Bill Flagg; COMMENT & ANALYSIS OBITUARY.

HE WAS the farmer's boy from apple country who saw the work of God in many places - from the Argentinian pampas to the streets of Liverpool.

And from his extensive travels, often among native peoples whose spirituality was drawn from different influences, he realised that the Christian faith was best served by home-grown priests.

Evangelical and brimming with energy, John William Hawkins ("Bill") Flagg worked in Liverpool between 1977 and 1986 as an assistant bishop to the late David Sheppard and as vicar of St Cyprian with Christ Church, in Edge Hill.

These were hard times in Liverpool and Bishop Sheppard, with the Catholic Archbishop Derek Worlock, campaigned vigorously to ensure that the particular problems of Liverpool were made known to the Government.

In this, Sheppard could depend on the stalwart support of the Right Reverend Flagg, who died in a nursing home in Upholland. His funeral service was held at Liverpool Cathedral on Friday.

Flagg was brought up in a farm near Yeovil, and moved out to Chile as a 22-year-old agricultural missionary with the South American Mission Society (SAMS) in 1959. His wife, Marjorie, joined him two years later, by which time he was chaplain to St Andres Asuncion, in Paraguay. He was transferred to Argentina in 1965. In 1969, he was consecrated as Bishop of Paraguay and Northern Argentina.

During his time there, he was charged with initiating Spanish-speaking ministry in the towns while serving an area several times the size of the UK. He would travel between the small towns and villages on horseback, preaching in Spanish to the Mapuche Indians, always hoping that the indigenous clergy would take over the isolated parishes, just as the early Christians had done.

In Liverpool, he is remembered as a dedicated figure with slightly wayward hair, a tightly woven jacket, black shirt and brilliant dogcollar.

In 1986, he was appointed as the General Secretary for SAMS, before moving to the Diocese of Southwell in 1993.

Three years later, he received one of the highest honours in the Church, the Cross of Augustine, in recognition of his and his wife's lifetime of ministry.

Bill Flagg, clergyman; born June 16, 1929, died October 1, 2008.