father Bruce asked that donations be directed to the Chorus Angelorum, an in-residence choral group at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, for which he served as Chaplain. A visitation will be held on the evening of Thursday, February 23 starting at 6:00 p.m., in the Warren Chapel at St. Dominic Village, 2401 Holcombe Blvd, followed by a Vigil at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart at 1111 St. Joseph Pkwy, on Friday, February 24 at 2:00 p.m.