Diocese of Shrewsbury Dioecesis Salopiensis
Coat of arms
Location
Country	England
Territory	Shropshire  Cheshire With parts of:  Greater Manchester  Merseyside
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Birmingham
Coordinates	52°42′29″N 2°45′14″W / 52.708°N 2.754°W / 52.708; -2.754
Statistics
Area	6,136 km2 (2,369 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2014) 1,923,400 189,827 (9.9%)
Parishes	92
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	29 September 1850 (1850-09-29)
Cathedral	Shrewsbury Cathedral
Secular priests	141
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Mark Davies
Metropolitan Archbishop	Bernard Longley
Vicar General	Michael Gannon Philip Moor
Episcopal Vicars	Michael Gannon Philip Moor Jonathan Mitchell David Roberts
Map
Diocese of Shrewsbury within the Province of Birmingham
Website
dioceseofshrewsbury.org

The Diocese of Shrewsbury (Latin: Dioecesis Salopiensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the Province of Birmingham which encompasses the pre-1974 counties of Shropshire and Cheshire in the North West and West Midlands of England.

The diocese includes rural areas of Shropshire as well as Manchester south of the River Mersey and other urban areas such as Birkenhead, Stockport and Ellesmere Port. The current bishop, Mark Davies, succeeded on 1 October 2010.^[1]

Geographical location

The diocese comprises the counties of Shropshire and Cheshire and the parts of Greater Manchester and Merseyside which were formerly in Cheshire. Before 1895, it also included North Wales. In 2007, new pastoral areas and regions were created, replacing the former deaneries.^[2]

Past and present bishops

Ordinaries

Main article: Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury

Mark Davies is the current Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury.

• James Brown (appointed 27 June 1851 – died 14 October 1881)
• Edmund James Knight (appointed 25 April 1882 – resigned 28 May 1895)
• John Carroll (succeeded 11 May 1895 – died 14 January 1897)
• Samuel Webster Allen (appointed 19 April 1897 – died 13 May 1908)
• Hugh Singleton (appointed 1 August 1908 – died 17 December 1934)
• Ambrose James Moriarty (succeeded 17 December 1934 – died 3 June 1949)
• John Aloysius Murphy (succeeded 3 June 1949 – translated to the Archdiocese of Cardiff on 22 August 1961)
• William Eric Grasar (appointed 26 April 1962 – resigned 20 March 1980)
• Joseph Gray (appointed 19 August 1980 – retired 23 June 1995)
• Brian Michael Noble (appointed 23 June 1995 – retired 1 October 2010)
• Mark Davies (current bishop, succeeded 1 October 2010)

Catholic education in the diocese

There are 112 Catholic schools and colleges serving 43,198 pupils. ^[4]

• All figures are as of August 2019

Patron saints of the diocese

1) Our Lady, Help of Christians – 24 May
2) Saint Winefride – 3 November

Parish pastoral areas and regions

On 1 October 2007, local deaneries were abolished and parishes grouped together to form 'Pastoral Areas', not as a replacement of parishes but to strengthen local Catholic communities, ensuring the sharing of services and groups and to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Each LPT (local pastoral team [see below]) has two co-leaders (one priest; one layperson) and each region is headed by a Regional Dean.^[2]

Modern history

Shrewsbury Cathedral was opened in 1856

The first bishop of the diocese was James Brown, president of Sedgeley Park School, who was consecrated 27 July 1851. Out of a total population of 1,082,617, Catholics numbered about 20,000. There were thirty churches and chapels attended by resident priests, and six stations; one convent, that of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, in Birkenhead, to which was attached a boarding school for young women, and also a small day-school for poor children. There were Jesuits at Holywell, who also had a college at St. Bruno's, Flintshire, and a Benedictine at Acton Burnell. When Brown celebrated the jubilee of his consecration, the secular priests had increased to sixty-six and the regulars to thirty-two. Instead of one religious house of men and one of women, there were now four of men and nine of women; and many elementary schools had been provided for the needs of Catholic children.

In 1852 the bitter feeling caused by the re-establishment of the hierarchy found vent in serious riots at Stockport. On 29 June a large mob attacked the Church of St Philip and St James; they broke the windows and attempted to force in the doors, but before they could effect an entrance, Randolph Frith, the rector, succeeded in removing the Blessed Sacrament, and secreting it with the chalices, etc., in a small cupboard in the side chapel. He was compelled to flee immediately to the belltower, and, whilst the rabble were destroying whatever they could lay their hands upon, he made his escape along the roof, and descended by the spouting at the back of the presbytery. Much of the church furniture, with vestments, etc., was piled up in the street and burned. At St Michael's, the Host was desecrated, and the pyx and ciborium carried away.

Although the Catholic population of the diocese was 58,013 (as of the early 20th century), Shropshire contributed under 3,000, partly on account of agricultural depression and the consequent flocking to industrial centres. There were ninety clergy, sixteen convents, representatives of four orders of men, eight secondary schools for girls, an orphanage and industrial school for boys, a home for aged poor, a home for penitents, and an orphanage erected in memory of Bishop Knight. At Oakwood Hall, Romiley, a house of retreats for working-men opened and had done important work; and at New Brighton, the nuns of Our Lady of the Cenacle opened a house of retreats for working-women and ladies.

Shropshire is singularly rich in archaeological interest, its pre-Reformation parish churches, the noble ruins of monasteries round the Wrekin, the Roman city of Viroconium (Wroxeter), the lordly castle of Ludlow, giving the county a place apart in the heart of the antiquary. In Shrewsbury itself, where once Grey, Black, and Austin Friars and the Black Monks of St. Benedict had foundations, there is now the cathedral, designed by Edward Pugin. Chester, too, with its streets, black and white houses, and venerable cathedral and city walls, claims the visitor's attention. When the body of Daniel O'Connell was brought back from Genoa, it rested in the old chapel in Queen's Street on its way to Ireland.^[5]

See also

• Diocese of Shrewsbury Lourdes Hospitalité
• Diocese of Shrewsbury Lourdes Pilgrimage

References

External links

• Website of the Diocese
• Catholic Hierarchy – Diocese Information
• Diocese Vocation Office
• GCatholic.org
• Website of LPA 17 (Holy Family LPA)
• The Web of Our Lady and St Christopher's Romiley