Peace be with you!
How wonderful it was to be with you so many of you as we gathered together for the Chrism Masses celebrated across the See during Holy Week. May I take this opportunity to thank those who so graciously and diligently undertook the local, practical, arrangements and who ensured that we were able to celebrate these masses with joyful dignity as we prepared to enter into the saving mystery of Our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. Thank you for the faithful celebration of Holy Week and Easter in your parishes and for leading the holy people of God into the joy of our Risen and Ascended Lord.
I hope that you have had some opportunity for rest and refreshment during these days of Eastertide. Amidst the many demands of public ministry it is essential that we all take time to ‘rest awhile’, to study, read and relax. This is also an essential part of our re-creation.
For those of you who follow the See of Richborough Facebook page (who doesn’t?!) you will know that there is much to be thankful for across the life of our parishes. There are certainly challenges and we must, together, prayerfully and diligently attend to them, but we must not forget to give thanks for the abundance of grace and vitality with which God is blessing us.
During the last weeks I have been rejoicing in celebrating the sacraments of Christian Initiation, confirming significant numbers of the newly baptised. It is noticeable that many of those being confirmed are young adults and new Christians. They are discovering in the depth and beauty of our life as Catholic Christians the Way, the Truth and the Life. The task of evangelism and the formation of new disciples of Jesus Christ is our primary work, collaborating with the Holy Spirit. There is no greater joy than sharing the Good News and, in so doing, be re-evangelised ourselves. Conversion of life is daily living out of our baptismal vocation.
Please consider how you involve the whole people of God in this work of formation and nurture. The Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod on Synodality in Rome last October noted that “there is in the Church a variety of ministries that can be exercised by any baptised man or woman. These take the form of a regular service offered to and recognised by the community and those who guide it. They can be called baptismal ministries to indicate their common root (baptism) and to distinguish them from ordained ministries rooted in the sacrament of Order.” The ministry of catechesis is something that we must promote as a form of lay ministry outside the liturgical sphere.
Looking a little further ahead I would like to ask you to pray for those preparing to be ordained in the coming weeks and months; a further gift of grace as God renews His Church.
Michal Kimet to be ordained Deacon in Leicester Cathedral on Monday 30th June at 7pm. (+Richborough)
Ben Almond to be ordained as Deacon in Norwich Cathedral on 29th June at 10:30am (+Norwich)
The Reverend Nicolas Boissant to be ordained Priest in All Saints’, Northampton, on 6th July at 6pm. (+Richborough)
The Reverend Jeffrey Graham to be ordained Priest in St James and St Paul, Colchester, at 2pm on 27th September. (+Richborough)
May Our Lady of Walsingham, St Thomas of Canterbury, St Wilfrid and St Hilda pray for these ordinands and for all those whom they will serve now and in the years to come.
It is a great joy for us all, and for the whole Church, that these ordinands are to be ordained and this must urge us on to foster and nurture new vocations to the Sacred Ministry. I mentioned challenges that we must face and among them is the need for deacons and priests to serve the faithful and to build up the Body of Christ.
To that end, if you have a potential ordinand in your congregation or someone going through the discernment process, please ask their permission to share their details with me or ask them to be in direct touch. I am going to form a Richborough vocations group for mutual prayer, nurture and support. Also, please intentional and discerning vocations to ordained ministry in your parishes. God is faithful and is raising up new Christians and, from among them, those who will serve as deacons and priests.
Whilst rejoicing in the gift of new vocations it is also good to rejoice with those who are celebrating their anniversaries of ordination at this time, giving thanks for faithful and godly lives poured out in sacrificial love and service: ‘I thank God in all my remembrance of you”. Ad multos annos!
I am also in the process of arranging two regional festival celebrations for the Richborough Family.
Saturday 16th August: we will come together in Portsmouth Cathedral to celebrate Assumptiontide with a Mass of Stella Maris concelebrated at 12noon followed by a bring your own/bring and share picnic on the beaches here. There will be time for simply enjoying the seaside and the day will conclude with Benediction at Holy Spirit Southsea at 4pm followed by afternoon tea to fortify us for the journey home. Please get this date in your diary and encourage as many as possible from your parishes to come and enjoy a day for the See beside the sea. Please register via https://forms.office.com/e/nCNYtyjdyM?origin=lprLink in good time to help with the making of the arrangements. The registration form will close on Friday 1st August 2025.
Saturday October 18th: we will be welcomed to St Mary de Castro in Leicester for an October devotion as we also celebrate the Feast of St Luke. There will be a concelebrated Mass at 12noon followed by a picnic lunch (bring your own!) and an afternoon devotion concluding with Benediction. Our preacher will be Fr Ben Eadon, the Priest Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Again, do encourage as many of your faithful as possible to join together for this festival. Those Richborough priests wanting to concelebrate with me will be able to register to do so through a link that I will circulate nearer the time.
These festivals will be important occasions for us to come together for worship to be strengthen and upheld by the Lord and one another. Mindful that we are dispersed family, albeit united in our sacramental life, I also want to offer a more regular opportunity for us to pray together – clergy and laity – using the gift of technology to overcome geography! Once a month, on the first Thursday of each month (excluding August), I will pray Compline at 8:30pm with anyone who is available to join me. Our first opportunity to do this will be on Thursday 6th July. The Zoom link will be https://us05web.zoom.us/j/82530656559?pwd=Y8l6lbidn34pJl0UlNSrZvpFKSb50a.1 Please share this with your laity and, particularly, with Church Wardens and others who are caring for our vacant parishes.
In addition to these Richborough Festivals there are other important dates for your diary and prayers.
The annual Youth Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham will be held from 4th-8th August. This is such an important pilgrimage and evangelistic gift to our young people and parishes. The theme for this year’s pilgrimage is ‘Seeing Jesus through Mary’s eyes’. More details available from the Shrine.
Our Lady also looks forward to welcoming us all to Peterborough Cathedral on Saturday 20th September for a Walsingham Festival. Mass will be offered at 12noon followed at 2.30pm by Sprinkling, Healing Liturgy, Procession & Benediction.
May I also ask your prayers for the IME and First Incumbency residentials in Walsingham in November this year and for all who will attending and leading these opportunities for ongoing formation and companionship.
As I have been traversing the See in recent months it has been so good to see the fruitful and faithful ministry exercised in our parishes, lives being poured out in love and service. I would also like to add here my thanks to our retired brethren who continue to serve many of our parishes, particularly through vacancies. We are greatly blessed through their ministry. Vacancies are now uploaded onto the See of Richborough website (www.seeofrichborough.org.uk). Please pray for good appointments and that priests will respond with zeal to serve in our parishes.
The new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has already reminded us of our vocation to be bridge builders and to speak boldly and confidently of the dignity to which we are called by God who has willed, created and loved us. I recall the words of a recent encyclical: “Even in its sorrowful state, human life carries a dignity that must always be upheld, that can never be lost, and that calls for unconditional respect.” (Dignitas Infinita) In this Jubilee Year may we bring the hope and beauty of our God-given dignity to our world, so loved by God.
Finally, I am delighted to be able to introduce my new PA, Claire Rumbold. Claire works Tuesday to Thursday mornings to support me in my ministry and can be contacted via email: office@seeofrichborough.org.uk Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with her with queries about diary dates or other administrative matters. I am, of course, still available directly to you on the email and mobile ‘phone number below.
With my constant prayer and every blessing,
