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Pastoral Letter appointed to be read out at all Masses celebrated on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th November 2018.

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I’ve been your bishop for three years now, and you all know the situation facing us in the diocese. We don’t have enough priests to go around, and so there will need to be more clustering of parishes served by just one priest. This will inevitably mean a reduction in the number of weekend Masses, and possibly some closures of Mass centres. That said, I genuinely remain very positive about what I see happening in our diocesan parishes, schools and chaplaincies. There is the potential for our diocese to become more and more outward-looking and missionary in its sense of purpose and direction. How will this happen? By ensuring that we have a strong spiritual foundation for all that we seek to do across our diocese, because as the psalmist reminds us, “unless the Lord build the house, in vain do its builders labour