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
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
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 (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 auth ...
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 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 ...
.
[
]
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, 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
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 Château ...
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 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 ...
.
See also
* Buckden Towers
* Quidenham Hall
Quidenham Hall is a country house at Quidenham in Norfolk, England.
History
A dwelling is known to have existed on the site as far back as the year 1000, which passed to the Bedingfeld family around 1400. In 1572 the manor was bought by John Hol ...
* Catholic Church in England and Wales
The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...
* List of Catholic churches in the United Kingdom
A list of Catholic churches in the United Kingdom, notable current and former individual church buildings and congregations and administration. These churches are listed buildings or have been recognised for their historical importance, or are c ...
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
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 ...