Press release from 10 Downing Street. See also this announcement on the Coventry diocesan website, and here on the Sheffield site.
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Sophie Jelley, Suffragan Bishop of Doncaster to be appointed as Bishop of Coventry.
Appointment of Bishop of Coventry: 4 November 2024
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 4 November 2024The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Sophie Jelley, Suffragan Bishop of Doncaster to be appointed as Bishop of Coventry, in succession to The Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth following his appointment as Dean of Windsor.
Background
Sophie was educated at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford and trained for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. She served her title at St Peter’s, Shipley, in the former Diocese of Bradford (now in the Diocese of Leeds) and was ordained priest in 1998.
She took up the role of Mission Partner with the Church Mission Society in 2000, serving at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, before returning to the UK in 2003 to take up the role of Resident Minister of St John the Evangelist, Churt with Rushmoor, in the Diocese of Guildford. In 2010, Sophie was appointed Vicar of St Andrew’s, Burgess Hill, in the Diocese of Chichester, and from 2013 was additionally Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands. In 2015, Sophie was appointed Canon Missioner of Durham Cathedral and Diocesan Director of Mission, Discipleship and Ministry, in the Diocese of Durham.
In 2020, Sophie took up her current role as Suffragan Bishop of Doncaster, in the Diocese of Sheffield
I don’t think they’re ready for this Jelley.
There are now at least two of us called “Paul” commenting.
Such fun, but which is which or whom is whom?
Do we even know ourselves?
Sheffield’s loss is Coventry’s gain.
This is brilliant news. I’m glad my prediction hasn’t come true – that it would be the bishop of Taunton.
How unkind.
Agreed, stopping after 4 words would have been better. We should focus on positives and how to build up from here. Not tearing each other down. And especially if you think you “won”, there’s no need to try and drag down those who may have preferred someone else. There may be many who think there was a better choice – rather than flaunting, we should be working together for the sake of Christ and the world. There may be many people who are glad it also wasn’t x.y or z. But there’s no benefit to say that, only opportunity to… Read more »
Not necessarily. He might live in Somerset.
Exactly, I read that as them thinking that they were going to lose a bishop that they liked to Coventry. So relief. Neither unkind nor unChristian. It genuinely surprises me that it hasn’t been read that way by others.
I’m sure Coventry will be very happy {clappy).
Fr David the diocese of Coventry is in sharp decline. As the Church Times noted: 1.6 per cent of the population attend a C of E church, with an average weekly attendance of 10,600 — a figure that has fallen by one third (32 per cent) in the last ten years. Around 40 people work in the diocesan office. Even though there is a continued plan to establish 150 mission hubs by 2030, Bishop Jelley will have to manage the closure of a significant number of churches as the downward trend seems irreversible.
I’m not sure what your point is. All of the church of England will have that problem.
I assume FrDavid H was making a comment (/harmless joke) about his perception of her churchmanship style /background. Rather than a comment about the diocese.
Also note it’s Bishop Sophie.
Thats her preferred address and is the standard when not doing the more formal Rt Revd Sophie Doncaster …
‘Bishop Jelley’ suggests the ghost of Trollope stalks the pages of TA. Quite apart from preferred addresses and common courtesy, not that these don’t matter, baptismal ecclesiology points to using the name the bishop was baptized with.
The only time I find this grates is when bishops are addressed by their Christian name instead of ‘Reverend Father/Mother in God’ at ordinations. I don’t want my bishop to be primarily my mate or my line manager; I want him or her above all to be my pastor.
The style ‘Bishop Christian Name’ is a very recent one and is suggestive of an increasingly monarchical and aloof episcopate assuming royal or papal prerogatives. ‘Bishop Surname’ is still the approved form in all the best books on correct address.
For myself I really do not like being called Fr Matthew. If people want to use my Christian name they can drop the Fr, otherwise it’s ‘Fr Tomlinson’, or ‘Mr Tomlinson’, (but certainly NOT ‘Reverend Tomlinson’!)
