Kevin Jones

Lenten Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Shrewsbury

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Lenten Pastoral Letter

A Church Ready for Converts

My dear brothers and sisters,

As Lent begins, we see a growing number of men and women, many of them young adults, who are seeking faith and baptism. This stream of new converts is evident across our Diocese and country and indeed across the western world. It is all the more remarkable because this new generation of converts have been drawn to the Church by no special initiative on our part, rather by the constancy of faith, the reverence of worship and the authentic witness they have found. They may be statistically small in number compared with the overall decline of Christianity in our land, yet their search for Christ and His Church represents a moment of grace.

As Shrewsbury Diocese began its mission some 175 years ago, Saint John Henry Newman spoke of “a Church ready for converts.” Seeing so many today, often coming from no religious background to find the faith of the Church, I recalled these words of Cardinal Newman. We must now be ready to support new converts who are seeking Christ and His Church amid all the confusions of our time.

At the beginning of Lent, the Scriptures remind us of the deceptions which have marked humanity’s struggle from the very dawn of history and of Christ’s victory over Satan in the wilderness (i). It is with Christ that we are to renounce the evil one who seeks to pervert all that is good and true (ii). It should not surprise us that, through the shadows of our time, many are coming in search of Christ, the truth of His teaching and all the means of grace He has entrusted to His Church in the Sacraments, and supremely in His Eucharist.

The journey of these new converts brings us back to the original purpose of Lent as the time when adults prepared for Baptism. The Church quickly recognised this time was needed by all the baptised as part of their continuing conversion.

It is for this reason, that we now keep these 40 Lenten days devoted to greater prayer, self-denial and generosity as we each prepare to renew at Easter the promises of our Baptism, confess our sins and receive the Holy Eucharist with ever renewed faith and love. It is by striving to live our own conversion that we can best support a new generation of converts. For Lent calls us to recognise that every member of the Church must always be a convert.

On my visits to parishes, I often remind you of the many thousands of souls in every place who depend so much on your prayer and faithfulness. Today, with a prayer card distributed at Mass, I invite you to pray for all those in your lives and for the many adults who are seeking the faith and the new life of Baptism. May we truly be a Church of converts, that is always “ready for converts.”

United in this prayer, and as a convert with you,

+ Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury

Ash Wednesday

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Ash Wednesday: Lent begins this year on Wednesday, 18th February. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence. The blessing and imposition of ashes will be at 6.30pm, followed by the Mass.

40 Hours Devotion – Quarant’Ore

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The Forty Hours Devotion (Quarant’Ore) is one of the most beautiful and contemplative traditions in Catholic spirituality. It is a devotion that speaks deeply to anyone who values reverence, safeguarding of the sacred, and the quiet strengthening of a community’s spiritual life. The Forty Hours Devotion is a period of continuous Eucharistic adoration lasting (as the name suggests) around forty hours. During this time, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar, and the faithful keep watch in prayer, silence, and reflection.

It is a communal act of love and reparation, but also a profoundly personal encounter with Christ present in the Eucharist.

Why “Forty Hours”?

The number forty carries deep biblical symbolism:

  • 40 hours traditionally recalls the time Jesus lay in the tomb.
  • 40 days of the Flood
  • 40 years in the desert
  • 40 days of Jesus’ fasting before His public ministry

In Scripture, forty is a number of testing, purification, and preparation — and the devotion mirrors that rhythm.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (15th – 17th February), Adoration will be from 4pm to 6pm each day.

Via Crucis

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The Via Crucis is a devotional journey that follows Our Lords’ path from his condemnation to his burial. It consists of 14 stations, each recalling a moment from the Passion. It is prayed especially during Lent and Holy Week, but can be prayed the year‑round. At its heart, it is about walking with Christ in his suffering and allowing that journey to help us prepare fpr Holy Week.

Each Friday during Lent at 5.30pm, we pray the Stations of the Cross (in place of Adoration).

Forthcoming Adult Catechism Classes

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Adult Catechism Class – “Angels and Demons”:
One Friday per month, all are welcome regardless of prior knowledge, both Catholics and non-Catholics. The next class will be held on Friday, 20th February at 7.15pm, following the evening Mass.

