2025 Catholic Directory of England & Wales reflects Jubilee Year message of hope
Featuring the iconic image of the Risen Christ from the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the 2025 Official Catholic Directory of England & Wales is now available to order for January delivery.
The image was selected to reflect the fact that next year is Jubilee 2025, which begins with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on the 24th December 6th January 2026. The Jubilee Year is expected to attract 32 million pilgrims to Rome from around the world who will be able to receive a plenary indulgence and attend a variety of spiritual and cultural events. Catholics who cannot make it to Rome are being encouraged to undetake local pilgrimages.
After closing the Holy Year on Christmas day 1950 Pope Pius XII replaced the wooden doors installed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748, which had begun to fall into disrepair, with the 16-panelled bronze doors (modelled by Vico Consorti and cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry) that are seen today.
“The panel of the Risen Christ seemed particularly appropriate for the Year of Jubilee as the theme for the year is ‘pilgrims of hope’and Consorti’s bronze panel dramatically conveys God’s promise of hope in the Ressurrection,” said Joseph Kelly, Managing editor of The Edit Partnership who publish the annual directory on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales.
The directory has a history going back more than 200 years, giving us a fascinating insight into the early re-emergence of the Catholic Church in these islands after centuries of suppression and isolation.
It is thought that the first edition was printed in 1806; the earliest known extant copy dates from 1809 and is held in the archives of the Diocese of Leeds. By 1848 – the date of the earliest volume in the editor’s collection, it’s clear that within just a few decades after the Catholic Relief act of 1829, the Catholic Church was already working tireless to re-establish itself across England & Wales.
Much of this was down to the efforts of The Rt Rev Thomas Griffiths, SDD, Vicar Apostolic of the London District, who helped establish numerous new churches and chapels, and schools ‘for the instruction of the children of the poor’, both in London and further afield. By this time there were 912 working Catholic priests in England and Wales, but governance was through vicars apostolic, with no bishops and there was no diocesan or parish organisation.
On 29th September, 1850, by the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae, Pius IX restored the Catholic hierarchy in England, partly to better administer to the large number of Catholic Irish flocking into England after the Irish Famine. For the first time since the reign of Mary Tudor (1555-1558), Catholics now had a a full hierarchy consistent with that of Catholic countries.
Thirteen sees and the archdiocese of Westminster were established, and the Catholic Church in England & Wales had finally taken on the form and structure we recognise today.
Every year since, The Official Catholic Directory of England & Wales has faithfully reflected the changes in personnel, structure and organisation of our local Church. It remains the ONLY comprehensive reference guide to the structures of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
“The Catholic Directory is not just a vitally important reference work, but a fascinating volume to read in its own right,” says Joseph Kelly.
“The extent and work of the Catholic Church across England and Wales is immense, and the directory lays out just how much we Catholics continue to contribute to the wellbeing of the communities we live and work in.
“This year’s edition is also significant in that for the first time we are seeing the appearance of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia, which was created by Pope Francis on 12th September,” said Mr Kelly.
The origin of the modern diocese can be traced to 1840 when the Apostolic Vicariate of the Welsh District was created out of the Western District of England and Wales. The Welsh District consisted of the whole of Wales and the English county of Herefordshire. When Pope Pius IX judged that the time was right to re-establish the Catholic hierarchy in Wales and England in 1850, the southern half of the Welsh District became the Diocese of Newport and Menevia and was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It had its pro-cathedral at Belmont Abbey.
In 1895, boundaries were redrawn, and the territory covering Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Herefordshire was named the Diocese of Newport. Finally, in 1916, without further adjustment of boundaries, the territory was raised to the status of an archdiocese, and given the title Archdiocese of Cardiff.
“Along with the merger of the dioceses of Cardiff and Menevia, there has once again been a significant number of changes that needed to be made to entries this year, as quite a number of parishes have amalgamated, and the way in which the clergy serve them has altered also. All in all, there have been more than 1,500 changes made to entries this year,” said Mr Kelly.
The 2025 Catholic Directory is once again been published in a luxury hardbound format, comprising more than 900 pages of information on the Catholic Church in England & Wales.
“As always we’re incredibly grateful to the many people who’ve assisted in providing the information to update the directory, and I’d also like to extend a special thank you to the individuals and organisations who’ve supported the project with advertising, and by buying copies. I’d really commend our Catholic community to support them in return,” said Mr Kelly.
The 2025 Official Catholic Directory of England & Wales is available now, priced £69.95 plus £9.95 p&p. Please click here to order online, or download an order form …
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For parishes and organisations who’d like to be invoiced, please call 01244 831842, or email your request to: joseph@theeditpartnership.com