The Right Reverend Arthur Roche
Bishop of Leeds
Bishop Arthur Roche STL was born in Batley, West Yorkshire on 6th March 1950, the youngest child of the late Arthur and Frances Roche. The bishop's elder brother, Brian died at an early age, killed while on military service in the Far East; his married sister, Margaret, lives in the Leeds Diocese. Bishop Roche was educated at St Joseph's primary school, Batley Carr, St John Fisher high school, Dewsbury and Christleton Hall, near Chester before he embarked on his studies for the priesthood in 1969. He spent the next six years in Spain, at St Alban's College, Valladolid, during which time he obtained a degree in theology from the University of Comillas. He was ordained priest for the Diocese of Leeds by Bishop William Gordon Wheeler at St Joseph's, Batley Carr on 19th July 1975.
In August 1975 Fr Roche became assistant priest in the parish of Holy Rood, Barnsley. At the beginning of 1978 he moved to Bishop's House, Thorner on his appointment as Secretary to Bishop Wheeler. He also became chaplain to St John Bosco School, Leeds and in 1979 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese. From 1981-86 he edited the annual Leeds Diocesan Directory. In February 1982 he assumed responsibility for organising the Papal Visit to York in May of that year. With the completion of this assignment in the late summer of 1982 he joined the staff at St Anne's Cathedral, Leeds, where he remained for the next six-and-a-half years.
Bishop David Konstant appointed Fr Roche as Diocesan Financial Secretary for a five-year period starting in August 1986. During this period he also became Parish Priest of St Wilfrid's, Leeds in January 1989. In the autumn of 1991 he relinquished these posts in order to pursue further studies in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He took up residence at the Venerable English College and in 1992 he joined the staff of the college as Spiritual Director. In April 1996 it was announced that Fr Roche was to be the new General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Following his appointment he was honoured by Pope John Paul II, becoming a Prelate of Honour with the title Monsignor. As General Secretary, Mgr Roche worked closely with three Presidents of the Bishops' Conference: Cardinal Basil Hume OSB (1996-99), Archbishop Michael Bowen (1999...2000) and, most recently, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
Mgr Roche's term as General Secretary ended in April 2002. With his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor he was given the Titular See of Rusticiana. His Episcopal ordination took place in Westminster on 10th May 2001.
During 2001-02 Bishop Roche served as chairman of the Pastoral Affairs Committee of the Diocese of Westminster as well as the Diocesan Finance Committee and the Catholic Children's Society in Westminster. Nationally, he is a member of the Department for Christian Life and Worship of the Bishops' Conference and one of the three bishops responsible for the English Colleges in Rome and Valladolid and the Beda College. He was appointed a member of the Bishops' Special Commission on Seminaries, which reported in May 2002. In July 2002 he was elected Chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy by the Episcopal Board of ICEL.
It was announced on 16th July 2002 that Pope John Paul II had appointed Bishop Roche as Coadjutor Bishop of Leeds. This is the first time such an appointment has been made in the Diocese of Leeds since that of Bishop Cowgill in 1905; he succeeded Bishop Gordon in 1911 and was Bishop of Leeds for the next quarter of a century. On April 7th 2004 , on the retirement of Bishop Konstant he became the ninth Bishop of Leeds.
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