The two‐hour service and ceremony took place on Friday, 20 March at midday at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne.
People from every town and rural community in the region joined the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales and more than 20 regional and civic guests, 200 priests, deacons and members of religious orders, 19 representatives of North East Christian Churches and other faiths – plus 105 of Bishop Cunningham’s close family from Ireland to pack the Cathedral to its great West Door.
Bishop Cunningham, 66, was ordained Bishop by Liverpool’s Archbishop – the Most Rev Patrick Kelly – and supported by the Rt Rev Ambrose Griffiths – the 11th Bishop of Hexham & Newcastle until his retirement in 2004 – and Bishop Michael Campbell from Lancaster. Both concelebrated the Ordination Mass with Archbishop Kelly.
Present on the sanctuary of the Cathedral were Cardinal Cormac Murphy‐O’Connor of Westminster, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, of St Andrews and Edinburgh, and the Pope’s personal representative Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, who brought with him the official Proclamation from Rome, written in Latin.The two Cardinals and the Nuncio will be in Lancaster for Bishop O'Donoghue's retirement and Bishop Campbell's inauguration on 1st May.
The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle covers the North East from Berwick‐upon‐Tweed to Stockton‐on‐Tees
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