Thank you, Fr Tomlinson. Perchance you could recommend “the best books on correct address.”
Debretts. You’re welcome.
How to address the clergy in Crockford still gives standard Anglican practice.
Or it’s a sign of an episcopate that doesn’t want to be seen as remote but is happy to be on first name terms with everyone else. Fifty years and more ago, adult men addressed each other by surnames (when they weren’t using school nicknames). I remember my father referring to his employer as Mr, and as children all adults other than family were addressed as Mr/Mrs/Miss. Subsequent generations have generally rejected that in favour of using first names. You may or may not like that but it’s surely democratization rather than being “increasingly monarchical and aloof”.
The subject always reminds me of a passage in Stephen Fry’s first memoir:
“It was considered rather cool and adult amongst second, third and fourth years to be on first name terms.
‘Hi, Mark,’
‘Guy! How’s it going?’
When Mark and Guy subsequently leave school and find each other again in their twenties, after university, working in the same merchant bank it becomes cool, of course, to revert back to surnames.
‘Bloody hell! Its Taylor!’
‘Hallett, you old bastard!'”
Are we going to see a President Donald or a President Kamala this time tomorrow?
Recent in the Western Church, perhaps. Eastern Christian bishops, of course, being monastics, renounce the day-to-day use of surnames and ever have done so.
Exeter now has Bishop Mike. Nothing to do with monarchy. He is clearly not aloof. It is actually his choice. I, for one, am fine with that.
The Church Times, where I first read the story, refers to her only as Bishop Jelley, after first mention, which is why I did the same unthinkingly. That newspaper now has a female editor. The BBC and local newspaper also use Bishop Jelley. As do several other websites.
I suppose there are more important things to worry about. To my understanding the surname is often dropped in favour of the name of the ‘see’ – e.g. +Justin Cantuar or +Rowen Cantuar However, Rowen was generally known as Archbishop Rowen, and the Justin is generally known as Archbishop Welby So the only consistency is inconsistency… I will stick to Bishop Sophie — partly because both the diocese websites (Sheffield and Coventry) use that – so I assume they’re more likely influenced by her opinion, and “Bishop Jelley” sounds wrong to my ear. But….. what really matters is what happens… Read more »
Scarcely relevant I know, but during this debate I thought of the violinist Jelly d’Arányi (1893-1966). Hungarian by birth, she spent a long time in London and later moved to Florence where she died. I think I first came across her name in a biographical piece about Edward Boyle (The Lord Boyle of Handsworth), latterly V-C at the University of Leeds. The Bishop-elect of Coventry, as a Leeds alumnus, must surely have used the Edward Boyle Library many times. I was a research student at Leeds when it was opened by Harold Macmillan, and caught a glimpse of him alighting… Read more »
I thought we were supposed to be trying to overcome our culture of deference? My own small way of doing this is to split person and office in speech. So, in formal settings, I call bishops ‘Bishop’, but face to face, they tend to call me, unbidden, Jeremy, so I call them by their Christian name. What I won’t do I call them Bishop X. Christian names are so levelling, don’t you think? No one has ever tried to correct me: if they did I would happily explain my thinking and my practice.
Well, it must be what she wants!
To the first three comments here:
Paul: I don’t understand what you mean; or am I missing some irony?
Cheryl: why?
Michael: why is it ‘brilliant’?
A quote from a popular song by Beyoncé
Straight into the House of Lords too.
Not quite. Once she has been elected and her election has been confirmed, she will go to the head of the queue for a seat in the Lords. She will then have to wait for the next vacancy.
Yes. The Bishop of Peterborough has just been admitted to the House of Lords, following the retirement of the Bishop of Worcester. The Bishop of Chester is currently top of the queue (he has been before), and may have to wait again! If the confirmation of election is before the next vacancy arises (it looks like it will be), Sophie Jelley will then be admitted. This is the nomination of an able priest with an interesting background, but also says something about the politics of the current CNC, about which much else has been said recently. The appointment bears the… Read more »
It suggests that the problems at CNC are not pure misogyny.
