To the Priests and Deacons of the See of Richborough – Lent 2026
To the Priests and Deacons of the See of Richborough
Peace be with you!
As we stand on the threshold of Lent I want, first, assure you of my closeness to you all in the Lord as we enter into this ‘tithe of the year’ and penitential season. To stand, and go on standing, at the foot of the Cross is at the heart of the priestly vocation and it is here that we are most intimately united with Jesus our High Priest in his saving Passion that “through the saving power of the Cross impressed inwardly upon our lives and revealed outwardly in our works, others may come to know his love and truth.”
The sacred days of Lent are traditionally defined by the pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as we grow in our love of Him who has first loved us, who loves us to the end and whose love is stronger than death itself. Growing in our love of God we also grow in love of neighbour, especially the lonely, poor, unloved or unlovely in whom we see the face of Jesus Christ.
Chrism Masses
In my last Ad Clerum I strongly encouraged each of you to prioritise these dates in your diaries and to prepare your faithful through teaching to join together with us as we renew our ordination vows and receive the sacred oils for the renewal and sanctification of the people of God. Included with this letter is a poster which can be copied and displayed in your churches and shared more widely.
Guildford Cathedral – Saturday 28th March, 12noon
Chelmsford Cathedral – Monday 30th March, 12noon
Rochester Cathedral – Tuesday 31st March, 12noon
St Mary’s, Walsingham – Wednesday 1st April, 12noon
You also need to register if you want to concelebrate, deacon or robe at the Chrism Mass you will be attending. This ensures that we are satisfying the necessary safeguarding requirements. The link to the registration form is https://forms.office.com/e/dF3vtRLWZG?origin=lprLink Please register now or as soon as possible so as not to forget in the busyness of the coming weeks. For the Chrism Masses please wear your Richborough chasuble if you have one, or white chasuble. You will need to bring your own oil stocks for collecting the Oils after mass.
It is also vital that we bring as many of our faithful as possible to these regional Chrism masses. There will be hospitality after each mass. These are opportunities for us to gather together in dignified and reverent celebration of the liturgy, manifesting our common life and witness to the fulness of the Catholic faith and sacramental communion.
Richborough Festivals
I have now been able to finalise dates and venues for regional festivals throughout the year which, I pray, will further nourish and edify our life and witness. All are welcome and, as with the Chrism masses, I hope that you will all come in number! Posters and more details will be made available, but for now please note:
Saturday 6th June – Corpus Christi Eucharistic Festival, Lincoln Cathedral
Saturday 20th June – St Wistan Festival, Leicester
Saturday 18th July– Summer Festival St Mary’s, Wellingborough
Saturday 29th August – Rochester Richborough Festival, Aylesford Friary
Saturday 17th October – October Devotion in the chapel of Our Lady Undercroft, Canterbury Cathedral
Richborough Office
Fr Glen has now been licensed to St Martin’s, Bedford, and also begun his ministry among us as my chaplain. He is contactable via email on chaplain@seeofrichborough.org.uk and on 07886 856638. He is available to us on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday each week.
In his ministry as chaplain, Fr Glen is working closely with me in offering pastoral care to clergy and churchwardens across the See, working collaboratively with me, archdeacons and local bishops in vacancy and appointment processes, and having oversight of the vital work of nurturing and supporting those discerning vocations to the sacred ministry in our Richborough parishes. Don’t hesitate to be in touch with him as he works with me to serve you in your vocation and ministry.
He also works closely with Claire in receiving diary requests and helping me schedule and plan pastoral and liturgical visits and celebrations. Claire continues to work part time Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (9.30 am to 2.30 pm) and can be contacted via email on office@seeofrichborough.org.uk or on 07447 103358.
St Augustine, meditating upon Lent, wrote that: It is true that Moses, Elijah, and Our Lord himself fasted for 40 days; but in Moses, Elijah, and Christ we are meant to see the law, the prophets, and the Gospel, and to learn from them not to cling to this present world or imitate its ways but to nail our unregenerate selves to the cross” and that “Lent is the epitome of our whole life.”
As you lead your faithful people through this season of grace and mercy may we all be drawn into an ever deeper conversion of life, rooted in the disciplines, devotions and prayer of the Church, trusting always in the faithfulness of God who does not abandon or forget us. In this way our Richborough Family will indeed become a ‘school of the Lord’s service’ in which we will be sanctified, for our good, the good of the whole Church and of all creation, as we offer the paschal mysteries and share, even now, in the life and joy of heaven.
