- Declan Ronan Lang
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The Right Reverend
Declan LangBishop of Clifton Province Birmingham Metropolis Birmingham Diocese Clifton See Clifton Appointed 27 February 2001 Enthroned 28 March 2001 Predecessor Mervyn Alban Alexander Orders Ordination 7 June 1975 Consecration 28 March 2001
by Mervyn Alban AlexanderPersonal details Birth name Declan Ronan Lang Born April 15, 1950
Cowes, Isle of WightNationality British Denomination Roman Catholic Styles of
Declan Lang
Reference style The Right Reverend Spoken style My Lord Religious style Monsignor Posthumous style not applicable Declan Ronan Lang (born 15 April 1950) is an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the ninth and current bishop of Clifton.
Biography
Declan Lang was born in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, to Irish parents. He attended Ryde School, Allen Hall, and St. Edmund's College, Ware. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Royal Holloway, University of London. Lang was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Derek Worlock on 7 June, 1975.
He then served as an Assistant Priest at the Cathedral and Chaplain to St Edmund's Comprehensive School in Portsmouth. Four years after ordination he was appointed Secretary to Bishop Emery and Chancellor. During this time he also worked on the Diocesan Youth Commission, which he later chaired. For a number of years he went as Chaplain with the Portsmouth Group to Lourdes at Easter.
In 1983 he was appointed to the Religious Education Council as Adult Religious Education Advisor, a position he held until 1990. While doing this work he was also Parish Priest of Our Lady, Queen of Apostles, Bishop's Waltham, for four years and then Parish Priest at Sacred Heart, Bournemouth. As a result of his work in Adult Religious Education he produced together with John O'Shea, Vicky Cosstick and Damian Lundy the Parish Project. This was to help Parishes look at what they were currently doing, evaluate it and plan together future direction. This scheme has been taken up by a number of Parishes throughout the country.
In September 1990 he was appointed Moderator of the Curia and Administrator of the Cathedral. During this time he was also involved in organising a summer conference for the Diocese of Portsmouth and helping with conferences in Southwark and Shrewsbury. In January 1996 he was appointed as one of the Vicars General in the Diocese moving from Portsmouth to Abingdon.
Whilst in there he chaired a Working Party jointly sponsored by the Bishop's Conference and the National Conference of Priests looking at clergy appraisal. The Working Party Report was accepted by the Bishop's Conference and since then he has spoken in a number of Dioceses about the reasons for and the benefits arising from clergy appraisal.
Lang was ordained as Bishop of Clifton on 28 March 2001 in Clifton Cathedral, by his predecessor Bishop Mervyn Alexander.
Bishop Lang chairs the committee for Theology Faith and Culture. He is the Co-Chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee (ARC) and also the Co-Chair for the Committee for Roman Catholic and United Reformed Church dialogue in England. Bishop Lang was elected to be the Moderator of the next Churches Together in England Forum to be held in 2009. He is a member of the Mixed Commission of Bishops and Major Religious Superiors and is a trustee of the Pontifical Missionary Societies. Outside of the Bishops' Conference he is the President of the Catholic Association which organises the Pilgrimage to Lourdes on behalf of the Dioceses of Clifton, East Anglia, Northampton, Portsmouth, Southwark and Stoneyhurst College.
Within the diocese Bishop Lang instigated a review of Diocesan structures and as a result created the Diocesan Department for Evangelisation and Adult Education and a new Department for Schools and Colleges. During this time the Diocesan Liturgical Commission has also been reformed. In 2002 Bishop Lang was appointed an Ecumenical Prebendary of Bristol Cathedral. He is the current Chairman of Somerset Churches Together and previous Chairman of Bristol Churches Together.
As part of his work as the chairman of the Department of International Affairs in the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Bishop Lang travelled to Lebanon at the request of the Maronite Catholic Church. Bishop Lang hopes that the visit will 'deepen the relationship' between the Bishops of England and Wales and the Catholic community in Lebanon. Bishop Lang said: "I felt the best way to show the Bishops' solidarity with the people of Lebanon and, in particular, the Maronite Catholic community was to accept the invitation to travel to the country and learn about the challenges, hopes and expectations of the people firsthand."[1]
Source
References
Catholic Church titles Preceded by
Mervyn Alban AlexanderBishop of Clifton
2001—presentSucceeded by
incumbentCatholic Archbishops and Bishops in England and Wales Province of Westminster Thomas McMahon (Brentwood) · Vacant post (East Anglia) · Peter Doyle (Northampton) · Malcolm McMahon (Nottingham) · Vincent Nichols (Westminster)Province of Birmingham Province of Liverpool John Rawsthorne (Hallam) · Michael Campbell (Lancaster) · Arthur Roche (Leeds) · Patrick Kelly (Liverpool) · Terence Patrick Drainey (Middlesbrough) · Séamus Cunningham (Hexham and Newcastle) · Terence Brain (Salford)Province of Southwark Province of Cardiff Military Ordinariate Charles Phillip Richard Moth (Bishopric of the Forces)Apostolic Exarchate Apostolic Nuncio Antonio MenniniCategories:- 1950 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London
- Post-Reformation Roman Catholic bishops in England
- Roman Catholic bishops
- People from Cowes
- English Roman Catholics
- 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops
- People educated at St. Edmund's College, Ware
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