Fr Patrick Cope appointed as Prison Service Area Chaplain for the North East

Fr Patrick is due to take up a new role from 1st May after his appointment within the Prison Service as Area Chaplain for the North East. In this new role he works with the Prison Service Chaplaincy Senior Management Team at Headquarters in London to help provide professional support and advice to the Area Manager, Governors and Directors and Chaplains of all faiths within the North East Area.

He will have oversight of all Chaplains within the area ecumenically and multi faith. The role also brings with it responsibility to liaise with all Faith Advisers within the Area and to ensure that Chaplaincy is seen as central to the resettlement agenda within the wider prison service and to help promote local resettlement initiatives within the wider community. He will also provide advice concerning Prison Chaplaincy to all Faith communities and their leaders within the North East and be a resource to the Chaplaincy HQ Council.

In the words of Bishop Drainey this promotion brings “a real boost for Catholics within the Prison Service and Fr Patrick is to be warmly congratulated and has an assurance of our prayers and support for his new role.”