Catholic Church > The Church in England and Wales > Bishops > Budd, Christopher
Hugh Christopher Budd was born on 27th May 1937 in Romford, Essex. He was the fifth of six children of John and Phyllis Budd.
He was educated at St. Mary's Hornchurch, and later at the Salesian College Chertsey, and Cotton College, Stoke-on-Trent. In 1955 he began his ecclesiastical studies at Grove Park, before going to the Venerable English College, Rome, in 1956. He gained his degree in Philosophy (Ph.L.) in 1959, and two degrees in Theology, STL in 1963 and STD in 1966. On 8th July 1962 he was ordained priest for the diocese of Brentwood by the late Cardinal William Theodore Heard.
After further study he was appointed as a tutor in Theology at the English College where he remained until 1971, when he returned to England to take up a post as lecturer in Theology at Newman College of Education, Birmingham. During his five years in Birmingham he was attached to the parish of St. Brigid in Northfield, and was involved with the work of the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council and with prison chaplaincy work.
In 1976 he was appointed as full-time head of training at the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council in London, and held that post until his appointment as Rector of St. John's Seminary, Wonersh, in 1979. He was appointed Administrator of Brentwood Cathedral in the summer of 1985 before his ordination as Bishop of Plymouth on 15th January 1986.
He is Vice-Chair of the Trustees of Caritas-Social Action. Among his personal hobbies and interests are walking and cricket.