David Pocklington of Law & Religion UK has written this very useful article: Suffragan bishops: from selection to ordination & consecration.
Prompted by the forthcoming translation of the Bishop of Sheffield to Oxford he has also written Bishops: from announcement to installation.
Shouldn’t Canon c20 now be altered so that it is non gender specific?
I notice that following Frank White’s announcement to retire as the Assistant Bishop of Newcastle his replacement will be a newly revived suffragan Bishop of Berwick (only one previous bishop, last used 1572).
Thank you Verulamius for directing our attention to the recreation of yet another Suffragan Bishoprick. The Suffragan See of Berwick is to be revived after being in abeyance for the last 434 years. If the next Bishop of Berwick is to beat the last and first Bishop of Berwick’s tenure in office then I suggest they appoint a young one to succeed. Thomas Sparke held the post from 1537 to 1572 – a total of 35 years. Coincidentally the Diocese of Newcastle has had the services of a full-time Assistant bishop for the last 35 years which takes us back… Read more »
Father David — surely there’s a recent canon that retroactively makes previous canons gender-neutral.
Richard – “That would be an Ecumenical matter”
Yes, Richard, Amending Canon 31, which states at paragraph 16: ’16. After Canon H 3 there is added the following Canon – “Canon I 1 (Of interpretation) 1. Where an enactment is repealed and re-enacted, with or without modifications, by an Act, Measure or instrument then, unless the contrary intention appears, any reference in any Canon to the repealed enactment is construed as a reference to the provision re-enacted. 2. In any Canon, unless the contrary intention appears, – (a) words importing the masculine gender include the feminine; (b) words importing the feminine gender include the masculine; (c) words in… Read more »