Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford

Diocese of Salford Dioecesis Salfordensis
The coat of arms of the Diocese of Salford
Location
Country	England
Territory	Most of Greater Manchester and neighbouring parts of Lancashire.
Ecclesiastical province	Liverpool
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Liverpool
Statistics
Area	1,600 km2 (620 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2017) 2,800,000 294,000 (10.5%)
Parishes	145
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	29 September 1850; 174 years ago (1850-09-29)
Cathedral	Cathedral Church of St. John the Evangelist
Secular priests	251
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	John Arnold
Metropolitan Archbishop	Malcolm McMahon
Vicar General	Michael Cooke John Daly Peter Hopkinson
Episcopal Vicars	Paul Daly Gerald Murphy
Judicial Vicar	Christopher Dawson
Bishops emeritus	Terence Brain
Map
The Diocese of Salford within the Province of Liverpool
Website
dioceseofsalford.org.uk

The Diocese of Salford (Latin: Dioecesis Salfordensis) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church centred on the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. The diocese was founded in 1852 as one of the first post-Reformation Catholic dioceses in Great Britain. Since 1911 it has formed part of the Province of Liverpool.

Its current boundaries encompass Manchester as well as a large part of North West England between the River Mersey and the River Ribble, some parishes north of the Ribble, and Todmorden in West Yorkshire. In 2005, the diocese included 207 churches and chapels.

The first post-Reformation Catholic chapel in Blackburn was opened in 1773, and that in Manchester in 1774 (in Rook Street, dedicated to St Chad). In 1843 James Sharples, rector of St. Alban's, Blackburn, was consecrated Titular Bishop of Samaria and appointed coadjutor to Bishop Brown, the first Vicar Apostolic of the Lancashire District. He built at Salford St. John's Church, which was opened in 1848 and which subsequently became the cathedral for the diocese.

Dr. Sharples died on 16 August 1850 and the first Bishop of Salford in the restored hierarchy was William Turner (1790–1872). He was succeeded in 1872 by Herbert Vaughan (1832–1903). On Vaughan's translation to Westminster in 1892, John Bilsborrow (1836–1903) was consecrated as the third bishop. Louis Charles Casartelli, the fourth bishop, was born in 1852, and ordained priest in 1876. He was closely associated with Cardinal Vaughan in the foundation of St. Bede's College, Manchester, in 1876, and was rector of it when he was nominated bishop in 1903. Bishop Casartelli was also a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, and known as a writer on Oriental subjects.^[1]

• William Turner (appointed on 27 June 1851 – died on 13 July 1872)
• Herbert Vaughan (appointed on 27 September 1872 – translated to Westminster on 8 April 1892) (Cardinal in 1893)
• John Bilsborrow (appointed on 15 July 1892 – died on 5 March 1903)
• Louis Charles Casartelli (appointed on 28 August 1903 – died on 18 January 1925)
• Thomas Henshaw (appointed on 14 December 1925 – died on 23 September 1938)
• Henry Vincent Marshall (appointed on 5 August 1939 – died on 14 April 1955)
• George Andrew Beck (appointed on 28 November 1955 – translated to Liverpool on 29 January 1964)
• Thomas Holland (appointed on 28 August 1964 – retired on 22 June 1983)
• Patrick Altham Kelly (appointed on 9 March 1984 – translated to Liverpool on 21 May 1996)
• Terence Brain (appointed on 2 September 1997 – retired on 2 October 2014)
• John Arnold (appointed on 30 September 2014)

• John Stephen Vaughan (appointed on 13 July 1909 – died on 4 December 1925).^[2]
• Geoffrey Burke (appointed on 26 May 1967 – retired on 12 September 1988).^[3]

• James Cunningham, appointed auxiliary bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in 1957
• George Patrick Dwyer, appointed Bishop of Leeds in 1957
• John Francis McNulty, appointed Bishop of Nottingham in 1932
• Thomas Leo Parker, appointed Bishop of Northampton in 1940
• Mark Davies, appointed Bishop of Shrewsbury in 2009, becoming Bishop in 2010

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Evangelist, usually known as Salford Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Salford and mother church of the Diocese of Salford. The cathedral is a Grade II listed building on Chapel Street, Salford. The foundation stone was laid in 1844 and the church opened in 1848. It was elevated to cathedral status in 1852 after the 1850 creation of the Diocese of Salford. The cathedral was consecrated in 1890 by the second Bishop of Salford, Herbert Vaughan, following the final repayment of debts from its construction.

As of 2024, 165 voluntary aided state Roman Catholic primary schools (often denoted in their names by VA, RC or RCPS) are in the Diocese of Salford, located across the local authorities of Blackburn, Bolton, Bury, Calderdale, Lancashire, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan.^[4]

There are 26 voluntary aided local authority maintained Roman Catholic high schools (RCHS) and sixth-form colleges:^[4]

A further seven secondary schools are run as academies:^[4]

St John Vianney Special School in Firswood, Manchester, teaches pupils aged 5 to 19.

The following private Catholic schools also exist in the Diocese of Salford as of 2024:^[4]

• Oakhill School and Nursery, Clitheroe
• St Bede's College and Preparatory School, Manchester
• St Joseph's Park Hill School, Burnley
• Stella Maris School, Stockport
• Stonyhurst College and St Mary's Hall Preparatory School, Clitheroe

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Salford". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• Almanac for the Diocese of Salford; for the year 1877 etc. Various publishers; OCLC 498232398 (annual: cover title: Salford Diocesan Almanac)
• Cooke, Michael; Parkinson, Francis (2008). Salford Diocesan Almanac 2009. Salford. p. 232. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)(includes a directory detailing the histories of all the churches and chapels which have either closed or changed their names)

• Official website
• Diocese of Salford, Catholic Hierarchy website
• GCatholic.org
• The Latin Mass Society
• Statistics for all parishes in the diocese

53°29′N 2°16′W / 53.48°N 2.26°W / 53.48; -2.26