Thinking Anglicans

Bishop of Beverley to retire

The Bishop of Beverley has announced his retirement.

The Rt Revd Glyn Webster will be retiring from his role as Bishop of Beverley at Epiphany, 6 January 2022.

The Bishop of Beverley is a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of York, and a Provincial Episcopal Visitor, assisting in the pastoral care of those parishes that have petitioned for Extended Episcopal Care under the Act of Synod – the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood…

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Andrew Graystone
Andrew Graystone
3 years ago

Bishop Glyn Webster was heavily criticised in the review abuse by Bishop Victor Whitsey. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/22/bishop-could-lose-office-for-failure-to-act-on-sexual-abuse-disclosure The report said that when a victim of abuse disclosed to Webster, he told him “in effect, to move on.” It was widely assumed that Bishop Webster would be sacked, or suspended, or at least have the grace to resign. This would have been in line with Archbishop Welby’s statement just this week that clergy who know about abuse but don’t report it, will be dealt with under church discipline. When he didn’t resign, I and others resigned ourselves to the fact that he was… Read more »

Lizzie Taylor
Lizzie Taylor
Reply to  Andrew Graystone
3 years ago

Thank you for raising this Andrew. This seems like a very important question.

God 'elp us all
God 'elp us all
Reply to  Andrew Graystone
3 years ago

I too see no reason why his stint should be extended. His birthday has been known since, well, his birth 70 years ago 😉 Why has not a successor been identified, or a decision made to ‘wind up’ the post, esp in the light of finances, losses of ‘lower’ clergy, and continuing discrimination … Thank God (!) no-one notices or cares. No resignation, no standing back or down or aside but aloof.

John Barton
John Barton
Reply to  Andrew Graystone
3 years ago

I believe the terminus ad quem for resignation is 31 December of the year in which one reaches retirement age. Surely only the most ardent legalist would begrudge an extra six days.

Stanley Monkhouse
Reply to  John Barton
3 years ago

Not what I was told. The birthday and not a second longer without dispensation. Not that it mattered – I went a few months early. As a single handed three church urban cleric with schools and civic responsibilities and a propensity to chest infections, the end of October meant I missed the relentless run up to Christmas. No chest infection since, by the way (one of the churches is damp and infested by fungi – you can almost see the spores. I told the Archdeacon it should be condemned on health grounds).

Froghole
Froghole
Reply to  Stanley Monkhouse
3 years ago

Many thanks, Prof. Dude. I thought that the 70 age limit was very strict, and that in special cases only the archbishops could get an extra year, subject to the queen’s consent (Section 2 here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukcm/1975/2/contents).

For some reason, the present dean of Canterbury, who has just turned 74, has been given what appears to be a very special dispensation, although I appreciate that his has been an unusually successful appointment.

Fr. Dean Henley
Fr. Dean Henley
Reply to  Froghole
3 years ago

I think that the Dean of Windsor has also been extended a special dispensation but of course it is a Royal peculiar.

Rowland Wateridge
Rowland Wateridge
Reply to  Froghole
3 years ago

Thank you for that link. Fascinating! The exemption of Royal peculiars mentioned by Fr. Dean is no surprise, but this one was for me “any person who holds the office of dean of the Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford; (etc.)” [Section 1 (2) and section 1(4) (c)]. I suppose that may simply relate to the academic connection rather than imply a uniquely different status to other cathedral deans, but interesting all the same.

John Barton
John Barton
Reply to  Stanley Monkhouse
3 years ago

In that case, it looks as though Bishop Glyn has been granted an extension of six months and three days. Not worth losing sleep over, is it?

Stanley Monkhouse
Reply to  John Barton
3 years ago

I’m not.

Janet Fife
Janet Fife
Reply to  John Barton
3 years ago

I think it’s important that clergy are treated even-handedly. If a priest is exempted from the requirement to retire on their 70th birthday, it ought to be clear why. This kind of disparity is bad for morale, which is bad enough already.

