He is being replaced by Fr Peter Rollings, who originates from Middlesbrough but who has been parish priest at Sudbury in Suffolk.

Fr Finegan has been in Lynn for ten years. He came from Thetford, where he served for around seven years, to take over from Fr Tony Shrayne in October, 1998.

Fr Finegan said: “I am sorry to be leaving the people who have been so good to me and all the friends I have made in the parish, but a change is good for everyone and I am looking forward to the new challenge in Stowmarket.”

He said his new parish was a more rural one, “smaller in numbers but the largest in area covered in the East Anglia Diocese”. Fr Finegan has been living in a house in North Everard Street, Lynn, beside Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in London Road.

A special parish Mass for Fr Finegan was due to be held yesterday evening in Gaywood’s Holy Family Church, followed by a farewell party in the hall at the neighbouring St Martha’s RC Primary School in Field Lane.