Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:26, 3 June 2024

Archdiocese of Southwark Archidioecesis Southvarcensis

Coat of arms
Location
Country	England
Territory	The London boroughs south of the Thames, the county of Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority
Ecclesiastical province	Southwark
Deaneries	20
Statistics
Area	3,000 km² (1,200 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2017) 4,610,910 367,530 (8%)
Parishes	179
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	29 September 1850
Cathedral	St George's Cathedral, Southwark
Patron Saints	Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception Augustine of Canterbury Thomas Becket^[1]
Secular priests	274
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	John Wilson
Auxiliary Bishops	Paul Hendricks Philip Moger
Bishops emeritus	Kevin John Patrick McDonald John Hine Patrick Kevin Lynch
Map
Dioceses of the Province of Southwark. The Archdiocese of Southwark is the easternmost
Website
rcsouthwark.co.uk

History[edit]

Southwark was one of the dioceses established at the restoration of Catholic hierarchical structures in 1850 by Pope Pius IX.^[3] When first erected, the diocese included Berkshire, Hampshire, and the Channel Islands in addition to Surrey, Kent and Sussex. Previous to this time, these five counties formed part of the London District, a district governed by a vicar Apostolic, to whom also was committed episcopal jurisdiction over North America and the Bahama Islands. In 1850, London was divided between the two new Dioceses of Westminster (north of the Thames) and Southwark (south of the Thames).^[4] At that time, London was a comparatively small city, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of a single bishop.

The area that formed the diocese at its origin (29 September 1850) changed on 19 May 1882 when Southwark lost territory with the formation of the Diocese of Portsmouth. The Diocese of Southwark lost further territory when the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton separated on 28 May 1965; at the same time, the Ecclesiastical Province of Southwark was erected by Pope Paul VI, raising the Diocese to archdiocesan status.^[7]

Original cathedral[edit]

The Papists Act of 1778 brought a certain limited freedom to those of the faith. Priests no longer moved in fear of imprisonment. Roman Catholics could run their own schools and could once more acquire property. In protest against the act, Lord George Gordon, on 2 June 1780, gathered a large crowd in St George's Fields to march on Westminster. Refused a hearing, they became violent and so began a week of burning, plundering and killing in which many Roman Catholic chapels and houses were destroyed. There is a legend that the high altar of the cathedral stands on the spot where the march began.

In 1786, there was only one Roman Catholic chapel in the whole of south London, located at Bermondsey. It was then that Thomas Walsh, a Douai priest, for £20 a year hired a room in Bandyleg Walk^[8] (near where the Southwark fire station now stands). Within two years, the numbers attending the little chapel had increased so rapidly that a new building became necessary. In 1793, a large chapel dedicated to Saint George was opened in the London Road at a cost of £2,000. It was designed by James Taylor of Weybridge, Surrey. According to tradition, it was here that the first High Mass was celebrated in London outside the chapels of ambassadors since the time of King James II of England. The occasion was the Solemn Requiem sung for the repose of the soul of Louis XVI of France, who was executed on 21 January 1793.

Thomas Doyle came to St George's in 1820, when the congregation stood at around 7,000. He became the first chaplain in 1829, when the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 removed nearly all the legal disabilities which Catholics had suffered for 250 years. The arrival of Irish immigrants in the area necessitated the construction of a larger house of worship.^[9] By 1839, enough money had been collected to make a start, and the present site in St George's Fields (then an open space) was purchased for £3,200.

Augustus Pugin, the noted architect of the Gothic Revival, was commissioned to design the church. The foundation stone was laid on 26 May 1841 in a private ceremony held in the early morning so as not to arouse public unrest.^[8] Due to cost constraints, the left tower was never built. The stained glass was by William Wailes of Newcastle.^[10] The church was solemnly opened by Bishop Nicholas Wiseman (later Cardinal Wiseman) on 4 July 1848.^[3] To mark the occasion, Pope Pius IX sent a golden chalice and paten as a gift. Pugin was the first person to be married in the church on 10 August 1848 to his third wife Jane.

When Pope Pius restored the English Roman Catholic hierarchy, St George's was chosen as the cathedral church of the new Roman Catholic Diocese of Southwark, which was to cover the whole of southern England. For the next half-century, until the opening of Westminster Cathedral, St George's was the centre of Roman Catholic life in London. In response to the hostile reaction of many of the British people to what was popularly characterized as "papal aggression" Bishop Nicholas Wiseman wrote "Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English people on the subject of the Catholic Hierarchy", a pamphlet of some thirty pages addressed to the people themselves, rather than to the educated minority, who in the writer's view, had so grossly and inexcusably misled them. Wiseman followed this with a series of lectures given at St. George's.^[11]

Thomas Grant was made the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Southwark; Doyle became the provost and administrator and remained so until his death on 6 June 1879. He is buried in the crypt. The new cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Butt on 7 November 1894,^[8] and on that day every year, the feast of the dedication of the cathedral is celebrated throughout the diocese.

Ministries[edit]

The Archdiocese of Southwark Spirituality Commission identifies resources in the archdiocese and works to increase awareness and accessibility of them.^[12]

"The Archdiocese of Southwark Universities Chaplaincy Team works in collaboration with universities and their multi-faith chaplaincies in South London, Surrey and Kent. There are Catholic Chaplains at Kings College – Guy's Campus, Goldsmiths, London South Bank, Roehampton and Kingston Universities and at the University of Kent at Canterbury." Most of the university chaplaincies work independently providing events for their Catholic community. Throughout the year, however, there are times when the Catholic Chaplaincy Team work together to either arrange or take part in events that are open to students and staff from across the different chaplaincies.^[13]

Education[edit]

The archdiocese is the foundation responsible for over 170 voluntary-aided and voluntary-controlled schools in the diocese and is the sponsor of two schools under the English academy program.

Boundaries[edit]

The archdiocese covers the London boroughs south of the Thames, the county of Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority.^[14] The diocese is divided into three pastoral areas, each headed by an area bishop and 20 deaneries, each of which contains a number of parishes.

Bishops and archbishops[edit]

Coadjutor bishop[edit]

Auxiliary bishops[edit]

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops[edit]

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