Don’t forget that each CNC is different. There are six diocesan members, who are different for each vacancy of course. But also the central members are elected as pairs, so it is not always the same six central people either. The element of misogyny may play out differently each time. Clearly, though, it is not impossible for the CNC in the current quinquennium to choose a woman. I guess that’s what you are saying too!
I’m not convinced we have evidence that there are problems.
I think David Runcorn’s reply to Paul also serves as a reply to you too.
A significant number of the conservatives seeking to steer appointments away from inclusive candidates are also against the ordination of women.
My usual question: How many is ‘significant’? I don’t know of one, so I’m genuinely interested.
Adrian. The elected membership of the national and diocesan CNC’s is public and available. Some allegiances there are clear, though not all, and when the process is honoured and faithful voting is not by tribe of course. But there is an issue, and it is always important to ask. The conservative evangelical wing of the CofE has been noticeably more successful in getting their own candidates, who oppose LLF, into key roles and elected on to synod and elsewhere in recent years. Nothing wrong with that. But their significant funding and resources means they have been better than most at… Read more »
The ‘alternative ordinations’ as you call them have been SO masculine-led. Adding up the male-female ratio of those commissioned at All Souls and then at St Helens, the score was: MEN = 28. WOMEN = 3. That is ridiculous in this day and age. The other issue I’d mention is transparency. There is a real avoidance of telling the whole truth when people stand for General Synod election and consciously avoid mentioning their views on sexuality or female ordination. That is also reflected in local church media, where the same lack of forthright honesty sometimes occurs, and people only discover… Read more »
I think you are confusing the CEEC for the Alliance. The Alliance has been very transparent.I hope can give examples where ‘ ministers/priests signatures are not representative of what generally is a spectrum of views in individual parish churches’.Or are you just feeding a particular narrative?
The CEEC is composed of men and women, clergy, bishops and laity, those for and against the inclusion of women in the episcopate. So why do you misrepresent them? I myself strongly support the ordination of women and women bishops. Where there are issues with leadership these can equally apply to women as well men, SEC for example, but for historical reasons these tend to be men. I attended an adult baptism recently in an evangelical C of E church where 5 out of the 8 eight baptised were women, so in the real world women don’t seem to have a problem with… Read more »
“Entirely separate” is a bit strong. Either gender is pertinent to the sacramental economy or it isn’t.
I met Sophie on a number of occasions at Durham Cathedral when I went to St John’s for the residential part of my doctorate. I was very impressed by her and particularly with an Epihany sermon which engaged well both with my liberal Anglo-Catholic theology as well as with my American evangelical mega-church friend. She is a brilliant choice. My prayers go with her
If confirmation of election takes place prior to 1 March 25 then pretty much directly in taking St E&I seat.
While I congratulate Sophie on her appointment I remain puzzled there hasn’t been some reform of diocesan boundaries in the west midlands.
Yes happy to amalgamate parishes but not dioceses! It’s sad that the leadership of the CofE is so exercised in tastefully arranging fig leaves as the membership declines.
With a recent appointment and a current vacancy of see, now is the perfect time to put Birmingham and Worcester back together, surely!
Perry Butler – I’m sure you’re not the only one who’s puzzled about the lack of reform of diocesan boundaries. Coventry, Leicester and Birmingham are all in sharp decline. All three have increasing Muslim/Sikh Indian sub continent populations. Also nothing has been said publicly about appointing a new bishop of Warwick.
Re the House of Lords – the government has swiftly passed legislation to remove the remaining 92 hereditary peers. Can the government do the same for the bishops or is it more constitutionally complicated?
Well, that would hardly be consistent with the present Government’s promoting the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 Extension Bill, sponsored by the Cabinet Office and currently at the second reading stage in the House of Commons. As I recall, this was promised as legislation in the King’s Speech of the present Parliament.
