The Bishop

Lenten Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Shrewsbury

by

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

A Pastoral Letter On the Catholic Faith we have received

by
 
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

Pastoral Letter – On the Opening of the Holy Year 2025

by

My dear brothers and sisters,

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s in Rome for the Jubilee Year 2025. The Church celebrates a jubilee every 25 years, drawing on the Biblical tradition of a year celebrated to manifest God’s mercy by freeing the imprisoned, writing off debts and re-setting relationships by a universal pardon i. The Church now commends such a moment of grace to us so that we might be moved to seek forgiveness for our sins; conversion of life; and reconciliation with our neighbour. Pope Francis writes: “Now the time has come for a new Jubilee, when once more the Holy Door is flung open to invite everyone to an intense experience of the love of God” ii.

Tens of millions will travel to Rome as pilgrims and in this Shrewsbury Diocese, I have established the Cathedral and Saint Joseph’s Eucharistic Shrine in Stockport as places for local pilgrimage. The Gospel tells of the pilgrimage made by Our Lady and Saint Joseph which became the joyful mystery of finding Jesus in the Templeiii. Today we reflect how our pilgrimage to Mass each Sunday – invites us ‘to seek and find anew’ the same Jesus present in the Mystery of the Eucharist. The Holy Father prays this year will be such a renewed encounter for us all “a moment of genuine personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the door of our salvation …”iv.

Pope Francis has placed hope at the heart of this Jubilee celebration. He writes, may this be “A Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, hope in God. May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relations, in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation” v. Christian hope is ultimately the hope of Heaven, for nothing less corresponds to the longing placed in the human heart. The Catechism explains: “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises …” vi. As Saint Augustine so memorably wrote of this hope: “you have made us for yourself, O Lord, our hearts are restless till they rest in you” vii.

This hope does not lead us to care less about our present lives or this passing world, rather it leads us to care more, much more! The fact that this world is the way to another, “the life of the world to come,” charges the whole of our lives with new purpose. Pope Francis gives practical examples of how this supernatural hope opens the door to see our lives and our world anew. This, he writes, enables us to untiringly seek peace in a world threatened by war and conflict; to be open to the gift of life in countries witnessing an alarming decline in the birthrate, since the desire of young people to give birth to new sons and daughters is born of hope; this same hope brings us closer to the sick and the elderly and helps us see in a new light the plight of the poor and most vulnerable, of prisoners, exiles and refugees. The hope we have received, insists Pope Francis, leads us to forgive others, for while forgiveness cannot change what happened in the past “it can allow us to change the future and live different lives, free of anger …” viii.

In inviting us to seek the Jubilee Indulgence for ourselves and for our loved ones departed, Pope Francis reminds us that we are never alone in our struggle to reach the goal of Heaven. We are united in the Mystical Body of Christ with all those striving on earth, with those being purified in purgatory and with all the saints who have reached everlasting happiness. With the help of their prayers and the indulgence of the whole Church, the Holy Father points to the hope of final purification which we call ‘purgatory’. For – in the face of the sins and repeated failures that you and I confess – we dare hope for that holiness which is necessary to share the joy of Heaven. As Pope Benedict beautifully wrote, before Christ’s gaze all falsehood will melt away as “the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God” ix.

Together in this pilgrimage, in the company of Our Lady, Saint Joseph and all the saints may we be such ‘pilgrims of hope.’ In time and for eternity, may we find His love and mercy.

+ Mark

Bishop of Shrewsbury

i  Cf. Leviticus 25: 8-55
ii Spes non Confundit No. 6
iii Cf. Lk. 2: 41-52
iv Spes non Confundit No. 1
v Spes non Confundit No. 24
vi Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1817
vii The Confessions of Saint Augustine’ 1,1
viii Spes non Confundit No. 23
ix Spe Salvi No. 47