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Bishop Richard has written a new Pastoral Plan for the Diocese The Word Who is Life: The Call to Mission (January 2024). The publication marks an important new stage in the development of diocesan parish structures, creating new pathways for apostolic mission and meeting the challenges of an increasingly secular society with renewed confidence and openness to the Holy Spirit. The Call to Mission focusses on the significant potential of diocesan parish communities to act as “beacons of light... not in an era of change, but in a change of era” consolidating the work already undertaken across the diocese to place prayer, formation, and mission at the heart of diocesan parish and school community life. Reflecting on the new plan Bishop Richard reiterated his overarching vision for the diocese:
“I invite everyone - lay faithful, religious, deacons and priests - to join with me in forging our parishes into communities of saints and strong, lively, and welcoming schools of discipleship. May they be communities where the Lord is known and loved; where the liturgy is experienced as an encounter with the wonder of heaven; where daily prayer is a natural part of life and where all are welcomed and their dignity as children of God always recognised.”
You can read Bishop Richard's new Pastoral Plan below:
The Catholic Parish of Brighton & Hove was inaugurated on 14 September 2025, with Mass at St John the Baptist Church, Kemptown, celebrated by Bishop Richard and priests and deacons from across the new parish. Brighton & Hove is the first former deanery to become a parish in the care of a Moderator, working with the priests of the parish in solidum. Brighton & Hove has a regular worshipping community of more than 2,000 people, and the establishment of a parish “Clergy and Lay Leadership Team” is leading to greater collaboration across its 11 church communities. Click here to see photos from the Mass. To discover how the "call to mission" is being lived out in the new parish, watch the short film below.
Bishop Richard was installed as the fifth bishop of the diocese in 2015, writing in his first Pastoral Plan issued in 2018 he said: “There is much good work already being done in our parishes and deaneries, in our schools and chaplaincies - we must look to the future with renewed resolution and energy growing from ever-deepening prayer". You can read The Word Who is Life Pastoral Plan 2018, and 2022 and by clicking on the buttons below:
