NORFOLK, Va. -- Bishop Walter F. Sullivan of Richmond has endorsed a proposal that his diocese be split in two to better serve a growing Catholic population and the state's diverse geography.

About half of the diocese's 208,000 Catholic live in the diocese's eastern vicariate, which takes in the areas of Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach and Norfolk on Virginia's Eastern coast. At its widest point the southern part of the diocese stretches 535 miles from east to west.

"The time has come," Bishop Sullivan told The Virginian-Pilot daily newspaper. "That's the way I feel about it."

If approved by the Vatican, it would be the second time in less than 30 years that the Diocese of Richmond's boundaries have been redrawn. In 1974, the Diocese of Arlington, made up of 21 counties in northern Virginia, was carved out of Richmond, which was established in 1820.

Diocesan officials said that if the Vatican approves a new diocese, it would determine its boundaries and name.

Father Thomas J. Quinlan, pastor of the Church of the Holy Family in Virginia Beach, made the proposal; the Diocesan Council of Priests and Bishop Sullivan endorsed it; and it was sent to the apostolic nuncio in Washington, who forwarded it to the Vatican.

In a meeting with the chancery staff earlier this year, Bishop Sullivan said while he had not initially favored the split he does so now. But he said he was not betting it would take place, or if it did, whether it would occur by next June, when he turns 75 and is required by canon law to turn in his resignation.

He said if a separation does come about, in a division of assets, Richmond would need to retain two-thirds because of its ministry to the extensive rural -- and less affluent -- southern and southwest portions of the state.

Msgr. Thomas J. Caroluzza, episcopal vicar for eastern Virginia, said Bishop Sullivan has been "magnificent as a pastoral bishop." But the Richmond Diocese's growing population threatens to erode the close connection that Catholics have with him and would hope to have with their next bishop, he said.

In an interview with The Catholic Virginian, Richmond's diocesan newspaper, he said a new, smaller diocese could offer the bishop more contact with parishioners, allowing him to be a leader "whom you not only know by name and face from TV but whom you're been able to touch and who shows some concern for you because you're a person."

In 2001, Robert Durel, head of the sociology department at Christopher Newport College, was asked to assemble some statistical data on the Richmond Diocese. "Most surprising was the rapidity of growth over the last 10 years," Msgr. Caroluzza said. "Between 1990 and 2000, the Catholic population in Hampton Roads alone rose from 65,000 to 90,000, a 43 percent increase."

Because of the surge "in some places we're bursting at the seams," he said. "We dedicated the new, enlarged worship space at Holy Spirit in Virginia Beach in 1999 when I was pastor there, and it was too small by the time it was finished."

Following the rules and the spirit of the Second Vatican Council are important when it comes to both new parishes and dioceses, Msgr. Caroluzza said.

"Some priests like celebrating the liturgy with 1,000 or 2,000 people, but we must not destroy the Vatican II model of community where the pastor truly is the shepherd of his flock. He must know the parishioners," he said.

In suggesting boundaries for a new diocese in the proposal, he added, "we followed Vatican II rules that said there would be no gerrymandering, that lines should always be the natural boundaries. It was only logical to take a look at area codes, regional planning groups, et cetera."

If the Vatican were to approve a new diocese for eastern Virginia, "I think it makes sense to establish the diocese sooner rather than later," Msgr. Caroluzza said.