Motorcycling vicars hit road on tour of their new super-diocese

The clerics from the three dioceses of Bradford, Wakefield, and Ripon and Leeds will be leading the tour around the new diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales tomorrow.

A total of 14 people are expected to take part in the ride-out, which has been organised by the Reverend Paul Tudge, vicar of St John’s, Farsley, in Leeds.

He said: “It’s all in a spirit of fun, friendship and beginning to get to know each other better.”

The vicars will begin their expedition in Otley and take in each of the new diocese’s three cathedrals, Ripon, Bradford and finally Wakefield.

The new diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales comes into being on Easter Day 2014 when the three existing dioceses will be dissolved.

Earlier this month the Queen agreed to the replacement of the three existing dioceses of Bradford, Wakefield, and Ripon and Leeds after a meeting with her Privy Council.

Once the new diocese comes into existence, a small number of parishes will transfer into the neighbouring dioceses of Blackburn and Sheffield.

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu welcomed the next step on the road to creating a new diocese.

The process to choose the first Bishop of West Yorkshire and the Dales has already begun and it is hoped an announcement can be made around February with an enthronement around July.

In addition to the Bishop of Leeds, the new diocese will also be served by four area bishops of Bradford, Huddersfield, Ripon and Wakefield, with the latter two being renamed sees currently occupied by the Bishops of Knaresborough, the Rt Revd James Bell and the Bishop of Pontefract, the Rt Revd Tony Robinson.

Bradford, Ripon, and Wakefield will be home to cathedrals of the new diocese.