We reported here in November 2021 that the Bishop of Ely, Stephen Conway, was to be Acting Bishop in the Diocese of Lincoln, following the retirement of Bishop Christopher Lowson in December 2021. That arrangement will now come to an end with the announcement today that the Bishop of Grimsby will be the acting bishop from 1 May 2023 until the the new Bishop of Lincoln takes up the role.
The Crown Nominations Commission has held its two meetings to consider Lincoln (the second on 28/29 March 2023), so an announcement of who is to be the new bishop may not be too far away. But as usual it will probbaly be some months after that before he or she takes up the role.
‘We will communicate with you further, if and when particular arrangements need to be made rising out of this new arrangement.’ There’s a sentence which raises more questions than it answers.
I remember being sat agog in the congregation at the Church of the Holy Spirit on the Riddings estate in Scunthorpe as the current Bishop of Grimsby ‘preached’ with floppy Bible in hand and yet with no reference whatsoever to Scripture, much less the lectionary readings for the day. I was particularly disappointed as the gospel was all about the chopping off of offending limbs and the plucking out of errant eyes. I’d naively assumed that an evangelical would relish getting to grips with that text and its missiological possibilities.
Our Church has become like the Royal Navy. More Admirals than ships. We need stipendiary clergy in Parishes. We should axe half of the Bishops and the Diocesan staff. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles for Sunday 30 April teaches us that the early church had “everything on common”. It is the key defining characteristic of the common life of the early church. We stand in need of a radical re imagining of the life of the Church of England. No Ordained person, in any post, should earn a stipend greater than that of the average parish clergy… Read more »
Lottie I couldn’t agree more and would only add that these dignitaries don’t just have enhanced stipends, but also significantly enhanced pension benefits backdated to the day they joined Holy Orders.
I remember him putting his arm around me at a diocesan meeting and saying, ” We don’t want you to be afraid of us (i.e. the bishops)” . I turned to face him:
“Do you really think I am afraid of you?”
There was no reply.