With my prayer for a holy Lent and every blessing,
Priest-in-Charge, the Benefice of Walsingham, Houghton and Barsham; Hempton with Pudding Norton (to be held in plurality)
The benefices of Walsingham, Houghton and Barsham, and Hempton with Pudding Norton are seeking an inspirational priest equipped with a real sense of mission to parishioners, visitors and pilgrims of all ages in this unique setting.
The two shrines to Our Lady are separate and distinct from the benefices yet have considerable impact on the villages and on parish life in this deeply rural setting.
Both benefices are part of the Diocese of Norwich. As petitioning parishes they receive sacramental and pastoral care from the Bishop of Richborough.
The parishes are prayerfully seeking their new priest to be:
· God-centred and rooted in Anglo-Catholic prayer and spirituality, with a deep regard for the Seven Sacraments and for the Divine Office, who utilises the opportunities for outreach afforded by the Occasional Offices and who is committed to village community
· Equipped with a real sense of mission to parishioners, to visitors and to pilgrims;
· Aware of the character of the rural way of life, and able to embrace the particular challenges presented by deeply rural parishes;
· Possessed of an awareness of the variety of the Benefice’s liturgical heritage, and committed to its further development;
· A fluent Preacher of the Gospel and Teacher of the Faith;
· Keen to work with, and minister to, the Primary School and the younger residents of the Benefice, whilst at the same time valuing older generations in our communities
· Convinced that the all-age growth of each of our churches is nothing less than a Gospel imperative;
· Committed to building further collaboration between the seven churches of the planned Benefice, and to strengthening our relationship with the Anglican Shrine, with the Deanery and with the Diocese
· Prepared to oversee the retired clergy in the Benefice by offering them pastoral care, as well as inviting them to share in his ministry on occasion
· Committed to the further development of the ecumenical links throughout the Benefice;
· A discreet listener, an effective Spiritual Director and experienced Confessor;
· Committed to visiting all his parishioners in health and in sickness, whether at home, in care, or in hospital and to the necessary Celebration of the Sacraments in their presence, especially for those in end-of-life care;
· Willing and able to travel where necessary at all times of the day or night
· Interested in, and has an appreciation of, our mediaeval churches, and their maintenance and improvement
· Prepared to delegate to those willing and able to assist
· Approachable, determined to become involved with the wider communities of the Benefice and possessed of an excellent sense of humour
More information can be found in the profile and Diocesan notes.
If you would like to have an informal discussion before deciding whether to apply, please contact Ann Whittet (PA to the Bishop and Archdeacon of Lynn) at ann.whittet@dioceseofnorwich.org or phone the office on 01362 709200.
Please submit your Application and Confidential Declaration Form by 9.00am on Thursday 12th February 2026 to Mrs Ann Whittet (PA to the Bishop of Lynn and Archdeacon of Lynn) by email to ann.whittet@dioceseofnorwich.org with a hard copy in the post to: The Bishop’s Office, Commercial Road, Dereham NR19 1AE
Closing date: Thursday 12th February 2026 (9.00am)
Interviews: Wednesday 4th March 2026
To the Priests and Deacons of the See of Richborough – Advent 2025
To the Priests and Deacons of the See of Richborough
Peace be with you!
We are now well into this season of grace and of hopeful expectation. As we begin this new Christian Year I pray that we may be watchful and attentive, mindful of the great charge given to those of us ordained to the sacred priesthood, that we are to be “messengers, watchmen and stewards of the Lord. ”
Inevitably, as we look forward to the feasts and fasts of the year ahead we also look back in thanksgiving for the grace and mercy that has sustained and strengthened us as we have lived out our common life and vocation across the Richborough Family and in our parishes, dioceses and communities in the past year. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your fortitude and faithfulness in bringing the grace and light of Jesus Christ to those you serve in his Name.
Looking back across the last nine months since my consecration and ordination as bishop I am thankful beyond measure for your prayerful encouragement, patience and goodwill towards me and for the early opportunities that we have had to be together: the chrism masses, ordinations, regional festivals in Portsmouth and Leicester, pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, IME and first incumbent training, confirmations, parish masses and pastoral visits. Whilst I can’t be with you in person every Sunday (and you will, I know, thank God for that!) we are closely with one another each time we go to the altar. There, time and eternity meet, and we are caught up into the saving mysteries of the One who is, who was, and who is to come.
