Christine Hardman’s election as the next Bishop of Newcastle was confirmed last night (22 September) at a service in York Minster. She will be consecrated in York Minster on 30 November.
Confirmation of Election Service for the 12th Bishop of Newcastle
Christine now moves to the top of the list of diocesan bishops waiting for a place in the House of Lords. She will take the place of the next Lord Spiritual to retire, but will not have long to wait as the Bishop of Lichfield retires next week. A date for Christine’s introduction to the Lords has yet to be announced.
Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester, will be introduced into the House of Lords on Monday 26 October at 2.30pm. David Pocklington of Law & Religion UK notes that the Parliamentary web site refers to her as the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, rather than the Lady Bishop [emphasis added].
The use of “Lord Bishop” for Rachel and Christine at least is fairly consistent — we have had female holders of the offices called Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council. The whole ‘Lord’ thing is unbearably, ridiculously patriarchal anyway of course.
When will the House of Lords become the House of Peers; where all execute the same function, whether female or male?
It’s the Bishop of Lincoln that I feel slightly sorry for that is twice he has been episcopally leap-frogged by Gloucester and Newcastle into the best dining Club in London.
Bishop of Lincoln demonstrating commendable patience! In theory, there might not be another resignation until July 2018 (the date of the Bishop of London’s 71st birthday), but the likelihood is that we might see two retirements announced in the next 6-12 months. The question is then whether there are two or more further nominations of women diocesans in that period.
When will we ever give up the trappings of power? I hoped the advent of women bishops might just open a door for change for us, and get us away from theat male lust for dominance.
From the photographs of today’s consecration in Canterbury cathedral it looks like the Bishop of Fulham knelt alone in silent prayer as his fellow London Suffragan, the Bishop of Kensington received the laying on of hands. I wonder, did the Bishop of Gloucester exercise gracious restraint when it came to the consecration of the Bishop of Maidstone? I don’t know the answer to my question but there is a pleasing photograph of Maidstone and Gloucester standing together, side by side. It is often said that the Church of England is a Broad Church, today’s photographic evidence from the Mother Church… Read more »
My uninformed guess is that the choice of a date for the confirmation of election more than two months before consecration was specifically so that it happened before the Bishop of Leicester’s retirement so that we should not have to wait for a second female Bishop in the House of Lords. But those who watch such things so closely might correct me and say that this sort of gap between confirmation of election and consecration is quite normal.
Peter, you will find dates of confirmation and consecration at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bishops_in_the_Church_of_England
Hurray for Bishops (like Lord Harries) when they are actually retired – and able to speak out in the House of Lords about the human rights of Gay people! Why is it that Bishops have to retire before they (most of them, anyway) dare address this contentious issue?
I rather think that Peter Mullins means the Bishop of Lichfield not the Bishop of Leicester. Timothy Stevens has already retired on 11th July and seeing that there is no Suffragan in that particular Midlands diocese has been temporarily replaced by the Bishop of Brixworth as Acting Bishop of Leicester.
The Bishop of Lichfield is the one who is retiring now. The Bishop of Leicester retired in July and Rachel took his place.
And who is the other bishop who was also pictured kneeling in prayer diagonally opposite + Fulham, whilst the other bishops laid hands on +Kensington? I couldn’t make him out.
Along with Makcolm Dixon I too am unable to identify the non-participating kneeling bishop diagonally opposite the Bishop of Fulham but his rochet bears the frilliest cuffs that I have ever seen and he certainly out-frills all the other bishops by far! I note that the Bishop of London in company with the Bishop of Gloucester is laying hands upon the newly hatched Kensington.
Who is the priest with the goatee beard who preached the sermon?
It is rather unusual for there to be a long gap between confirmation and consecration. Indeed it might be considered illegal for there to be a delay. The Appointment Of Bishops Act 1533 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Hen8/25/20/section/IV still on the statute book, says that after the election letters are issued to the Archbishop: “requyryng and commaundyng the seid Archebishope and Bysshoppes with all spede and seleritie to confirme the seid eleccion and to investe and consecrate the seid person soo elected to the office and dignitie that he is elected unto” A delay of 10 weeks until the Consecration is not necessarily what… Read more »
Yes, Bishop Rachel exercised gracious restraint in relation to Maidstone. It accords entirely with her belief about how we should conduct ourselves in this new season (and shows her to be far more holy about it than I am!) – and the two Society bishops who were present (and therefore not participating in a laying-on of hands with a woman bishop) were Jonathan Baker and Robert Ladds.
I read Pete’s comment with astonishment. If Church of England bishops cannot lay hands on each other what is there that distinguishes them from being vaguely friendly “ecumenical observers” from other churches?
I think the next thing we need to sort out is re-imagining establishment so that bishops can be elected, preferably by a system of universal suffrage (all the baptised), and the Church of England can have the kinds of bishops that it wants. The present system is not fit for purpose.
The Revd Dr Paul Weston who teaches at Ridley and used to be Vice Principal of Oak Hill was the preacher.
I am afraid I don’t quite understand the logic of the tainting. I certainly understand graciousness between individuals and if a candidate does not wish a particular person to participate (for whatever reason) it would be churlish not to accede. However church order only requires three bishops to lay hands for the consecration to be valid. Usually it is more but recently in Bermuda I think it was only three. However it would not invalidate the Holy Spirit and ordination if a hundred others, including some clergy and laity took part. It would surely not invalidate the actions of the… Read more »
Thank you +Pete for identifying +Robert Ladds as the other bishop not participating in the laying on of hands. I am surprised at myself for not recognising him, for it was he who preached an extraordinary sermon at my then parish 3 years ago, about the dismantling of a bicycle. It was apparently intended to be an allegory of what a certain unnamed organisation (clearly Affirming Catholicism) was doing to the Faith of our Fathers. As a member of that organisation, I concluded that, contrary to the well-known old saw, you DID have to be mad to worship there and,… Read more »
Good idea Jeremy; then we could do away with this insistence on national interference in the election of bishops diocesan!