Alan Hopes

Alan Stephen Hopes (born 17 March 1944) is a British Roman Catholic prelate and former Anglican priest. From 2013 to 2022 he served as the Bishop of East Anglia. He was previously appointed as an auxiliary bishop of Westminster in 2003.

Early life and education Hopes was born in Oxford, England, on 17 March 1944.

Anglican ministry Hopes was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1968. As a priest in the Church of England he was vicar of St Paul's Church, Tottenham, from 1978 to 1994.

Roman Catholic ministry Priesthood In 1994, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on 4 December 1995. For three years he served as assistant priest at Our Lady of Victories in Kensington, London, before becoming parish priest of the Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More Parish, Chelsea.

In 2001, Hopes was appointed vicar general of the Archdiocese of Westminster making him one of the most senior members of Catholic clergy to have converted in the 1990s. On 24 January 2003 he received episcopal consecration, along with the now Archbishop Bernard Longley, in Westminster Cathedral from Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. The principal co-consecrating bishops were Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds and Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton. As an auxiliary bishop, Hopes had particular pastoral oversight of the deaneries of West London.

In October 2010, Hopes was appointed episcopal delegate of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales for the implementation of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.

On 11 June 2013, Pope Francis appointed Hopes the fourth Bishop of East Anglia and on 28 October 2016 he was appointed by Pope Francis a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Hopes submitted his resignation as required upon turning 75 and Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 11 October 2022. He remained as apostolic administrator of the diocese until the installation of his successor on 14 December 2022.