The Cathedral is the chief or mother church of a diocese, in which the bishop has his throne, the ‘cathedra’ for which the building is named, and from which the bishop leads the diocese.

The cathedra is the focal point of our unity under the Bishop.

The Right Reverend Patrick Joseph McKinney is the tenth bishop of Nottingham. 

Born on 30 April 1954, Bishop McKinney was brought up in Birmingham and was ordained to the priesthood on 29 July 1978 in St Mary’s Church, Buncrana, Co Donegal, Ireland.

Between 1982 and 1984, he studied for a Licence in Sacred Theology in the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Returning to the Archdiocese of Birmingham, he taught fundamental theology in St Mary’s College, Oscott until 1989, when he was appointed Rector, a post he held for nine years, during which period he was also a lecturer in ecclesiology, the theology of the Church.

Mgr McKinney went on to serve as parish priest of a number of parishes in the Archdiocese and as an Episcopal Vicar for Staffordshire for a number of years. He was made a Prelate of Honour in 1990 and a member of the Metropolitan Chapter of St Chad in 1992, and served for a time as Chair of the Birmingham Archdiocesan Ecumenical Commission.

Mgr McKinney was appointed tenth Bishop of Nottingham by Pope Francis on 14 May 2015, and was ordained to the episcopate by Cardinal Vincent Nichols in St Barnabas’ Cathedral, Nottingham on Friday 3 July 2015.

He has taken as his motto ‘Seek the Face of Christ’.

Pastoral Letter on the Mass and the Eucharist

Read Bishop Patrick's latest pastoral. Appointed to be read at all Sunday Masses in the Diocese of Nottingham on the First Sunday of Lent 2023