It is that oneness in Christ, our full communion ‘through him, with him and in him’, that is our foundation, strength, and hope. Please do use the Richborough Cycle of Prayer (See-of-Richborough- Prayer-Cycle-1.pdf) daily to inform our prayer for one another and remember that there is also a monthly opportunity to join, clergy and people, in praying Compline via Zoom. This is at 8:30pm on the first Thursday of each month (except August). The link is https://us05web.zoom.us/j/82530656559?pwd=Y8l6lbidn34pJl0UlNSrZvpFKSb50a.1 Please share this with your faithful through your usual parish newsletters/mass sheets. Thank you.
There is an emerging pattern and rhythm of our life across the See of Richborough which, I pray, will serve us all and equip us in the mission and ministry in which we share.
To help you with some of your own planning for the year ahead I thought it would be good to share some key dates for the diary now as part of establishing that pattern and rhythm by which our life is sanctified and our way directed.
Chrism Masses
I realise that this isn’t seasonal, but I want to strongly encourage each of you to prioritise these in your diaries and to prepare your faithful through teaching to join together with us as we renew our ordination vows and receive the sacred oils for the renewal and sanctification of the people of God in the paschal mysteries. Nearer the time I will circulate the necessary booking link but do ink your regional chrism mass into the personal and parochial diary.
Guildford Cathedral – Saturday 28th March, 12noon
Chelmsford Cathedral – Monday 30th March, 12noon
Rochester Cathedral – Tuesday 31st March, 12noon
St Mary’s, Walsingham – Wednesday 1st April, 12noon
As previously noted, I will be continuing my pattern of regional/diocesan visits across several days. These are important opportunities for us to spend time with one another for pastoral, sacramental and catechetical edification. They are not the only times in which I can visit your parish, but it is a good way of ensuring a sustainable and consistent pattern of ministry across the See.
In arranging these I will liaise with my local representative who can coordinate arrangements directly with you.
If you do have local celebrations or festivals, please be directly in touch with me or the office here. May I note in passing that I am more than happy to offer midweek visits as well as Sunday’s.
On a purely practical note, if I have celebrated the sacrament of confirmation in your parish please ensure that you have made the necessary return to your Diocese. Thank you.
Walsingham Dates
The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is our spiritual home. Many of us are regular pilgrims and priest or deacon associates of the Holy House.
The Shrine publish their pilgrimage and retreat dates on their website The Shrine – The Shrine Of Our Lady Of Walsingham but can I draw your particular attention to the:
Children’s Pilgrimage – 6th – 8th March 2026
Youth Pilgrimage – 3rd – 7th August 2026
Our ministry to children and young people is a priority across the See and wider Church. These pilgrimages are gifts of grace for the nurture and ongoing formation of all who take part. They are also important as times of fellowship and companionship. We all know the importance of joy and laughter as well as stillness and silence in pilgrimage whatever our age.
As you prepare candidates for baptism, confirmation or admission to Holy Communion, incorporate pilgrimage into the programme and bring this new generation to the feet of Our Lady who will point them to her Divine Son.
Richborough Festivals
It was a joy to be together in Portsmouth Cathedral to celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady and then in St Mary de Castro, Leicester, for an October Devotion. Thank you to all who were involved in making the necessary arrangements. From the many conversations that I have had since, I know how encouraging and uplifting these festivals were for us all.
Next year’s venues have not all been finalised yet, but I have set aside:
Saturday 6th June – Corpus Christi Eucharistic Festival, Lincoln
Saturday 18th July for a summer festival (location tbc)
Saturday 17th October (location tbc)
Appointments
You will all be aware of the vacancies across the See. Addressing these is a necessarily hidden work but clear pastoral priority. It is about the cure of souls.
Working closely and positively with local archdeacons and bishops it is wonderful to have been able to make several appointments in recent weeks. Please pray for:
Fr Glen Brooks – St Martin’s, Bedford & Chaplain to Bishop of Richborough (licensing 26th January 2026)
Fr Stephen Jullien – The Annunciation, Chislehurst (licensing 28th January 2026)
Fr Emmanuel Nazir – Holy Cross, Marsh Farm (licensing tbc)
There are also interviews for other vacancies in the diary. Vacancies are advertised on the See of
Richborough website. Please pray for all involved in the discernment and appointment processes and, daily, for an increase of vocations to the Sacred Ministry.
