Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office
There is more on the diocesan website.
Appointment of Dean of Chichester: 14 May 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Dr Edward Dowler, Archdeacon of Hastings and Priest-in-Charge of St John the Evangelist, Crowborough, both in the Diocese of Chichester, to be appointed as Dean of Chichester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 14 May 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Dr Edward Dowler, Archdeacon of Hastings and Priest-in-Charge of St John the Evangelist, Crowborough, both in the Diocese of Chichester, to be appointed as Dean of Chichester, in succession to The Very Reverend Stephen Waine, following his resignation.
Edward was educated at Christ Church Oxford and trained for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge, subsequently completing a doctorate at Durham University. He was ordained deacon in 1994, and served his title at Christ Church, Southgate, in the Diocese of London.
From 1997, he served as Assistant Curate of St Mary’s, Somers Town, London and in 2001 he was appointed Tutor and Director of Pastoral Theology, at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, where he served as Vice Principal from 2003 to 2009.
In 2010, he was appointed Vicar of St John and St Luke, Clay Hill, London, and from 2013, he additionally served as the Continuing Ministerial Education Officer for the Edmonton Episcopal Area and Chair of Governors at Bishop Stopford’s School, Enfield.
In 2016, he took up his current role as Archdeacon of Hastings in the Diocese of Chichester and, since 2020, has also been serving as Priest-in-Charge of St John the Evangelist, Crowborough. He is currently Chaplain to the High Sheriff of East Sussex.
Edward is married to Anna, a journalist for The Guardian, and they have two children at university.
Simon Holland is a liberal & very pastoral Anglo-Catholic, who has done an excellent job in his short time as interim Dean, calming the waters, and actually listening to people. I am sure everyone wishes him well in his final parish before retirement. Edward Dowler is very high on the candle, like our Bishop, so his appointment will not exactly be regarded as great news by the women of Chi Dio. He was interviewed today by Sam Dixon-French on BBC radio Sussex for the Sarah Gorrell show (listen from about 1118 on https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_sussex ) where he showed that he needs… Read more »
He certainly does need training in the use of radio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hsss5x at about 1:18:00 in.
This interview is sponsored by Mogadon.
He sounded nervous, and has probably been beating himself up ever since the interview. I feel for him.
He certainly struggled with what was a comparatively easy ride from the interviewer. A more probing interview about women’s ministry, equal marriage and Bishop Bell would have left him floundering I suspect.
I am sure all who post or administer TA are all media savvy, and therefore feel quite happy putting the boot in to someone struggling a bit.
If you are going to hold this kind of public office you need to be media savvy. He will have done some media training as an archdeacon.
I didn’t think it was that bad. The safeguarding answer was the worst, because, I suspect, he had been schooled into saying something supposedly safe and reassuring rather than honest and meaningful.
He is not a politician, nor is he anything other than a clergyman of the Church of England.
If he is going to hold that kind of divine office he needs to be prayerful and willing to model a servant ministry as the Christ himself did.
‘Being media savvy’ is not, and surely should not be a requirement.
I would much rather have a colleague who bumbles along with faithful integrity than a managerialist.
Having just listened to the interview on BBC Sounds it wasn’t a ‘car crash’ as some media interviews with prominent people have been. Dr Dowler was nervous, but that was understandable. At least it wasn’t an obviously PR driven ‘performance.’ And I don’t suppose that the interviewer knew much about the issues of women’s ministry, so-called ‘equal’ marriage, or the Bishop George Bell saga to be able to ask an intelligent (let alone probing) question about any of them.
He struggled with his hobbies. He came up with “stews” as an example of his culinary skills and had to think for a while about his love of reading. The worst television interview I saw was with Bishop Stephen Conway when he was the Bishop of Ely on BBC Look East. I seem to remember he was being interviewed by their anchor Susie Fowler-Watt. He struggled with a slight delay on the line and he was slumped in a low armchair which gave him the appearance of having six chins. My parishioners were unimpressed the next day and wondered if… Read more »
As someone (though I say it myself) who is a very good cook, I can confirm that stews and slow cooking can be very fine indeed! OK,give them a posh french name if you like, I do, but ‘ a rose by any other name ‘ as old Bill the poet used to say. And, BTW,if your parishioners were muttering over their buttered toast about the height of the bishops armchair and the number of chins he had,then all I can say is they should have better things to do with their time!
I agree. Simon got us to a very good place in just a year.
Interesting that the interviewer asked about safeguarding. Chichester’s record is one aspect of church life that journalists are aware of.
Local journalists are always up to speed on local issues, and one should not assume they are a pushover compared to national level journalists, as Liz Truss found to her cost.
It’s all my fault. When being interviewed about what we were looking for in a Dean I forgot to add that he must have a cat! Sorry.
I may say that I found it remarkable that the Radio Sussex interviewer failed to ask even one serious follow-up on safeguarding after the Dean waffled away on the soft general question. Doubt that he will be so lucky next time.
