Bishop of Hereford: 3 September 2019
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Richard Charles Jackson MA MSc for election as Bishop of Hereford.
Published 3 September 2019
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Richard Charles Jackson MA MSc, Bishop of Lewes, for election as Bishop of Hereford in succession to the Right Reverend Richard Michael Cokayne Frith BA MA, who is due to retire on 30th November 2019.
Richard was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and Cranfield University and trained for ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. He served his title at All Saints, Lindfield in the Diocese of Chichester and was ordained Priest in 1995.
In 1998, Richard was appointed Vicar of Holy Trinity, Rudgwick and in 2005 took up the additional role of Rural Dean of Horsham. Richard became Diocesan Adviser for Mission and Renewal in 2009 and took up his role as Bishop of Lewes in 2014.
The Hereford Diocesan website has more details here, and the Chichester website has this.
Many congratulations. However, Bishop Martin to lose one Suffragan is unfortunate to lose two is just plain carelessness!
Before Anthony Archer beats me to it, ‘this is an excellent appointment’! Richard Jackson is the thinking person’s evangelical, and will be very good for Hereford. He has a clear sense of what is appropriate. When I’ve seen him in Chichester Cathedral, he not only inhabits the liturgy well, he also preaches with insight and intelligence. When he is in parishes, he is equally sensitive to the context and the culture, and leads by engaging people and bringing them with him. I’m in no doubt that this is a case of a diocese going for the best person, rather than… Read more »
You should write the press releases because none of that sort of information is in them – rather his new diocesan office seems more interested in his family and where he was educated which (I would hope) tell us zero about whether he will be a good bishop.
He’s got at least one cracking Archdeacon who I am sure could step into a new role.
Andrew, as to the identity of the “one cracking Archdeacon” do you mean Edward, Fiona, Luke or Martin?
Martin. I don’t know the others, but I know Martin very well and have huge respect for him.
It used to be considered highly inappropriate that an archdeacon was made bishop within his own diocese – or, for that matter, a parish priest an archdeacon in the same diocese. Such appointments were made from outside. It seems more common practice now to make internal appointments, and the danger is that dioceses become inbred. I don’t think it’s a good development.
I am not sure I agree that it seems more common practice now to make internal appointments, but certainly ‘internal candidates’ do get considered for vacant sees, and rather more for archdeaconries. Internal appointments are healthy, a good sign to diocesan clergy, but will always represent the minority. They are perhaps more usual in larger dioceses. It is rare for suffragans to be translated to be the diocesan, there only being three examples, I believe, since 1995, Stepney to London, Penrith to Carlisle, and Woolwich to Southwark, excluding the hybrid Bradford to Leeds (a diocesan translation). There are currently 63… Read more »
You are a mine of information, Anthony!
In Canada we often (but not always) elect bishops from within their dioceses. They know the diocese well and the learning curve isn’t as steep for them. There are good arguments for both alternatives; each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Bishop Richard isn’t the first biking Bishop of Hereford – that honour belongs to Bishop John Oliver who is quoted as saying “Being a biker makes you far more approachable”. Richard Jackson also follows in the footsteps of the great Herbert Hensley Henson who was briefly Bishop of Hereford after the First World War before he returned to Durham where he had previously been Dean.
Anyone who visits Hereford Cathedral shouldn’t fail to go to see the very realistic statue in the Close of Elgar nonchalantly leaning on his bicycle.
Not forgetting the magnificent Mappa Mundi (probably created in Lincoln), the marvellous chained library and the superb Tom Denny stained-glass windows commemorating Thomas Traherne.
Father David: I wasn’t overlooking those treasures (but half-suspected that they would get a mention as a result of my post!), but the subject here was the bicycle! As an organist, I would add Hereford’s ‘Father Willis’ organ to your list. Among all the subjects discussed on TA, church music very rarely gets mentioned.
Since we are discussing Hereford Cathedral (my own favourite among cathedrals) perhaps we might give due recognition to its Dean, Michael Tavinor, who has done an outstanding job in making the Cathedral a place for pilgrimage and prayer, and not just an historic monument. His work includes the beautiful restoration of the shrine of St Thomas of Hereford, where it is uplifting to see always many candles lit. And music lovers should look on the organ case (South side) for the splendid memorial to Dr G. R. Sinclair, the Cathedral organist who was a friend of Elgar’s, and who features… Read more »
Agreed about the Dean, and the lovely atmosphere which permeates this Cathedral. Hereford additionally cherishes the memory of an earlier organist, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, who left an indelible stamp on Anglican Church music. His service settings and hymn tunes, also adopted in other denominations, are still regularly heard world-wide.
Oh, Samuel Sebastian Wesley! Composer of wonderful anthems like ‘Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Pease’ and ‘Blessed be the God and Father’. I loved those pieces so much as a young chorister.
I agree, Rowland. It would be great to explore church music a bit more here.
Such an excellent appointment. Richard is already a fine bishop. He is wise, he is pastoral, he is robust, and he is great fun! Lucky Hereford!
Where does he stand on LGBT inclusion though?
One suspects that the mention of a wife and children is intended to reassure people that he isn’t gay.
But was that the question?
This from the Church Times: Bishop Jackson has previously stated his opposition to same-sex marriage. In 2017, he told the New Wine Summer Conference that the previous meeting of the General Synod, in York, had been “a theological train crash . . . of conflicting pain narratives”. Furthermore, he said that bishops were called to “make some definitive statements’’ (Comment, 4 August 2017). “We have to make decisions on the basis of biblical theology, not on the basis purely of listening to people’s experiences,” he said. A few months later, Bishop Frith spoke and voted for a diocesan-synod motion to… Read more »
Just watched Morning Worship on BBC 31/05/2020. Can you tell me why, at the end of the service, when giving the blessing, the sign of the cross was done the wrong way!!