So while Bp. Glyn’s delayed retirement won’t keep me awake, I do think it matters.

Matthew Ineson
Matthew Ineson
Reply to  Andrew Graystone
3 years ago

Glyn Webster also ignored my disclosure of abuse to him…then admitted it when he wrote to object to the extension of the ‘one year rule’ in the complaint against him. He has history in repeatedly ignoring disclosures of abuse…and the church takes no action. Same old story. Is it any wonder abuse still goes on in the church?

Toby Forward
Toby Forward
3 years ago

Now is the time to recognise that the ‘period of reception’ which was the excuse for Resolution A, has now passed, and as these bishops reach retirement age they should not be replaced.

Jonathan Jamal
Jonathan Jamal
Reply to  Toby Forward
3 years ago

I think if he was replaced, it would not at all surprise me if Philip North Bishop of Burnley was translated to Beverley, that has happened in the past when Bishop Jarrett was translated from Burnley to Beverley. It would be difficult to stop such a appointment in the same way as his appointments to Whitby and Sheffield were stopped, as in the others he would be ministering episcopally to a wider constituency whereas in the Beverley appointment he would only be ministering to Forward in Faith parishes in the See of Beverley.and this appointment is a direct appointment of… Read more »

FrDavid H
FrDavid H
Reply to  Toby Forward
3 years ago

How will those who believe God’s Word Written attests to women’s inferiority react to your radical suggestion? Some of the CofE ‘s richest parishes believe women should keep silent. They’re not going to pay women to speak!

Toby Forward
Toby Forward
Reply to  FrDavid H
3 years ago

It’s quite difficult to make out what you’re saying when your tongue is as firmly in your cheek as it is, but I take your very good point. My answer is that if there are such parishes (there are) their very existence is a blight on the church. There seems to me to be no ‘honoured place’ for the ministry of women when there are those who deny it.

FrDavid H
FrDavid H
Reply to  Toby Forward
3 years ago

Such is the nature of the CofE when its so-called “comprehensiveness” allows some members to preach views about women which you, I and the rest of society regard as offensive and ridiculous. Such people don’t like gays either, are supported in their views and have their own bishop.

Jill Armstead
Jill Armstead
Reply to  FrDavid H
3 years ago

You refer to conservative evangelicals who would not require Bishop Glyn’s (a traditional Catholic) oversight?

FrDavid H
FrDavid H
Reply to  Jill Armstead
3 years ago

The Con Evos have Bishop Rod Thomas of Maidstone, Jill, who provides them with oversight . He believes you to be subservient by virtue of your gender.

Jill Armstead
Jill Armstead
Reply to  FrDavid H
3 years ago

I am a trad Cath but believe there is some (some!) merit in the headship principle. Children need a parent at home in their formative years and a Mum or Mum substitute (Dad) at home when they come in from school. Families do better when parents are not too exhausted for evening family time. Men/fathers need to be honoured for their role – that has slipped a bit since rampant feminism prevailed. Bring back the breadwinner wage! Let’s work for fewer broken families!

FrDavid H
FrDavid H
Reply to  Jill Armstead
3 years ago

How parents arrange their family life is a private matter, Jill. It’s not comparable with the doctrine that women shouldn’t speak in Church, or can only preach if no men are present. Most of us think this is barking mad. But some Anglicans require their own bishop to support this strange idea.

David Runcorn
David Runcorn
Reply to  Jill Armstead
3 years ago

The great majority of families in our society have never been one income – they simply could not afford it. The ‘bread winner wage’ is a very middle class (and highly privileged) picture of family life and gender roles.

Neil J
Neil J
Reply to  David Runcorn
3 years ago

Any evidence for that David Runcorn? Has it changed over time? I would have guessed the opposite to be true, that dual careers are a very middle-class, privileged feature. In my previous parish in Lowestoft, which served the traditional fishing village, the older generation recounted a time when none of the women worked outside the home, partly because they had huge families. There were some home-based economic opportunities, which could fit around family life, but certainly not ‘going out to work’. I have no firm historical evidence either way, but would love to see more.

