The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

of the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

covering the counties of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, Suffolk, and

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

England. The diocese makes up part of the

Catholic Association Pilgrimage The 'Catholic Association'' of the UK, abbreviated to the CA, has been around in one form or another since 1881 and ran its first pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1901. Its objects are set out in the Memorandum and Articles but its main purpose is to mast ...

Statistics

There are 85,309 members of the church, who belong to the 50 parishes in the diocese. The patrons of the diocese are

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics, Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and some Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English noblewoman, in 1061 in t ...

(24 September), St Felix (8 March), and St Edmund (20 November).

Churches

The diocese is divided into seven

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

, which are in turn divided into 50 parishes. Note that the list below is not exhaustive, and includes only notable parishes.

Deanery of Bury St Edmunds (St Edmund)

Masses are also said at

RAF Lakenheath Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, UK, north-east of Mildenhall and west of Thetford. The base also sits close to Brandon. Despite being an RAF sta ...

, at

Clare Priory Clare Priory is a religious house in England, originally established in 1248 as the first house of the Augustinian Friars in England. It is situated on the banks of the River Stour, a short distance away from the medieval village of Clare, Suffo ...

, at the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Quidenham, at the care home of the Sisters of Our Lady of Grace and Compassion in

Great Barton Great Barton is a large village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about East of Bury St Edmunds on the A143.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – S ...

, and in the villages of

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English au ...

and

Woolpit Woolpit ( ) is a village in the English county of Suffolk, midway between the towns of Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket. In 2011 Woolpit parish had a population of 1,995. It is notable for the 12th-century legend of the green children of Woolpi ...

Deanery of Cambridge (St Andrew)

Masses are also said at

RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury or more simply RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of Great Stukeley, Little Stukeley, and Alconbur ...

, at Blackfriars, the Dominican Priory of St Michael, Cambridge, at Fisher House University Chaplaincy, and in the villages of

Bar Hill Bar Hill is a purpose-built village with a population of 4,000 about 4 miles (7 km) northwest of Cambridge, England on the A14 road, just east of the Prime Meridian. History Prior to the building of the Bar Hill settlement the area was ...

and

Papworth Everard Papworth Everard is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies ten miles west of Cambridge and six miles south of Huntingdon. Running through its centre is Ermine Street, the old North Road (now the A1198) and the Roman highway that for ...

Deanery of Great Yarmouth (St Peter)

¹No longer listed on diocesan website.

Deanery of Ipswich (St Edward)

*Aldeburgh with Leiston Parish ** Our Lady & St Peter, Aldeburgh * St James, Ipswich *St Mark's Parish ** St Mark, Ipswich *St Mary's Parish ** St Mary, Ipswich * St Mary Magdalen, Ipswich * St Pancras, Ipswich *Woodbridge and Framlingham Parish ** St Thomas of Canterbury, Woodbridge

Deanery of King's Lynn (St Wilfrid)

* St Dominic, Downham Market *

Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham The Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, informally known as the Slipper Chapel or the Chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, is a Catholic basilica in Houghton Saint Giles, Norfolk, England. Built in 1340, it was the last chapel on the pilgrim ...

* Our Lady & St Charles Borromeo, Wisbech

Deanery of Norwich (St Felix)

* Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich

Deanery of Peterborough (St Hugh)

* St Peter & All Souls, Peterborough ** Ukrainian Catholic Church of St Olga, Peterborough

History

On , by the decree ''Quod Ecumenicum'',

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

formed the Diocese of East Anglia (from the counties of Cambridge, Norfolk and Suffolk) out of the Diocese of Northampton. On 2 June 1976, the new diocese received its first

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

, Alan Clark. Bishop Clark had previously been auxiliary bishop of Northampton and co-chairman of ARCIC (Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission), with the cathedral being established at the former parish church of St John the Baptist, Norwich. As the first bishop of the new diocese, Bishop Clark had to set up all the necessary instruments and commissions for the diocese to operate successfully. The establishment of the Diocesan Pastoral Council in 1987 strengthened these. The diocese continued to grow with the development of the diocesan offices and diocesan tribunal attached to Bishop's House in

Poringland Poringland is a village in the district of South Norfolk, England. It lies south of Norwich city centre and north of Bungay. Its population has rapidly grown in the past 50 years. It covers an area of and had a population of 3,261 living in 1 ...

near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. Bishop Clark led a number of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...

pilgrimages.

Ordinaries

* Alan Charles Clark (appointed on 26 April 1976 – retired on 21 March 1995) * Peter David Smith (appointed on 21 March 1995 –

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to the

Archdiocese of Cardiff The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff ( la, Archidioecesis Cardiffensis; cy, Archesgobaeth Caerdydd) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church which covers the south-east portion of Wales and the county of Herefordshire in ...

on 26 October 2001) * Michael Charles Evans (appointed on 14 February 2003 – died in office on 11 July 2011) * Alan Hopes (appointed on 11 June 2013 - resignation accepted on 11 October 2022) * Peter Collins (appointed on 11 October 2022 and installed on 14 December 2022)

Pilgrimage

The diocese makes up part of the

References

External links

Roman Catholic diocese of East Anglia
— official website {{Authority control Religion in Suffolk Religion in Norfolk Christianity in Cambridgeshire Christian organizations established in 1976 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century 1976 establishments in England East Anglia