The Archdiocese of Westminster will celebrate on February 14 the Installation Mass of Charles Phillip Richard Moth as the new archbishop of the primatial see of England and Wales, one of the most significant appointments for the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom.
The celebration will take place in Westminster Cathedral at 12:00 noon, coinciding with the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The event will mark the official beginning of Moth’s pastoral ministry as the twelfth Archbishop of Westminster.
A Key See in British Catholicism
The London archdiocese holds a central place in the country’s Catholic structure since the restoration of the hierarchy in 1850. The Archbishop of Westminster is traditionally the reference figure for the Catholic episcopate in England and Wales.
The installation will include the public reading of the Apostolic Letter of appointment, presented by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United Kingdom. And the culminating moment will be the handing over of the pastoral staff by the emeritus archbishop, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, a gesture that symbolizes the transmission of the pastoral governance of the diocese.
A Rite with Medieval Roots
Westminster preserves a traditional form of episcopal reception that has its roots in the practice before the English Reformation. The new archbishop will be received at the western door of the cathedral by the Cathedral Chapter before his solemn entrance.
The ceremonial includes the veneration of the crucifix, the aspersion with holy water, and the procession to the altar, underscoring the liturgical and juridical character of the act.
Vigil and First Public Acts
The day will be preceded by solemn Vespers this Friday, February 13, as spiritual preparation for the diocese; on Sunday, February 15, the new archbishop will preside over his first Sunday Mass in the cathedral, and on Ash Wednesday he will celebrate the Eucharist with the imposition of ashes.