School children in Titchfield Common have been marking the instalment of the new bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth with some colourful portraits.
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Amelia Wallace, Isaac Robertson and Olivia Radford paint the new bishop's portrait
Youngsters at St Anthony’s School in Primate Road celebrated the ordination of the new bishop Monsignor Philip Egan yesterday (September 24).
In their classes from Reception to Year 6, they watched an online stream of Mgr Egan, 56, becoming the eighth Bishop of Portsmouth at the Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist.
The children enjoyed using a variety of different mediums to capture the bishop, including paint, oil pastels and pencils.
Deputy head teacher and RE leader, Roxy Ashworth, said: “The new Bishop of Portsmouth is not an event that happens every day, it’s quite a huge celebration.
“Because it’s such a huge celebration for the diocese it’s important for the children to understand who our bishop is and it’s important they know who that leader is.
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Leoni-Rae Gray, Aaliyah Dickinson-Rowe and Erin Walford used oil pastels for their art
“They’ve been learning about the bishop’s clothing, such as his hat that he wears is called a mitre and the stick that he holds is called the staff. So they’re learning at the same time so they can recognise the bishop.”
During the ordination, the Archbishop of Westminster and leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols presided at the mass, together with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, 24 bishops and more than 100 priests and deacons.
Mgr Egan joins the diocese, which covers Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and parts of Berkshire, Dorset and Oxfordshire, from the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
He succeeds the Rt Rev Crispian Hollis who has retired.
