The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, pro ...

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 Counties of England, 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 North ...

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 Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, 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 ...

in eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic Association Pilgrimage.

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 (24 September),

St Felix Felix is a given name that stems from Latin (genitive ) and means "happy" or "lucky". Its other form is Felicity. In German, Dutch, Czech, Slovenian, Romanian and Scandinavian languages the form "Felix" is the same as English. In French, Hun ...

(8 March), and

St Edmund Saint Edmund may refer to: * Saint Edmund the Martyr (d. 869), king of East Anglia who was venerated as a martyr saint soon after his death at the hands of Vikings * Saint Edmund Arrowsmith (1585–1628), Jesuit, one of the Forty Martyrs of England ...

(20 November).

Churches

The diocese is divided into seven deaneries, 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, at Clare Priory, at the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in

Quidenham Quidenham is a small rural village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 576 in 183 households at the 2001 census,

, 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 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 Woolpit ...

Deanery of Cambridge (St Andrew)

Masses are also said at RAF Alconbury, 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 o ...

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 cent ...

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. Mark's Roman Catholic Church is a Catholic church on the Chantry Estate in Ipswich. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia. It opened in May 1959. Prior to the establishment of St. Mark's, the area was within the parish of ...

*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 Saint Dominic's Church in Downham Market is the parish church serving the Roman Catholic population of Downham Market and the surrounding areas of Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. I ...

* Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham * 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, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

formed the Diocese of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

(from the counties of Cambridge, Norfolk and Suffolk) out of the

Diocese of Northampton The Diocese of Northampton is one of the 22 Roman Catholic dioceses in England and Wales and a Latin Rite suffragan diocese of Westminster. Its see is in Northampton. The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury is the moth ...

. 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 ca ...

, 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 pilgrimages.

Ordinaries

Alan Charles Clark Alan Charles Clark (9 August 1919 – 16 July 2002) was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia in the Ecclesiastical Province of Westminster, England. Early life Born in Bickley, Kent on 9 August 1919, he was the son of parents who conver ...

(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 Michael Charles Evans (10 August 1951 – 11 July 2011) was the third Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, in the Ecclesiastical Province of Westminster. Biography Ordained as a priest at Southwark on 22 June 1975, Michael Evans spent some t ...

(appointed on 14 February 2003 – died in office on 11 July 2011) *

Alan Hopes Alan Stephen Hopes (born 17 March 1944) is a British Roman Catholic prelate, and former Anglican priest. From 2013 - 2022 he served as the Bishop of East Anglia and is currently the Apostolic Administrator of the same diocese until the installat ...

(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 Catholic Association Pilgrimage.

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