Janet Fife
Janet Fife
Reply to  Neil J
3 years ago

My working class grandmothers stayed at home and looked after their large families. However, in my parishes both middle and working class (inadequate labels, but will have to do for now) women went out to work. In my present blue-colour neighbourhood they still do. As David said, they have to to make ends meet. My grandmother Wilkinson had a working husband, while my grandmother Fife had a widow’s pension from the printers’ union (and presumably, a little from the army where my grandfather served during WW1). I think her elder sons may also have contributed to funds.My father was by… Read more »

Neil J
Neil J
Reply to  Neil J
3 years ago

I was too lazy to answer my own question earlier, thank you Google. The ONS report for women in the labour market reports from 1971-2013 the proportion of working age women in employment rose from 53% to 67%, while the proportion of men in similar category in employment fell from 92% to 76%. Lots of interesting analysis given in the article. Anecdotally, my mother (75) said when my brother was born (1970) there’s no way she could have worked outside home. Living on the edge of town with no fridge, freezer or washing machine and my dad having the car… Read more »

Interested Observer
Interested Observer
Reply to  Neil J
3 years ago

This is one of those things where everyone has anecdotes, but few have complete overviews. For example, Neil, a family that in 1970 owned a car but did not own a fridge or a washing machine was probably rather unusual: car ownership has massively increased over the last fifty years, but fridges and washing machines (admittedly, “twin tubs”) are a product of the fifties and sixties, not the seventies.

Janet Fife
Janet Fife
Reply to  Neil J
3 years ago

Yes, I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. Poorer families wouldn’t have had a television to plonk the kids in front of either, so they required more supervision. I didn’t have a telly myself until 1987 or 88.

Interested Observer
Interested Observer
Reply to  Janet Fife
3 years ago

The readership of Thinking Anglicans is hardly representative of society at large. 75% of households had televisions by 1960, and it rose continuously from there. By 1987 it’s strictly refuseniks only who don’t have one.

Janet Fife
Janet Fife
Reply to  Interested Observer
3 years ago

And those of us who were too poor to have one!

Interested Observer
Interested Observer
Reply to  David Runcorn
3 years ago

A popular meme amongst traditional catholics is the idea that if women didn’t work, then wages for men would magically double. Because of course the loss of roughly 50% of the productive workforce would leave the economy the same size but with every worker earning twice as much! As David says, the “bread winner” model is a peculiarly middle-class view of the world: both of my grandmothers, born around 1900, worked, mostly out of economic necessity. In 2021, given our society’s shortage of skills, it is laughable to believe the labour market is zero-sum: there are not a complete female… Read more »

Fr Dexter Bracey
Fr Dexter Bracey
Reply to  Toby Forward
3 years ago

The Bishop of Beverley will be replaced because the settlement that enabled women to be ordained as bishops specifically stated that the three sees of the Provincial Episcopal Visitors would continue without limit of time. The number of parishes in the northern province which have passed a resolution under the House of Bishops’ Declaration tells you how much of a demand there is for such a ministry. Why would anyone want to unpick bits of a settlement that took so long to agree?

Stanley Monkhouse
3 years ago

Lord Hall thinks his continuing as chairman of the National Gallery would be “a distraction” in the light of his role in Diana/Bashirgate: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57212959. The church provides plenty examples of “distractions” of those who dissemble, lie, obfuscate and cover up, but not a resignation in sight. I suppose they think they can do this because the church doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things (even the little scheme these days) and nobody notices. They’re right. The public don’t care (churches are where people eat flesh and drink blood) and congregation members on the whole don’t care so long as… Read more »

Kate
Kate
Reply to  Stanley Monkhouse
3 years ago

“I suppose they think they can do this because the church doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things ”
 
Maybe that’s a very English thing as the first son used to inherit, the second would join the army, the third become a lawyer, and only the fourth join the church. Since the church is almost the last bastion of a hierarchical class system, maybe that sense of lack of importance actually does linger

Last edited 3 years ago by Kate
Sue
Sue
3 years ago

There were a lot of ordained women present at Bishop Glyn’s consecration which says a lot about the kind of person he is. I always found him to be very affirming of my ministry and helpful. He taught me Catholic ceremony during my curacy as I was in an Evangelical parish.

