Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark (Br [ˈsʌðɨk])[1] is a Roman Catholic archdiocese of the Latin Rite in England. The archepiscopal see is headed by the Archbishop of Southwark. The archdiocese is part of the Metropolitan Province of Southwark, which covers the South of England. The cathedral church is St George's Cathedral, Southwark.

Archdiocese of Southwark

Archidioecesis Southvarcensis
Coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Southwark
Location
CountryEngland
TerritoryThe London boroughs south of the Thames, the county of Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority
Ecclesiastical provinceSouthwark
Deaneries20
Statistics
Area3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 2017)
4,610,910
367,530 (8%)
Parishes179
Information
DenominationRoman Catholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established29 September 1850
CathedralSt George's Cathedral, Southwark
Secular priests274
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopJohn Wilson
Auxiliary Bishops
Bishops emeritus
Map

Dioceses of the Province of Southwark. The Archdiocese of Southwark is the easternmost
Website
rcsouthwark.co.uk
St George's, Southwark

Boundaries

The archdiocese covers the London boroughs south of the Thames, the county of Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority.[2] The diocese is divided into three pastoral areas, each headed by an area bishop, and 20 deaneries, each of which contain a number of parishes:

Kent Pastoral Area (Area Bishop: presently vacant): 50 parishes

  • Canterbury (7): Ashford; Ashford South; Canterbury; Faversham; Herne Bay; Hersden; Whitstable.
  • Chatham (9): Chatham; Gillingham; Parkwood and Wigmore; Rainham; Rochester; Sheppey; Sittingbourne; Strood; Walderslade.
  • Dover (8): Buckland; Deal; Dover (including Aylesham); Folkestone; Folkestone West; Hythe; Mongeham and Sandwich.
  • Gravesend (7): Dartford; Dartford–St Vincent's; Gravesend; Hartley; Meopham; Northfleet; Swanley.
  • Maidstone (7): Bearsted and Harrietsham; Cranbrook; Goudhurst; Maidstone; Maidstone South; Tenterden; West Malling.
  • Thanet (4): Birchington and Westgate; Margate and Cliftonville; Broadstairs; Ramsgate and Minster.
  • Tunbridge Wells (8): Edenbridge; Paddock Wood; Pembury; Sevenoaks; Southborough; Tonbridge; Tunbridge Wells; Westerham.

South East Pastoral Area (Area Bishop: The Right Reverend Patrick Lynch): 66 parishes

  • Bexley (9): Bexley; Bexleyheath; Blackfen; Bostall Park; Crayford; Erith; Sidcup; Thamesmead South; Welling.
  • Bromley (13): Anerley; Beckenham; Biggin Hill; Bromley; Bromley Common; Chislehurst; Chislehurst West; Farnborough; Hayes; Orpington; Petts Wood; St Mary and St Paul's Cray; West Wickham.
  • Camberwell (6): Camberwell; Dulwich; Dulwich Wood Park; Nunhead; Peckham; Peckham Rye.
  • Greenwich (15): Abbey Wood–St Benet's; Abbey Wood–St David's; Blackheath; Charlton; Eltham; Eltham Well Hall; Greenwich; Greenwich East; Kidbrooke; Mottingham; Plumstead; Plumstead Common; Shooters Hill; Thamesmead Central; Woolwich.
  • Lambeth (13): Brixton; Brixton Hill; Clapham; Clapham Park; Italian Mission; Norbury; Norwood West; Herne Hill; Stockwell; Streatham; Streatham Hill; Vauxhall; Waterloo.
  • Lewisham (10): Beckenham Hill; Brockley; Catford; Deptford; Downham; Forest Hill; Lee; Lewisham; Sydenham; Sydenham Kirkdale.

South West Pastoral Area (Area Bishop: The Right Reverend Paul Hendricks): 64 parishes

  • Balham (9): Balham; Battersea Park; Battersea West; Clapham Common; Earlsfield; Tooting; Tooting Bec; Wandsworth; Wandsworth East Hill.
  • Cathedral (9): Cathedral; Bermondsey–Dockhead; Bermondsey–Melior Street; Bermondsey South; Borough; Kennington Park; Rotherhithe; Surrey Docks; Walworth.
  • Croydon (13): Addiscombe; Coulsdon; Croydon South; Croydon West; New Addington; Norwood South; Norwood Upper; Old Coulsdon; Purley; Sanderstead; Selsdon; Thornton Heath; Waddon.
  • Kingston (7): Chessington; Kingston; Kingston Hill; New Malden; Norbiton; Surbiton; Tolworth.
  • Merton (9): Colliers Wood; Merton; Mitcham; Morden; Pollards Hill; Tooting (Links Road); Wimbledon; Wimbledon Park; Wimbledon South.
  • Mortlake (9): Barnes; East Sheen; Ham; Kew Gardens; Mortlake; Putney; Richmond; Roehampton; Wimbledon Common.
  • Sutton (8): Carshalton; Carshalton Beeches; Cheam; North Cheam; Sutton; Sutton Green; Wallington; Worcester Park.