Richborough Office
You will be aware that Fr Glen Brooks has been appointed to serve the parish of St Martin’s, Bedford and to act as my chaplain. I am delighted that he will be re-joining the Richborough Family and will be sharing with me in some of the day-to-day work serving each of you and the parishes who look to me for pastoral and sacramental oversight. I pray that having a chaplain with particular responsibility, amongst other things, for good communication across the See, supporting parishes through vacancy and appointment processes, being an additional pastoral contact for the clergy and churchwardens, and working with me in nurturing and encouraging vocations will be a further strengthening of our life.
From 26th January Fr Glen will be contactable via email on chaplain@seeofrichborough.org.uk When he has a ‘phone number I will share that too.
Claire continues to work part time Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (9.30 am to 2.30 pm) and can be contacted via email on office@seeofrichborough.org.uk or on 07447 103358.
Ongoing formation
Attending to our own ongoing formation as “stewards of the Lord” is essential. It was good recently to share in a programme of IME for Society curates as well as a time of formation with those in their first incumbencies. At those gatherings I underlined to all the imperative of ensuring that each of us regularly receive the ministry of a spiritual director and that we are penitents “that we all may grow into the fullness of Christ and be a living sacrifice acceptable to God.” The health, renewal, and revitalisation of parishes within the Richborough family, and indeed the wider Church of England, depend on lives that are oriented towards God. We are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Christ the Saviour. It is essential to do this, first, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. The seed of the Church is found in the grace of those who, like the martyrs, offer their lives completely in love and service to Christ.
Fr Westhaver has asked me to bring this timely conference on the sacrament of confession to your attention. Remember the greatness of the charge that we have undertaken, that the whole Church may be built up in unity and in faith: “Formed by the word, they are to call their hearers to repentance and to declare in Christ’s name the absolution and forgiveness of their sins.”
Confession: The Church’s Gift to the World?
Pusey House, Oxford
Wednesday 25th – Thursday 26th February 2026
We hope that this conference will help those who attend to understand better the gift of this sacrament, give ideas and tools to revive the practice of sacramental confession, to consider the importance of addressing the need for forgiveness and reconciliation more generally, and to serve as a training opportunity for those preparing for ordination or preparing to offer this sacrament. For clergy and ordinands, the day could contribute to a training programme on the practice of confession.
The conference will have contributions from Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox speakers. We also hope that the day will give a richer appreciation of the importance and significance of confession in the Church of England and the Anglican tradition. We will consider not only ‘auricular confession’ but also the place of confession in Church of England liturgies. We will hear from those who consider that the incorporation of confession into the liturgy of the Mass does not down-grade or neglect the sacrament of confession, but gives a greater dignity and priority to the gift of reconciliation in the body of Christ. Others will focus on the gift of sacramental confession and the importance for the Church of reviving that practice among us.
Our conference will gather an ecumenical array of speakers from these different traditions to consider some of the pastoral challenges and contemporary issues that are being faced by clergy today in the ministry of hearing confessions, and by the Church and Christians more generally. This will include, among other concerns, how confession relates to the commitment to safeguarding and the protection of the vulnerable, to the inviolability of the seal, and to the wider significance of confession in a culture that preaches tolerance without practicing forgiveness.
We hope that this colloquium will be not only interesting, but also a source for encouragement for ordinands, seminarians, and clergy across different ecclesial traditions. This conference can also serve as a form of formation or education for those preparing to hear confessions, seeking renewal in this ministry, or looking to the hope which the Church offers the world through the gift of renewal and reconciliation.
All are welcome and please check our regularly for more details.
https://www.puseyhouse.org.uk/conferences/confession
Catholic Mission Network
Each Richborough parish stands in the deep and life-giving tradition of the Church in every place and across the ages. With confidence and delight in this we are called to look outwards, playing our full part in the life of the deanery and diocese in which we serve, cultivating a spirit of invitation and evangelisation.
In his recent Apostolic Visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful there to see with “an evangelical vision” and to cultivate hope, going on to say: “When we look with God’s eyes, we discover that he has chosen the way of littleness, descending into our midst. This is the way of the Lord, to which we are all called to bear witness. The prophets announce God’s promise by speaking of a small shoot that will spring forth (cf. Is 11:1). Jesus praises the little ones who trust in him (cf. Mk 10:13– 16). He teaches that God’s kingdom does not impose itself with displays of power (cf. Lk 17:20–21), but grows like the smallest of all the seeds planted in the earth (cf. Mk 4:31).”
