Dear brothers and sisters in Christ in the Richborough Family,
You will have heard the news today that I have been appointed to serve as the next Bishop of Richborough.
The first thing I wanted to do is write to assure you of my prayers for you and your household, and all those whom you serve. Thank you for your faithfulness and for your prayers during the discernment process. I very much look forward to getting to know you. As St Augustine famously wrote, “With you, I am a Christian. For you, I am a bishop”. With you and for you will, I pray, be at the heart of my new ministry amongst the Richborough Family.
The See is, of course, a very particular expression of episcopal ministry, as it serves across 14 Dioceses. I intend to be a visible and active presence, and I will therefore be spending several days across each month in different parts of the See so that I can be rooted and established in the life of the whole Richborough Family.
I will work closely with the Council of Priests to identify and address pastoral priorities and needs.
While it will be important to establish a rhythm and pattern of life and ministry among you, and to share and communicate my travels around the See, I will always preserve time and space for unexpected and urgent pastoral needs, and of course for local feasts and festivities.
We will be moving at some point in the next few months into the Diocese of Portsmouth and I am deeply grateful to Bishop Jonathan Frost for his gracious and generous willingness for me to be embedded in his Diocese as, not just a base, but a home.
Arrangements for my consecration and episcopal ordination will be shared in the near future. I very much hope that the Richborough family will be able to be present and share in the joy of the day.
I will also be in touch about plans for pastoral visits prior to my consecration and the Chrism Masses. The consecration and Chrism masses will be early opportunities for us to be together and to be renewed in our sacramental life.
My prayer today is that zeal for the Gospel, faithful, sacrificial, and joyful service of those communities entrusted to our pastoral care will continue to be the essence of the character of the Richborough Family so that, through the beauty and quality of our life together, all may encounter our living and glorious Lord, our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ.
Until I have been able to establish an office, I am very grateful to Tom Middleton for his willingness to be a point of contact for managing diary requests. Please do be in touch with him director@forwardinfaith.com so that I can begin to populate the diary and share with you all an outline plan for visiting each parish within the first year of my ministry.
One thing is certain: I won’t get it right all the time! Please do pray for me, my family, and one another and the whole Church, that we may ‘pursue the ways that make for peace and build up our common life’.
May Our Lady, Star of the Sea, guide us in all our wanderings and lead us safely, through her intercession, to the port of heaven.
With my prayers for a blessed Advent and with joyful anticipation and hope,
Luke