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My friend Stephen Pedley, who has died aged 85, was bishop of Lancaster from 1998 until 2005. A true son of the church, he was the quintessential Catholic – English not Roman – immersed in the worship, history and culture of the Church of England with a joyous appreciation of its richness.

His single most memorable characteristic was his laughter, which sprang from his love of life and his delight in people of all shapes and sizes. His empathy with those around him made him an outstanding pastor, guide and friend, while his ready sense of the ridiculous made him great fun, too. At times he could collapse in helpless, almost painful, laughter; uproarious and uncontrollable, heels hammering the floorboards.

Born in Coventry, to Geoffrey, a priest, and his wife, Muriel, he went to Marlborough school in Wiltshire, then gained a history degree at Queens’ College, Cambridge, before training for the priesthood at Ripon College Cuddesdon in Oxfordshire, where he and I met. At the time, Cuddesdon retained the aura of the Oxford Movement that had recalled the Church of England to its Catholic roots, and, under the tutelage of Robert Runcie, Stephen took to the romance of its quasi-monastic common life.

After ordination in 1966, he became a curate at Liverpool parish church – one of the most famous and flamboyant city centre churches in England, and a perfect match for his gifts. It was in Liverpool that he met Mary Macdonald, a clergyman’s daughter who was training to be a teacher, and they married in 1970.

In 1969 Stephen had left Liverpool for another curacy, at Holy Trinity Coventry, and after two years there he moved to Kitwe in Zambia’s copper belt, where he was a priest from 1971 to 1977.

Returning to the north-east of England, Stephen was vicar at Stockton (1977-78), rector at Whickham (1988–93) and then residentiary canon at Durham Cathedral (1993–98), also serving as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II from 1984 until he became bishop of Lancaster in 1998, based in Blackburn.

Held in great affection there as “the people’s bishop”, wherever he went he reassured, encouraged and empowered those in his care. He lifted everyone’s spirits, and made sure you knew he was on your side – and that all would be well. He retired as bishop after seven years, after which he became an honorary assistant bishop for the diocese of Newcastle.

Throughout their married life, he and Mary provided open and generous hospitality at their various homes, most happily in their recent years of retirement on the terrace of the Blue House, Newbrough, overlooking the upper Tyne valley in Northumberland, where the wine flowed and the laughter echoed.

Mary survives him, as do their children, Mark, Andrew and Philippa, and six grandchildren.