The poor performance on radio is such a shame, as my path has crossed that of Dr Dowler in the past, and my strong impression of him (as something of a cynic when it comes to so-called senior clergy) was of a good man, who genuinely cared about the clergy on his patch and wanted the best for them. Admittedly, I have only dealt with him over one issue, but it was one that would have ended very differently for the priest concerned under many of the archdeacons I have dealt with over the years. Hopefully he will grow into… Read more »
married to a Guardian journalist… is this the 2024 CofE equivalent to Yes Prime Minister: he has an eminently suitable wife!
Manifestly, the armchair comms consultants have been hard at work on this thread! I’m rather relieved that Chichester is welcoming a new Dean who doesn’t hide his humanity behind a heavy veil of slick media techniques. There’s enough of that, fuelling avoidance and bluster, in the Church of England as it is. It should be a cause for rejoicing that Chichester is welcoming a scholar and pastor (as Lincoln is), who is not a rent-a-quote who will do the media’s bidding at every turn; but brings considerable insight and intelligence to the role of emergizing a community for mission and… Read more »
“Why Francis James imagines that women in Chichester Diocese will not regard this appointment as good news is a mystery to me.” You cannot be serious.
It was perfectly clear from the first post that it was the new deans traditional catholic stance,”high up the candle” as it was put,that you were against, bemoan ing the departure of the liberal catholic acting dean.Perhaps if you stopped there and didn’t go into attacking his abilities as a communicator it wouldn”t have seemed like it was an ad hominem attack.
If I understand you correctly merely mentioning someone’s churchmanship amounts to a personal attack (ad hominem to those who like Latin tags). Actually as regards high church I rather enjoy the ritual (when it is done well), and it is far more my cup of tea than happy clappy. What sticks in my throat is their attitude to female priests, particularly in Chi Dio where we live with toxic misogynist legacy of the late Eric Kemp. On that note it is of interest that a very recent survey of CofE Diocese Websites and Safeguarding Posters has revealed that as regards… Read more »
You have completely missed my point. I said if you had only criticised the trad cath views, including views on womens ordination, then fine. It was having a go at him for a struggling interview which in later post you described as waffle, that I thought as playing the man,not the ball.
Failure to provide a solid answer to a very soft question on safeguarding is open to criticism. After all everyone knows that Chi Dio has an appalling track record for safeguarding, so a question on the subject was bound to come up. Nothing personal about that.
By the way I did not ‘bemoan’ the departure of the interim dean. What I did do was pay tribute to his performance in what must have been a very challenging & rather thankless job. By contrast the Dio seems to be air-brushing him out of the picture.
Their post almost immediately (about 3 posts?) before the announcement of the new dean was to celebrate Simon’s interim ministry and to announce his new incumbency. Hardly air-brushing him out of the picture……and to be fair to the diocesan comms team they have had May Camp, a royal visit, a diocesan celebration of 30years of female priestly ministry, an ecumenical pilgrimage and a diocesan synod in the last week.
Give them a break perhaps?
Does anyone know what his views on the ordination of women are?
He does not accept communion from female priests.
Thanks. That is very hurtful, as I have cause to know.
But there are female priests in the Chapter (and staff) of Chichester Cathedral. One would expect the Dean to con-celebrate with his Chapter members. How will this work – or not? What is the Bishop’s position?
Francis James is wrong. Edward Dowler was robed, and received Communion, at last week’s service at Chichester Cathedral to mark the 30th anniversary of the ordination of women as priests. The celebrant was the Bishop of Horsham, Ruth Bushyager.
Thank you. As I would have hoped, and this should reassure Janet.
If he received communion as opposed to a blessing than this represents a major change for his theology, akin to that of Mark Sowerby. If that is the case I am delighted.
Wonderful!
In fact, I’m surprised and delighted that Chichester had a 30th anniversary celebration at all. I was a Chichester ordinand, but they sponsored me on the condition I wouldn’t look for a post there after completing my training. That was in the days (mid 80s) when Peter Ball was my suffragan and Eric Kemp was diocesan.
Janet – To make it as as a female ordinand in Chi in that toxic era is an extraordinary achievement. Of course there has been no expression of apology for past behaviour.
Moreover, it should be noted that all was not entirely sweetness & light at this 30th celebration, because although Warner & Hazlewood were physically present at the service, the fact that they were in full fig made their non-participation in the Eucharist all the more striking.
Sigh. And yet if a woman priest declined to take the sacrament from Bp Martin, he would fly into a rage. At least, he did that with me, in front of members of my congregation, when he was Bp of Whitby. I add that my reason for not communicating at the 10.30 was that I had already received at the 8 am – but it just shows how non-reciprocal this nonsense is.
I have worked closely with Edward over the last 3 and a half years during our interregnum (we are an open evangelical church) and our ongoing problems with a derelict closed church site (for the last 22 years!) next door to where we worship, I have always found him courteous, kind and considerate even on matters where we did not agree. I feel sure he will do his utmost to fulfil this new role with the same qualities I have personally seen displayed while I have known him.