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Adult Catechism Class – “The Catholic Moral Life”:
One Saturday per month, all are welcome regardless of prior knowledge, both Catholics and non-Catholics. the morning Mass. Next month’s class will be Saturday, 28th February at 11am.

News from the Diocese: Support extension for anyone affected by church related abuse announced

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The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, alongside the Church of England and the Church of Wales, has confirmed that support for victims and survivors of church-related abuse will continue through the Safe Spaces independent support service. This free, national service offers confidential and trauma-informed help to anyone affected, regardless of when the abuse occurred or their current relationship with the Church.

The extension ensures that Safe Spaces, delivered by the charity First Light, will remain available for a further 15 months while plans are developed for its long-term future. This continued commitment reflects the Churches’ responsibility to ensure that survivors can access professional, compassionate support when they need it most.

Read more here: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/support-for-victims-and-survivors-of-church-related-abuse-extended/

Pastoral Letter on Welcoming Pope Leo XIV with Great Joy

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My dear brothers and sisters, 

On Thursday, an outburst of joy marked the announcement that we have a new Pope.  This joy was known before we even knew the name or had glimpsed the kindly face of Pope Leo XIV.  It was the announcement that we had a Pope that was the source of this joy.  The man chosen was still unseen, and undoubtedly conscious as never before, of his human weakness and the immense weight of the mission suddenly entrusted to him as the 266th Successor of the Apostle Peter.  The new Pope would first lead us in prayer by greeting the Holy Mother of God and asking her to pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  This struck me as a beautiful expression of our Catholic faith in the office of the Pope, whoever the man happens to be, and in the mission entrusted by Christ to Peter and his successors until the end of time.  It is in this faith that we welcome Pope Leo XIV.  For it was Christ who made Peter the rock of His Church, gave him the keys of the Kingdom, (i) called him to strengthen His brethren (ii) and to feed the sheep and lambs of His flock, as a witness to His love (iii) (iv).  

It seemed significant that before we caught sight of our new Pope, we saw first the Cross of Christ carried onto the balcony of Saint Peter’s.  For the Pope always stands before the world as a witness to Christ and to the victory of His Cross.  In his first words and greeting “Peace be with you all”, Pope Leo consciously echoed the words of the Risen Jesus and reminded us “We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light” for in His love we find the assurance that evil will not prevail.  

Following a previous papal election, I was asked at a petrol station whether I ‘liked’ the new Pope.  This is a strange question for a Catholic, akin to being asked whether you ‘like’ your father or mother!  The Pope is not a celebrity, a politician nor a public personality whose popularity may grow or fade.  The place of the Pope in the family of the Church is always seen in the light of faith, whoever the man happens to be, for he has taken the place of Peter for us.  

We pray for the Pope with a loyalty and affection which transcends all human ‘likes’ or ‘dislikes.’  We might even pray, as one faithful soul did, that the Pope gets a good night’s rest, conscious of the burden he bears.  It is with such faith, loyalty and human affection that we welcome Pope Leo XIV, our thirteenth Holy Father since his predecessor Pope Pius IX founded the Shrewsbury Diocese in 1851.   

A still wider perspective is offered in the Cathedral this Sunday, when our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters bring an icon and relic of Pope Saint Sylvester I, in celebration of the Creed we profess each Sunday.  If you don’t recognise his name, this was the Pope at the time of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, when the bishops first gathered to make the great profession of the Church’s faith that we echo together at Mass each Sunday.  It is the enduring mission of Peter and his successors to keep this faith and strengthen us in faith by serving as “the visible source and foundation of unity” (v).   In celebrating the 1700th Anniversary of the Creed of Nicea and remembering the saintly Pope of that distant time, we are reminded of the long continuity of the mission of Saint Peter, which continues with the fourteenth Pope Leo in our time. 

The World Day of Prayer for Vocations celebrated on this Good Shepherd Sunday, also leads us to remember that a young man, Robert Prevost, was first ready to dedicate his whole life to Christ in the Catholic Priesthood.  Today, as we pray for this young man as our Pope, let us also pray for many new and generous vocations to the Priesthood that are a source of joy for the whole Church.  It is because of Robert Prevost’s generous and faithful response to his calling, that we are now able to receive “with great joy” Pope Leo XIV as a holy father for us all.    

