A Note of Sorrow: The Apostasy of Canon Stephen Maughan

A Note of Sorrow: The Apostasy of Canon Stephen Maughan

With profound regret and genuine surprise, we record the decision of Canon Stephen Maughan, long entrusted with sacred ministry in the Diocese of Middlesbrough and a respected celebrant of the Traditional Latin Mass, to leave the Catholic Church and be received into the Church of England. His reception is scheduled for 15 September 2025, after which he will begin ministry within the Diocese of York¹.

A ministry of pastoral depth
Ordained in 2005, Canon Maughan served faithfully across diverse apostolates: as parish priest of St Charles Borromeo, Hull, as chaplain to schools and hospitals, and in the classroom as a Religious Education teacher². His pastoral zeal and his gift for teaching shaped the lives of many entrusted to his care. He also held significant canonical responsibilities as Chancellor and Judicial Vicar, guiding sensitive tribunal cases with discretion and mercy³.

Catholic life in the bones of a school
His influence extended powerfully into Catholic education. In 2024, St Charles Voluntary Catholic Academy—closely linked with his parish—was judged Outstanding by the Catholic Schools Inspectorate. Inspectors reported: *“From the moment you enter it, this school shouts out its Catholic identity with joy and energy… Catholic Life is in the bones of this school”*⁴. This judgment testified not only to the work of staff and pupils, but to the priestly witness Canon Maughan gave to that community.

A steadfast celebrant of tradition
Among the faithful attached to the usus antiquior, Canon Maughan was valued as a celebrant of the Traditional Latin Mass. His reverent service at the altar, his fidelity to the Church’s liturgical books, and his pastoral encouragement brought spiritual nourishment to many in the diocese.

A departure that wounds
It is all the more grievous that such a priest should abandon the Church’s unity. Clerical Whispers observed: “Whilst Canon Maughan may be laicised under the arrangement, meaning he should not exercise his priestly ministry, he will remain a priest”⁵. Catholic doctrine reaffirms that Holy Orders are indelible; and as Pope Leo XIII declared in Apostolicae curae, Anglican ordinations are “absolutely null and utterly void”⁶. No ecclesial appointment can undo the sacramental reality of his Catholic priesthood, though his visible ministry now departs from the Church.

A call to prayer
For those who have benefitted from his pastoral labours, this decision is a wound. The faithful are urged to respond not with recrimination, but with prayer: for Canon Maughan himself, for the parish and school communities he leaves, and for fidelity among clergy and laity in times of trial. May Christ the Eternal High Priest draw back into unity those who wander, and may His Church be renewed in faith and truth.

1. The Catholic Herald, “Catholic priest leaves diocese to join Church of England” (18 August 2025).
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. St Charles Voluntary Catholic Academy, “St Charles’ VC Academy shouts out its Catholic identity with joy and energy” (28 June 2024).
5. Clerical Whispers, report, August 2025.
6. Leo XIII, Apostolicae curae (1896).