Alan Clark (bishop) explained

Type:bishop
Honorific-Prefix:The Right Reverend
Alan Charles Clark
Bishop of East Anglia
Province:Westminster
Diocese:East Anglia
Appointed:26 April 1976
Term End:21 March 1995
Predecessor:New title
Successor:Peter Smith
Other Post:Co-chairman of ARCIC
Ordination:11 February 1945
Consecration:13 May 1969
Consecrated By:Charles Alexander Grant
Birth Name:Alan Charles Clark
Birth Date:9 August 1919
Birth Place:Bickley, Kent, England
Nationality:British
Religion:Roman Catholic
Motto:addictus ministerio Christi
Coat Of Arms:Coat of Arms of the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia.svg

Alan Charles Clark (9 August 1919 – 16 July 2002) was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia in the Ecclesiastical Province of Westminster, England.

Early life

Born in Bickley, Kent on 9 August 1919, Alan Charles Clark was the son of parents who converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. He was ordained to the priesthood on 11 February 1945.

Episcopal career

Clark was appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of Northampton and Titular Bishop of Elmhama by the Holy See on 31 March 1969. Two months after, he was consecrated to the Episcopate on 13 May 1969. The principal consecrator was Bishop Charles Alexander Grant of Northampton, and the principal co-consecrators were Archbishop Cyril Conrad Cowderoy of Southwark and Archbishop John Aloysius Murphy of Cardiff. He also became co-chairman of the Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).

On 13 March 1976, the new Diocese of East Anglia was established, and Alan Clark was appointed its first bishop on 26 April 1976. He was installed at the Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist, Norwich on 2 June 1976. As the bishop of the new diocese, Alan Clark had to set up all the necessary instruments and commissions for the diocese to operate successfully. He retired on 21 March 1995, Following his 75th birthday in August 1994, and assumed the title Bishop Emeritus of East Anglia. On 2 June 2001, Bishop Clark celebrated the 25th anniversary of his installation as the first bishop of the diocese.

Alan Charles Clark passed away on 16 July 2002, at the age of 82. He is buried at the National Catholic Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.[1]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=8Y0NDgAAQBAJ&dq=John+Cahill+%2C+bishop+of+Portsmouth&pg=PA277 Larsen, Chris. Catholic Bishops of Great Britain, Sacristy Press, 2016, p. 141