United with you in this joy and in this prayer,

+ Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury

i Mt. 16: 18 -19
ii Lk. 22:32
iii Jn. 21: 15-17
iv Cf. Pope Saint John Paul II “The Ministry of Love” 17th October 1978
v Catechism of the Catholic Church No.552

Message of +Mark, Bishop of Shrewsbury

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The Diocese of Shrewsbury welcomes our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, we promise him all our prayers in his service of the Universal Church.

+Mark, Bishop of Shrewsbury

A Pastoral Letter On the Catholic Faith we have received

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A Pastoral Letter on the Catholic Faith we have received

 
My dear brothers and sisters,

The Gospel speaks to us today of God’s overflowing generosity, a generosity we discover anew each Sunday, and indeed every day, in the Holy Eucharist where Christ gives Himself wholly and entirely for usi. We are called to imitate this Divine, Eucharistic generosity in each of our lives and in every vocation. This leads me to reflect today on the gift of faith which we have received in all its fulness in the Church.
 
I write to you from the Cathedral where even the beauty of wood, glass and stone stand in silent testimony to the faith of all those who have shared the journey of our Shrewsbury Diocese. The Cathedral has become a place of pilgrimage in this Holy Year and my letter today is accompanied by a YouTube video that invites you to join me in a virtual pilgrimage to our Cathedral. This video can be found on the Shrewsbury Diocese website and viewed below ii.
 
 
Yesterday, I met in Chester many adults who will be Baptised and received into the Church at Easter. The first question that will be put to them is: “What do you ask of the Church?” Their answer will be a single word: “Faith.” The Catechism reminds us, that we receive the gift of faith through the Church, since the Church believes first; and she nourishes and sustains our faith through life’s journeyiii. For we can no more give ourselves this gift of faith than we can give ourselves the gift of life. This vital task of handing on the faith led the first Apostles to describe the Church as “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” guarding “the faithonce delivered to the saints”iv.

The faith we ask to share in Baptism was put into the words of the ‘Apostles Creed.’ These words used at Baptism from earliest centuries profess the faith received from the Apostles beginning with the Latin word ‘Credo’ meaning “I believe.” Today, some of our contemporaries speak disparagingly of what they call ‘organised religion.” They suggest a “disorganised religion” is more authentic though it would amount to little more than opinions drawn from ever-changing views around us. Such an answer to the great questions of life can never be a secure foundation. And so, the Creed sets out the unchanging faith received by the Church in all truth, providing the sure foundation on which our lives can be built in faith, hope and love.
 
When the bishops of the world first gathered in the City of Nicaea in 325 AD after centuries of persecution, they made the great profession of the Catholic faith which we call the ‘Nicene Creed.’ Gathered in ecumenical council they declared the faith which the Church had received from the beginning and had everywhere believed. It is a moving thought that when you and I declare “I believe” at Mass, we are repeating those same words. The need for such a profession of faith was occasioned by the error of one priest, Arius, who taught that while Jesus was the highest and most exalted, he was less than God. This dark error occasioned a luminous profession of the Church’s faith, that has echoed through the centuries. For with all the Church we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ who is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father;” and “through him all things were made.” Pope Francis, who we are accompanying with our prayer in his time of illness, has asked in this Holy Year of 2025 that we especially celebrate the anniversary of the Creed first professed at Nicaea in AD 325v. 
 
Fifteen years ago, I became a bishop for you. At the heart of this mission, like every bishop before me, was handing on the faith of the Church. I promised I would always “Guard the deposit of faith pure and entire according to the tradition preserved always and everywhere in the Church from the time of the Apostles”vi. By Baptism and Confirmation, we all share in this apostolic task by imitating God’s overflowing generosity in our readiness to share and defend the Catholic faith in all its fullnessvii. In our Cathedral church, we remember the courage and generosity of the founding generation of this Diocese, who in the face of every difficulty and contradiction, handed down the faith to us. Let us ask Our Lady’s help in this
sacred trust of handing on the faith we have received to all generations to come. 
 
+ Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury
 
i Cf. Lk. 6: 27–38 & Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1374
ii https://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/
iii Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church No 168
iv Cf. I Tim. 3: 15, Jude 3
v The Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee 2025
vi The Roman Pontifical for the Ordination of Bishops
vii Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church Nos. 863 & 1303