Some of you will be aware of the developing work of the Catholic Mission Network Programme. This is a network that will seek to develop and implement mission initiatives, support clergy and parishes, and contribute to training and resource creation in the field of mission and evangelism, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all.
It is very encouraging to see some of the Richborough Family signed up to take part in the Leading Your Church into Growth (LYCiG) conference in Walsingham next February.
Please pray for the fruitful growth of this network and engage fully with the opportunities that will be offered through it, receiving them as a gift to equip us in mission and evangelism as we work together for the renewal and revitalisation of the Church in bringing Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, to the waiting world.
Thank you
Finally, I am very conscious of the joys and demands that this holy season brings. Thank you for joyfully proclaiming the wondrous news that God is with us. May our voices be joined with those of the angelic choir in heralding the birth of the Prince of Peace who is the Light of the World. May you, your parishes and households know the blessing of his peace and joy this Christmas and, also, find time for rest and refreshment!
With my prayer for a holy and blessed Advent and every blessing,
House for Duty (Priest in Charge) – Sunday duties plus 2 days
Barking Episcopal Area and within the See of Richborough
St Michael and All Angels Walthamstow
We are praying for a Priest, deeply rooted in the Catholic tradition, to help lead our growth and our mission at a very exciting time in our development as a church and community in Walthamstow, east London.
We are looking forward to welcoming a priest:
- In the Catholic tradition who is being called to provide prayerful, visionary and missional leadership in our multi-cultural community
- Who will confidently and joyfully celebrate the sacraments of the Church
- Who is a gifted and zealous pastor, communicator and teacher of the Faith.
- Who helps us develop and strengthen our ministry to younger worshippers (St Michael’s Voyagers)Nurture, support and grow a
- diversity of lay ministries.
- Fully engage with, share and strengthen the wider life and ministry of our Deanery and Diocese as well as the wider Richborough Family.
You can look forward to:
- Excellent, modern housing in a pleasant area of Walthamstow
- Superb transport links to central London and the City; regular bus and overground suburban links; easy access to areas of beautiful countryside
- A beautiful neo-Gothic church located close to Walthamstow Market
- Great opportunities for growth and mission in this up and coming, multi-cultural areaCommitted Churchwarden, PCC and Licensed Lay Minister to support you in your ministry
- Friendly and welcoming congregation
For an informal conversation or to request an application form please contact the Archdeacon of West Ham’s office on 020 8989 8557 or email a.westham@chelmsford.anglican.org
Closing date: 31 October
Interview date: 8 December
The parish of St Michael and All Angels Walthamstow is affiliated to the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda and is under the episcopal care of the Bishop of Richborough
To the Priests and Deacons of the See of Richborough
Dear brothers and sisters of the Richborough Family,
Peace be with you!
You will know that it has been announced today the Crown has nominated the present Bishop of London, The Rt Red & Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE to be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.
This is a historic moment in the life of the Church of England, the Diocese of Canterbury and the wider Anglican Communion. Our first response to the news is to assure the Archbishop-designate of our goodwill and prayers as she prepares to begin her new ministry among us.
As Catholic Christians living out our life and ministry faithfully in the Church of England we give thanks for our common life with all who are inheritors of “the same Anglican tradition, the same canonical structure, the same Christian family, sharing in mission to the communities we seek to serve”. 1
We do so conscious that the distinct and particular vocation within the Church of England of The Society under the patronage of St Wilfrid and St Hilda, is to continue to contribute to the breadth of the Church of England’s theological inheritance.
In line with the Society’s founding documents and the House of Bishops’ Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests and the Five Guiding Principles, made without limit of time, we in the Richborough Family continue to believe not only that the Church of England’s mission would be diminished without our contribution but that we too would be diminished without our continued active engagement with the life, work and witness of the Church of England?. In that spirit of mutual enrichment we look forward with hope to supporting Bishop Sarah in the responsibilities of her office and ministry.
Standing in the historic succession of apostolic ministry, with the sacramental assurance that offers us, we give thanks that God, in his providence, has placed us here at this time. We have inherited the Catholic tradition as Anglicans, so we are called to confidently and faithfully live that life out and hand it
on.
We will continue to be faithful to our calling to assist the Church of England in fulfilling its commitment to the full, visible unity of the one Church of Jesus Christ 3 whilst seeking to flourish within the life and structures of the Church of England and to make a positive contribution to mission and growth.
With my constant prayer and thanksgiving for your faithfulness and ministry.