Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Arundel and Brighton

Arundelien(sis)-Brichtelmestunen(sis)

The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton is a Latin rite diocese covering East and West Sussex and most of Surrey in England, erected on 28 May 1965 from the Diocese of Southwark. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Southwark, with its seat at Arundel Cathedral (Our Lady and St Philip Howard). The see is vacant (sede vacante) since 19 December 2025, when Bishop Richard Moth was translated to Westminster.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
28 May 1965
Latin
Arundelien(sis)-Brichtelmestunen(sis)
Patron
Our Lady of the Assumption and St Philip Howard
Annuario code
001000735

The see in figures

Catholics
178,075
Population
3,310,715
Catholic share
5.4%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
134
Catholics per priest
1,329
Extent
4,998 km²
Catholics per km²
36

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Richard Moth

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Arundel Cathedral stands in Arundel and Brighton, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Southwark

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Southwark.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Covering the counties of Sussex and Surrey (though not Spelthorne, which belongs to the Diocese of Westminster), the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (Latin: Dioecesis Arundeliensis-Brichtelmestunensis) serves southern England. Pope Paul VI erected it on 28 May 1965, carving it out of the larger Diocese of Southwark, which on the same date was raised to an archdiocese at the head of a new ecclesiastical province.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].