The Dioceses Commission has set its face (confirmed just last year) against reviewing Diocesan boundaries; putting its faith instead in the working together and sharing of resources of Dioceses across boundaries. And of course the need for a Suffragan and their proposed responsibilities need to be submitted to and approved by the Commission.
https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/23.08.02-from-caroline-spelman-bp-martin-seeley-re-diocesan-collaboration.pdf
Perhaps in part because of how well their work in the former dioceses of Bradford, Ripon and Wakefield has been received?
The Dioceses Commission has no teeth and is not really playing the role it should, as the Church of England faces existential challenges. Obviously it can only act within its powers under the Measure, but these are scant. I served on it from 2016 to about 2019. We spent most of our time approving the filling of suffragan vacancies, occasionally challenging diocesan bishops who felt they were entitled to appoint! Before my time, the Commission was embroiled in the Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales merger, later the Diocese of Leeds. It continues to run scared of such projects.… Read more »
Thank you Anthony. It’s good to think we may not be lone voices in the wilderness. Perhaps all should be bishops- one bishop per church regular attender? I’m sure that someone in the Dioceses Commission could be let loose with the crayons to draw fewer lines on a map, but who will commission such a radical review? Parishes are reviewed and almost routinely ‘pastorally reorganised’ into larger ‘units of administration’; why not dioceses? There is certainly a good case for one set of Safeguarding procedures rather than the 40-odd as at presen How many regular worshippers and clergy were there… Read more »
tbh I think an ideal would be to have more bishops (I think the early church had a higher bishop to church ratio) – – but each diocese would be less “important” because all of those ‘central diocese functions’ of administration like HR, Finance etc really should be shared across all England. Local mission strategies/plans/tactics, deployment and pastoral support will need the local thinking. Maybe I’m just imagining giving Archdeacons more importance?…. Still – dream on … I think there is an irony that as you cut the number of front line clergy they need more support from above pastorally.… Read more »
I wish to express my thanks and great respect for Bishop Ruth who has now, in two different dioceses, offered outstanding and wise ministry through their difficult times of transition. I urge pray for her continued vocation and her honouring.
Thank you. It was also a pleasure meeting you, albeit briefly, at Sampford Peverell last Sunday evening.
Likewise!
Indeed! She seemed to be broadly popular and inclusive. Though there was gratitude for +Sophie’s appointment, it was matched by a corresponding sadness at +Ruth’s imminent departure.
I would agree with Fr Dean. As long as her confirmation of election takes place before 1 March 2025, then she will be a head of the queue for pretty much immediate entry to the HOL taking +St E & I vacated seat.
On behalf of the diocese this makes me feel very conflicted. I was thinking sooner = better, but now I’m thinking if we can wait till after March then we won’t have to worry about losing her time to the HoL so soon. At the same time, I was thinking it’s unfair to ask Bishop Ruth to continue as Acting Bishop any longer (and unfair on Bath) but what will happen in between … I wonder if Bishop Sophie can be named as a new acting Bishop and kept that way until e.g. April/May Although that would be the definition… Read more »
Theo – your concern about the unfairness of asking Bishop Ruth to continue as Acting Bishop has rather promptly been resolved. According to the diocese of Coventry website: Bishop Ruth will finish her episcopal ministry in Coventry on Christmas Eve at the ‘Form of a Servant’ service. There will be a period of time between Bishop Ruth’s departure and Bishop Sophie being installed. During this time (my sharp intake of breath) Bishop Tim Thornton will come out of retirement and fill the gap. My take on this: the former bishop of Coventry personally selected Bishop Ruth to be Acting Bishop, with… Read more »
But the vacancy arrangements included Bishop Saju (Loughborough) providing support, joining the existing Assistant Bishops Jonathan Meyrick, Edward Condry, and Paul Thomas. There is plenty of support in place. No need for Bishop Tim. Unless they all refused Acting Bishop status.