History

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 these five counties formed part of the London District, which district was governed by a vicar Apostolic, to whom also was committed episcopal jurisdiction over North America and the Bahama Islands. In 1850 London, even at that time a comparatively small city, which, owing to the exigencies of the times, had previously been under the jurisdiction of a single bishop, was now divided between the two new Dioceses of Westminster (north of the Thames) and Southwark (south of the Thames).[4]

The first bishop of the new diocese of Southwark was the Right Rev. Thomas Grant, D.D., vice-rector of the English College, Rome. He was consecrated On 6 July, 1851. Grant was instrumental in obtaining some Sisters of Mercy from Bermondsey to serve as nurses in the military hospitals during the Crimean War.[5] Grant was succeeded by his vicar-general, James Danell. Robert Coffin, an associate off John Henry Newman and Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists in England and Ireland was appointed bishop in 1882. Former military chaplain John Butt[6] who served as bishop from 1885 to 1897, founded St John's Seminary, Wonersh. Francis Bourne was appointed Bishop of Southwark in 1897 and named Archbishop of Westminster in 1903.[4]

The area that formed the diocese when originally created (29th September 1950) 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 28th May 1965; at the same time the Ecclesiastical Province of Southwark was erected by Pope Paul VI, raising the Diocese to archdiocesan status.[7]

Bishops/Archbishops

Coadjutor Bishop

Auxiliary Bishops

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
  • Michael Bowen (priest here, 1958–1965), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in 1970; later returned as Archbishop
  • Joseph Butt, appointed auxiliary bishop of Westminster in 1911
  • John Cahill, appointed auxiliary bishop of Portsmouth in 1900
  • Alan Clark, appointed auxiliary bishop of Northampton in 1969
  • Maurice Couve de Murville (priest here, 1957–1965), appointed Archbishop of Birmingham in 1982
  • Arthur Doubleday, appointed Bishop of Brentwood in 1920
  • Michael Evans, appointed Bishop of East Anglia in 2003
  • Langton Fox, appointed auxiliary bishop of Menevia, Wales in 1965
  • William Heard, appointed Dean of the Roman Rota in 1958 (Cardinal in 1958, titular bishop in 1962)
  • Arthur Hinsley, appointed titular bishop in 1926; future Cardinal
  • William Keatinge, appointed Vicar Apostolic of Great Britain, Military in 1917
  • Richard Moth, appointed Bishop of Great Britain, Military in 2009
  • Peter Smith, appointed Bishop of East Anglia in 1995; later returned as Archbishop
  • Bernard Wall, appointed Bishop of Brentwood in 1955
  • Francis Walmsley, appointed Bishop of Great Britain, Military in 1979

Original cathedral
Main article: St George's Cathedral, Southwark
St. George's Cathedral Southwark (19th century)

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 the Reverend Thomas Walsh, a Douai priest, for £20 a year hired a room in Bandyleg Walk[10] (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 St 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.

It was to St George's that the Reverend Thomas Doyle came 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.[11] 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 26th May, 1841 in a private ceremony held in the early morning so as not to arouse public unrest.[10] Due to cost constraints, the left tower was never built. The stained glass was by William Wailes of Newcastle.[12] The church was solemnly opened by Bishop Nicholas Wiseman (later Cardinal Wiseman) on 4 July 1848.[13] 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 peple 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.[14]

In 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[10] and on that day every year the feast of the dedication of the cathedral is celebrated throughout the diocese.

Structure

As of 10 June 2010, there were three auxiliary bishops: Patrick Lynch SS.CC., titular bishop of Castrum; and Paul Hendricks, titular Bishop of Ross and Cromarty; Paul Mason, titular Bishop of Skálaholt. These bishops have particular pastoral responsibility in South East London, South West London and Kent respectively.[2]

Mimistries

The Archdiocese of Southwark Spirituality Commission identifies resources in the archdiocese and works to increase awareness and accessibility of them.[15]

"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.[16]

Pilgrimage

The Southwark archdiocese makes up part of the Catholic Association Pilgrimage.

Education

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 programme.

See also

References
  1. "Southwark", in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World (1952), New York: Columbia University Press.
  2. "Welcome to Southwark". www.rcsouthwark.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  3. "History", St. George's Cathedral
  4. Cunningham, William. "Southwark." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 31 January 2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. Paradis, Mary Raphael et al. "The Sisters of Mercy in the Crimean War: Lessons for Catholic health care." The Linacre Quarterly vol. 84,1 (2017): 29–43 doi:10.1080/00243639.2016.1277877
  6. Snape, Michael Francis. The Royal Army Chaplains' Department, 1796–1953: Clergy Under Fire, Boydell Press, 2008, p. 159ISBN 9781843833468
  7. https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dsout.html
  8. "Brown, William Francis (1862-1951)". The National Archives.
  9. "Bishop William Francis Brown". catholic-hierarchy.org.
  10. "St George's Cathedral." Survey of London: Volume 25, St George's Fields (The Parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington). Ed. Ida Darlington. London: London County Council, 1955. 72–75. British History Online
  11. Boast, Mary (1985). The Story of Bankside. London Borough of Southwark. p. 28. ISBN 0905849078.
  12. Bumpus, T. F., London Churches, Ancient and Modern, 2nd Series, 1907, p. 174. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  13. "History", St. George's Cathedral
  14. Hunter-Blair, Oswald. "Nicholas Patrick Wiseman." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 2 March 2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  15. Archdiocese of Southwark Spirituality Commission
  16. Archdiocese of Southwark Universities Chaplaincy

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Southwark". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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