St Barnabas Society appoints new director

Fr Biggerstaff

The St Barnabas Society announces that Fr Richard Biggerstaff will become the Director of the Society on the retirement of Fr Robin Sanders in September. Fr Robin has led the Society for the last thirteen years. Fr Biggerstaff is currently Parish Priest of Horsham, West Sussex.

Fr Richard, a former Anglican curate, was received into the Catholic Church in 1993. After further studies at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh he was ordained to the priesthood in 1996, since when he has served in various parishes in the Arundel and Brighton Diocese, where he is well known.

The Society, whose President is Cardinal Nichols, carries out the work of the original Converts Aid Society, formed in 1896 by Cardinal Vaughan at the behest of Pope Leo XIII to care for convert clerics. There is a steady need for the pastoral and financial support that it provides for clerics and religious, male and female, many of them with families, who have abandoned all material security to be received into the Catholic Church.

Fr Biggerstaff has been a member of the Society’s Board for the past ten years. The recruitment of a Director was widely advertised earlier this year and he was chosen in a process that was overseen by an independent HR consultant.

Gerald Soane, Chairman, commented: "It is a very exciting time for the Society and the Board is confident that Fr Biggerstaff will build on the excellent work carried out by Fr Robin Sanders for more than a decade."

Fr Biggerstaff said: "I am greatly looking forward to the challenges of this exciting post and the development of the Society for the service of the Church in England & Wales and beyond. The Society has a rich history and the personal histories of so many who seek the full communion of the Catholic Church is so enriching to the life of the Church. I am grateful for the confidence of the trustees and I entrust myself and the Society to the intercession of Barnabas, that son of encouragement so committed to the Lord, for the important work ahead."

For more information on the St Barnabas Society see: http://stbarnabassociety.org.uk/