A new co-adjutor for Shrewsbury

The Vicar General (left) of Salford diocese has been named co-adjutor for Shrewsbury diocese, which is run by Bishop Brian Noble.

Mgr Mark Davies was born in Manchester and is 50 years old. He was ordained a priest in 1984 and will be ordained on the Feast of the Chair of Peter (February 22). The present bishop is 73 years old.

In an interview featured on the Shrewsbury website, he said that he was surprised when he was called to meet the Nuncio in London. When he was asked what he thought his new diocese needed he said: “I remember Pope Paul VI being asked a similar question and replying that what is most needed is always an increase of faith. I’m sure that will always be our greatest need: to increase in faith, to be faith-ful!

“I’m conscious too that I come to the Diocese not only to begin a task but to continue the work which began more than a hundred and fifty years ago. So it’s this story of faithfulness we need to confidently continue at the beginning of the Twenty First Century.”

Mgr Davies is based in the next-door diocese of Salford and is a Northerner through and through. He went to school in Stockport, Cheshire and studied at Durham University in Yorkshir and trained for the priesthood at Ushaw College (also in Durham).