Ralph Heskett C.Ss.R. (born 3 March 1953) is an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who has been the Bishop of Hallam since July 2014, having immediately before that been Bishop of Gibraltar from 2010 to 2014.

Early life and ministry

Hesket was born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in England. He was educated at Saint Aidan's Grammar School, Sunderland, a Christian Brothers school, from 1964 to 1969. He was a seminarian from 1969 to 1970 at the

Redemptorist The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scal ...

order's minor seminary in Birmingham. He was subsequently a novice of the order in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Scotland. On 21 August 1971 he began his theological studies at Hawkstone Hall and Canterbury. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

on 10 July 1976 at St Benet's Church, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland. After ordination he worked in Scotland until 1980 and then England until 1984. From 1987 to 1990 he was the Redemptorist order's superior and the pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation at Bishop Eton, Liverpool. From 1997 to 1999 he studied at

All Hallows College All Hallows College was a college of higher education in Dublin. It was founded in 1842 and was run by the Vincentians from 1892 until 2016. On 23 May 2014, it was announced that it was closing because of declining student enrollment. The sale ...

. He was parish priest at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clapham from 1999 to 2008.Rt Rev Ralph Heskett C.Ss.R
Catholic Bishops Conference, retrieved 2 October 2013

Episcopate

He was appointed the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the Diocese of Gibraltar by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

on 18 March 2010. His

consecration Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

to the episcopate took place on 10 July 2010; the principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

was the Most Reverend Michael George Bowen, Archbishop Emeritus of Southwark, with the Right Reverend Charles Caruana, Bishop Emeritus of Gibraltar, and the Right Reverend Thomas Matthew Burns, Bishop of Menevia, as co-consecrators. Heskett was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Hallam by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on 20 May 2014, and installed during a

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

on 10 July 2014.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heskett, Ralph 1953 births Living people Clergy from Sunderland 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops of Gibraltar 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in England Alumni of All Hallows College, Dublin Redemptorist bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Hallam English Roman Catholic bishops