The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr Matthew Porter to the Suffragan See of Bolton, in the Diocese of Manchester.
Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more detail on the diocesan website.
Suffragan Bishop of Bolton: 15 March 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr. Matthew Porter to the Suffragan See of Bolton, in the Diocese of Manchester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 15 March 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr. Matthew Porter, Vicar of St Michael le Belfrey, in the Diocese of York to the Suffragan See of Bolton, in the Diocese of Manchester, in succession to The Right Reverend Mark Ashcroft following his retirement.
Background
Matthew holds degrees from the universities of Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield and Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, USA and trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served his title at Christ Church, Dore, in the Diocese of Sheffield, and was ordained priest in 1997. Matthew was appointed Vicar at St Chad’s, Woodseats in 2000 and additionally served as Director of Curate Training for the Diocese of Sheffield from 2005.
In 2009 Matthew was appointed Associate Minister at St Michael le Belfrey, in the Diocese of York, and has served as Vicar there since 2010. Additionally, Matthew has served on the boards of Cranmer Hall, Durham and St Hild College, Leeds, is an author, and was appointed as Honorary Chaplain to the Queen and then King in 2022.
Looking at Dr Porter’s profile, he seems to have a lot of strengths, so I hope his ministry in Manchester will be fruitful. I have written that as my first comment because I am going to be very critical of what the appointment of a white, heterosexual, able-bodied man, who I am told has a conservative view of same-sex marriage, says about the current state of leadership in the Diocese of Manchester. But I want to be absolutely clear that what I write has nothing to do with my view of Dr Porter as a priest, or his potential to… Read more »
White, heterosexual and male, I get your point. Able-bodied, to an extent, some disabilities would make it very hard to be a bishop. When we come to educated, it seems to me that a good education is essential for a bishop, or even a vicar. There are different ways in which an education can be obtained, of course, but do we really want uneducated bishops?
I understand that one the Diocese of Manchester’s mission strategies was entitled ‘Running the Race’. It was apparently suggested that a subsequent iteration should be entitled ‘Running the Race – the next lap’ until someone pointed out that meant that they were running round in circles! Bishop Walker has presided over a significant decline in church attendance and clergy numbers in his diocese. I’m also led to believe that Manchester is one of those dioceses whose finances are in a parlous state.
Or he is the right person, led by and called by the Holy Spirit to this role with bags of wisdom and experience?! Just a thought!
I wonder at what point the CofE will decide that the ratio of bishops to parish clergy is too high?
Also at what point the CoE will decide the ratio of clergy to the people in the pew is too high..
And the ratio of buildings to regular worshippers.
The other day I was reading a volume of interwar Crockford’s prefaces. The same complaints were being expressed a century ago. From 1921-22: “The English episcopate (excluding Wales) has therefore increased from twenty-two to sixty-six. The Church of England can hardly be accused of backwardness in developing the higher branches of its organization in recent years. It is true that the population of the country has trebled during this period. But this has virtually been counterbalanced by the improvements in the means of travel and communication. The bishop of today is at least three times more mobile and accessible than… Read more »
I note the current general usage of “trained for ministry”, and I understand the desire to avoid excessive clericalism. However, I think this is poor theology because all Christians exercise “ministry”, and what we are talking about here is a specific ministry, that is “the ministry of word and sacrament”, often abbreviated to “the ministry”. I totally understand why the definitie article is missing, but I think it’s inadvertent poor theology.
This is a good appointment, although I take the point about gender balance in the episcopal team, especially dioceses with more than one suffragan. A number of male diocesan bishops have declined to nominate a woman when they have had the opportunity to do so; Truro, Worcester, and Southwell and Nottingham come to mind. I assume they all interviewed at least one woman on their shortlists. It would be reprehensible if they did not. Carlisle replaced a woman suffragan (Penrith) with a man, but maybe that will point the way to a woman succeeding him. There appears to have been… Read more »