| Type: | bishop |
| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Reverend |
| Roderick Wright | |
| Bishop of Argyll and the Isles | |
| Province: | St Andrews and Edinburgh |
| Diocese: | Argyll and the Isles |
| Appointed: | 11 December 1990 |
| Ended: | 19 September 1996 |
| Predecessor: | Colin MacPherson |
| Successor: | Ian Murray |
| Ordination: | 29 June 1964 (Priest) |
| Consecration: | 15 January 1991 (Bishop) |
| Consecrated By: | Luigi Barbarito |
| Birth Date: | 28 June 1940 |
| Birth Place: | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Death Date: | 23 May 2005 (aged 64) |
| Death Place: | Napier |
| Nationality: | Scottish |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
| Spouse: | Kathleen (m. June 1998) |
| Children: | One son |
Roderick Wright (28 June 1940 – 23 May 2005) was a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles from 1990 to 1996.
Born in the Kingston district of Glasgow on 28 June 1940,[1] Wright was one of four children of a working-class merchant seaman. His parents were Andrew 'Andra' Wright and Dolina 'Dolly' MacInnes, who both came from the Outer Hebrides: Andrew came from Eriskay, and Dolina came from South Boisdale, South Uist. Roddy Wright, as he was known to family and friends, was educated at St Gerard's Secondary School in Govan. He began training for the priesthood at Blairs College in Kincardineshire when he was fourteen, and went on to St Peter's Seminary, Cardross in 1958.[2] [3]
Wright disappeared from his home next door to St. Columba's Cathedral, Oban, on 4 September 1996. Kathleen MacPhee, a divorced mother of three who worked as a nurse in Fort William, vanished at the same time leaving her youngest child with relatives. There was concern among local people, including Frances Shand Kydd, the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Wright had advised Shand-Kydd before her reception into the Roman Catholic Church in 1994.[4] The following weekend, a former parishioner of Wright's came forward to say that she had become pregnant by him and given birth to a son in 1981.[5]
Wright resigned as Bishop of Argyll and the Isles on 19 September 1996 and renounced the office of bishop.
Wright registered as unemployed and was spotted looking for work in the Jobcentre in Kendal, Cumbria, England.[6] In his autobiography, he alleged that Jobcentre staff had leaked information about him. Wright married MacPhee in a civil ceremony in Antigua in June 1998.[7]
In 2002, Wright and his wife emigrated to New Zealand. He suffered in his last months from liver cancer[2] and died on 23 May 2005, aged 64.