Bishops

Rt Rev. Peter Collins

A profile of the Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, the Right Reverend Peter Collins.

Bishop of East Anglia

Peter Gwilym Collins was born on the 13 May 1958 in the town of Tredegar, South Wales, and then nurtured with his three older sisters in the nearby village of Rhymney. He attended local Catholic primary and secondary schools and then briefly explored a pathway into teaching before being accepted for seminary formation in 1978.

Following six years at the Royal English College, Valladolid, Spain, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cardiff on the 14 July 1984. His philosophical and theological studies were undertaken at the Augustinian Faculty in Valladolid, at the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid and at the Pontifical University of Salamanca.

He served as an Assistant Priest in the Metropolitan Cathedral of St David, Cardiff from 1984-86 and in Bridgend from 1986-88. He returned to Spain for post-graduate study before taking up his appointment as Vice Rector at the Royal English College, serving there from 1989-94.

Upon his return to the Archdiocese, he was appointed as Parish Priest of Chepstow and Caldicot. In 2001, he became Dean of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Cardiff, serving there for the next eighteen years. In 2006, he was appointed as a member of the Metropolitan Chapter of Canons. In 2019, he moved to the next-door parishes of St Mary of the Angels, Canton and Holy Family, Fairwater.

Alongside his parish responsibilities, Bishop Collins has served in a multiplicity of diocesan roles: twelve years as Chair of the Education Commission; ten years as Director of the Diaconate; twenty-eight years in various safeguarding roles, being designated as Archbishop’s Delegate to the first national meeting on safeguarding in 1995 and later serving as Coordinator and Clergy Advisor. He has also served as an area Dean, a member of the College of Consultors, a member of the Archbishop’s Council and as a Trustee. He was appointed to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 2004.

The Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Peter Collins as fifth Bishop of East Anglia took place at the Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist, Norwich on 14 December 2022.