The Very Reverend Monsignor Mark Richard Lane, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, will retire on July 1, 2018. A faithful priest of the Diocese for 44 years, Msgr. Lane will continue to live and work in the area while retired from his administrative roles.
Born on May 19, 1947, in Manhattan, New York, Msgr. Lane was educated at St. Bridget Elementary School and Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended St. Mary Seminary in Catonsville, Maryland, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1970. Msgr. Lane attended St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated with a Masters in Sacred Theology in 1974. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Walter Sullivan on May 4, 1974, at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Virginia. In 1977, he received a Masters in Church Administration from Catholic University of America. He attended Andover-Newton Theological School where he received a Doctorate of Ministry in Pastoral Psychotherapy in 1987.
Msgr. Lane has served in the following parishes: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Richmond (1974-76); Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Salem (1981-82); St. Ann, Ashland (1983-84). Msgr. Lane worked as Secretary to Bishop Walter Sullivan (1974-1976) and Secretary to the Diocesan Tribunal in Richmond (1974-1976). He was Vice Officialis (1977-1980), and founder of the Tidewater Tribunal. He also had a private counseling practice for many years in Richmond, Virginia, while assisting in local Richmond parishes and the University of Richmond campus ministry.
On June 7, 2004, Msgr. Lane was named Vicar for Clergy of the Diocese of Richmond and began the new program for permanent deacon formation and organized the Permanent Deacon Council. Msgr. Lane also served on the Bishop’s Administrative Advisory Council, as a member of the Council of Priests, and as member of the Priest Personnel Committee and the Mental Health Team and on the Diocesan Review Board and the Priest Retirement Committee. He was appointed Prelate of Honor by Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2008. On November 8, 2011, Msgr. Lane was named Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia by Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo. After the death of Bishop DiLorenzo, Msgr. Lane served as Diocesan Administrator from August 22, 2017, until the Installation of Bishop Barry Knestout as the 13th Bishop of Richmond on January 12, 2018. Bishop Knestout re-appointed Msgr. Lane as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.