FrDavid H
FrDavid H
Reply to  Sue
3 years ago

A friend of mine has waited years for a change of parochial appointment after many unfruitful promises from this bishop. Not everyone found him as affirming as Sue.

peter kettle
peter kettle
Reply to  Sue
3 years ago

‘A lot of ordained women present’ : a bit of an ‘aside’ but it was interesting that at the collation and induction of the new vicar of All Saints Margaret Street (available on YouTube) the Bishop of London was present alongside the Bishop of Fulham – the parish having decided to elect for his oversight at the start of the interregnum. She read the stuff about what the Church of England is about and took the oath of canonical obedience (required, I think, to the Diocesan, regardless of gender). All a small gesture, perhaps, but at least she retains a… Read more »

Jonathan Jamal
Jonathan Jamal
Reply to  peter kettle
3 years ago

Peter the previous Vicar, Father Alan Moses (a past Spiritual Director and Confessor of mine during my Anglican Days when he was Rector of Old St Paul’s in Edinburgh) was certainly open to women’s ministry and when he was at Old St Paul’s in Edinburgh he had two women Curates, one Priested in England in 1994, who has died in recent years and one a NSM Priest, who was one of the First Women Priests to be ordained in the Scottish Episcopal Church, when Bishop Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus, but Father Alan may have found that… Read more »

David Rowett
David Rowett
Reply to  Jonathan Jamal
3 years ago

…and we’ve been lucky enough to acquire Fr Alan as our spirituality adviser up here in Lincoln!

Nigel Aston
Nigel Aston
3 years ago

Apart from Bishop Philip North – someone appreciated across the Church as being far removed from an identikit managerial prelate – there are some terrific younger priests in the Catholic tradition in the Northern Province who would fit the Beverley mitre very nicely. By younger I mean in their forties…

Peter S
Peter S
3 years ago

Can a woman be appointed as a PEV?

John Wallace
John Wallace
Reply to  Peter S
3 years ago

Can Ethiopians change their skins or leopards their spots? Jer. 13:23 Only if we set up another fissiparous group which only accepts the ministry of women priests / bishops!!!!

Charles Read
Charles Read
Reply to  Peter S
3 years ago

Er no – a PEV has to be opposed to the ordination of women. That is the only reason the office exists.

Simon W
Simon W
Reply to  Charles Read
3 years ago

Darn it, the current Bishop of Warrington can’t be translated ‘back’ to Yorkshire then – would have made a great moniker.

Father Ron Smith
3 years ago

re the newly installed Vicar of ASMS; I, here in ACANZP, am sad to hear of that parishes’ involvement of a PEV in the selection of the new appointee. I doubt whether Bishop Michael Marshall would have wanted this for his old parish. My remembrance of ASMS in the early 1970s under Fr. Michael’s leadership, was of his eirenic A.C. provenance, which seemed inclusive and not at all misogynist. All Saints worship was a great inspiration in my life at the time. I have come to believe that one may be both Catholic and liberal – as was Christ!

Fr. Dean Henley
Fr. Dean Henley
Reply to  Father Ron Smith
3 years ago

Fr. Ron, a friend of mine attends All Saints’. This is one of those rare parishes where every seat on the PCC is hotly contested and there is considerable lobbying to secure the necessary votes. I gather that when the matter of Resolutions was raised the decision was finely balanced, though obviously in favour of adopting them.

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