I remember attending a compulsory Safeguarding course during which we had to discuss a hypothetical problem with the person sitting next to us. Mine refused to engage. When I started to speak, she got up to converse with the course leader. When she returned, she preferred to look at her phone. I was left literally speechless. I wasn’t impressed by Sophie Jelley.
I wish she’d tie her hair back when wearing a mitre.
Wow. That’s the sort of comment that would never be made about a male bishop.
Bishop Duckworth of Wellington NZ ties HIS hair back when wearing a mitre.
You think that is the same as men telling a woman how she looks in public? Really?
I always thought Rowan Williams looked scruffy. Can you say that about a woman?
Apparently not.
Yes. It is. I think bishops with long hair should tie it back when wearing a mitre.
The super duper Church of England. Man bun vs Bishop bun. You guys go!
Or, even better, not wear a mitre at all. They look ridiculous and only serve to underline status and power, which is contrary to what Jesus taught.
Not long after the Anglican Church of Canada entered into a full communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the local Lutheran bishop participated in the opening service of our diocesan synod. Our bishop was dressed in cope and mitre, but Bishop Larry of the ELCIC simply carried a pastoral staff. I thought that was lovely.
Ironically, the crozier denotes more “status” than the mitre! Technically, it ought to have been the other way around: both bishops in mitre, but only the “host” bishop (in this case, that of the diocese whose synod it was) carrying the crozier.
Absolutely! The pastoral staff is given to bishops at their consecration as the primary sign of their jurisdiction. As for mitres, well just ask the holy people of God – most like a good show, and their bishop to look like a bishop (but probably not in a baroque ‘Polish’ mitre). In the case Tim refers to, the ‘host’ bishop could have worn a plain gold mitre and the other bishop a plain white one. Although many C of E bishops seem to have forsaken modesty for mitres in liturgical colours.
The pastoral staff denotes the call to be a shepherd. The mitre is a crown, and quite frankly, on this side of the Atlantic it is eerily reminiscent of KKK headgear.
“Or, even better, not wear a mitre at all.” I couldn’t agree more. I guess when they get made bishops they feel the weight of tradition and comply, although choosing differently would indicate a readiness to exercise leadership.
Agreed. Hilariously a retired bishop who died in our dio was buried in coffin that was extra long to allow him to be laid out wearing his mitre!! You could not make it up.
I wish they’d get rid of the stupid head-cosy.
I had a similar experience when Bishop Jelley was at Churt.
I got the impression I wasn’t important enough for her to speak with me. Perhaps you weren’t either.
Were you wearing an SSC badge? (!!)
It might have scared her off!!
No. I looked completely harmless.
In the words of Beyonce, clearly some people are just ‘Jelley 😉 I would imagine everyone has had bad days – maybe she has learned. Or maybe you mis interpreted the situation [e.g. did she think / was she meant to be more of an observer than a participant? As a layman I’ve been on many a course with clergy who assume they aren’t really meant to engage with the lay folk and ‘get up and go somewhere else’ in the group bits because they don’t want to unduly influence/dominate conversation. I think that’s a mistake but I see why… Read more »
We were all clergy on the safeguarding course. Why should she think she was different?
Theo, I think your comment is apposite to another contribution and does not relate to my short comment!
Experienced it (with others) time and time again. Maybe the aftershave I wear. Never mind ,”The last shall be first’ and all that.
Being treated as though one is invisible is unpleasant and unkind wherever it happens . In the instances your give it also does not say much for the skills of Father DavidH’s diocesan trainer if they did not notice and intervene. Sadly you guys may have given the appearance of being of Wrong Tribe, even without SSC badges… As Bishop Sophie/ Jelley will undoubtedly discover to her cost as she gets older (assuming we all survive the outcome of the American Election) being invisible becomes a more and more common occurrence for women as they grow older/ retire . After… Read more »
Thanks! I like the last sentence and I’ll buy into the ‘wrong tribe ‘ bit. I think I had a reputation for bad behaviour as well although nobody can give me any proof. But priesthood is nothing if you can’t be yourself.
They probably became bishops.