The Ordination and Consecration of the Bishop of Richborough will take place in Canterbury Cathedral at 2:30pm on Thursday 27th February 2025

With grateful thanks to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, the ordination will follow the established custom used for the Ordination of the Bishops of Oswestry and Beverley.
 
All are welcome. Links to register your attendance will be made available in the coming week for those wishing to attend.
Clergy wishing to robe will need to book a ticket once further information is released and must be on the National Clergy Register.

The service will also be livestreamed via the Cathedral YouTube channel.
 
Please continue to pray for Fr Luke as he prepares for his ordination and consecration as a Bishop in the Church of God and for all those whom he will serve across the See of Richborough and the wider Church of England. A novena, which begins on Wednesday 19th February, is provided here.

Register to attend in the congregation.

The Society and Forward in Faith welcome the announcement that His Majesty the King has approved the nomination of Fr Luke Irvine-Capel SSC, currently the Archdeacon of Chichester, to the See of Richborough, with pastoral and sacramental oversight for Society parishes in the eastern half of the southern province of the Church of England.

The Right Reverend Jonathan Baker, Chairman of The Society's Council of Bishops, said: "I extend a warm welcome to Fr Luke to the Council, and assure him of the support and prayers of the Society bishops as he prepares to become the Bishop of Richborough."

The Right Reverend Paul Thomas, Chairman of Forward in Faith, said: "I have no doubt that Fr Luke will teach and promote the Catholic Faith across the See of Richborough with dynamism and good grace, enriching the life of the See in so doing."

Fr Philip O'Reilly, on behalf of the Richborough parishes, said: "It is wonderful to be able to welcome Fr Luke to the See of Richborough, and we greatly look forward to his ministry among us."

Fr Luke Irvine-Capel said: "It is a great honour to accept this nomination, and I undertake to serve the Richborough parishes as their bishop prayerfully and faithfully."

The date and venue for Fr Luke’s ordination to the episcopate have yet to be confirmed. They will be made publicly available as soon as they are available.

Please pray for Fr Luke, and for his family, as he prepares for episcopal ministry.

In common with Christians across the world, The Society is delighted to be marking in 2025 the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, that highly important moment in the process of the Church setting out what it believes through it creeds, and repeated Sunday-by-Sunday in our churches in the form of the Nicene Creed. The Society is offering:

(i) An introductory note accompanied by a general video, including some filming from the most recent Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage. They are available here and here.

(ii) An Advent course raising general themes of faith, the creeds, and liturgy. The course is not particular to Advent, and can be used at other times of the year too. The materials - a short video accompanied by a study note compiled by Society priests - will be available week-by-week over Advent 2024.

(iii) A Lent 2025 course, to be released early next calendar year, will look in detail at the content of the Nicene Creed.

Introductory Note

Session One: The Nature of Faith

Study Note

Session Two: The History of the Church’s Creeds

Study Note

Session Three: Why the creeds matter

Study Note

Session Four: The role of creeds in liturgy

Study Note

For more details about this exciting free initiative, email Clare Williams who will send you more details, including the Zoom link for the meeting.

Over the last three days, 33 Society deacons and priests, many of whom are assistant curates, have gathered at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham to support one another and to participate in the annual Initial Ministerial Education phase two (IME 2) conference, led by the Bishop of Oswestry on behalf of The Society. The delegates expressed their deep gratitude to the Cleaver Fund, which so generously met the costs of the conference.

The Right Reverend Paul Thomas, the Bishop of Oswestry, commented: "I am overjoyed that such a good number of deacons and priests have participated so enthusiastically in our IME 2 conference. Such is the success of the conference that next year we shall be adding a first incumbents' course for Society parish priests new to that role."

More photos