Press release from 10 Downing Street.
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Ruth Elizabeth Worsley, Suffragan Bishop of Taunton in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, to the See of Wigan, to be known as the Interim Bishop of Liverpool.
The Liverpool diocesan website has New Interim Bishop of Liverpool Announced.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 28 February 2025The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Ruth Elizabeth Worsley, Suffragan Bishop of Taunton in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, to the See of Wigan, to be known as the Interim Bishop of Liverpool.
Background
Ruth was educated at the University of Manchester and prepared for ordination at St John’s College, Nottingham. Ordained in 1996 to a title in Hyson Green, in the Diocese of Southwell she had various other parish responsibilities in that diocese as well as service as Area Dean of Nottingham North.
Ruth served as Dean of Women’s Ministry and as an Honorary Chaplain to Her late Majesty The Queen. She was subsequently Parish Development Officer in the Diocese of Southwark and then Archdeacon of Wiltshire in the Diocese of Salisbury. She was appointed Bishop of Taunton in 2015.
The Liverpool report includes the detail that: The Archbishop of York has petitioned His Majesty the King to revive the See of Wigan, allowing Bishop Ruth to transition into this role within the Diocese of Liverpool while laying down her role as Bishop of Taunton. Both the Dioceses’ Commission and the Liverpool Bishop’s Council have approved this revival for the duration of her interim ministry.Bishop Ruth will be appointed as suffragan Bishop of Wigan and given delegated powers from the Archbishop of York to act as interim Bishop of Liverpool. Using the see of Wigan for this purpose will enable… Read more »
I found the last sentence interesting; one could interpret it to mean that as soon as the new substantive Bishop of Liverpool is announced, the delegation ceases immediately and Wigan would lapse immediately. I don’t think that can be the case: the delegation will have to last until +Liverpool is actually and actively in post; and the See of Wigan surely can’t lapse unless it is vacant? So Worsley would have to resign unless she were translated (whether to Liverpool or elsewhere).
I imagine that the delegation lapses when the instrument of delegation says it lapses, but presumably that will be at precisely the moment that the election of the next substantive Bishop of Liverpool is legally confirmed. The Bishop of Wigan presumably legally remains in post after that just like any other suffragan bishop: possibly it has been agreed by her and the archbishop that she will resign at that point — always assuming that she is not the person who has just been confirmed as the bishop of Liverpool of course, in which case Wigan will simultaneously become vacant.
The Liverpool report also includes this news:
The Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Beverley Mason, [said,] “I regret there remain uncertainties about my situation, but we hope to announce my pathway in the next few weeks.”
As someone who has lived and worshipped in Taunton for nearly 30 years, I can thoroughly commend Bishop Ruth as an excellent bishop. She has great experience having effectively covered Bath & Wells through the illness of Bishop Peter Hancock and subsequent vacancy following his retirement, and also her time seconded to Coventry following simultaneous vacancies for the bishoprics of Coventry and Warwick. I have always found her a pastoral and understanding person who is approachable and works well with a wide range of people, both within and beyond the Church. She will be greatly missed in Bath & Wells,… Read more »
The Liverpool website also has this https://liverpoolcofe.org/a-statement-on-behalf-of-senior-leadership-at-the-diocese-of-liverpool/ A statement on behalf of Senior Leadership at the Diocese of Liverpool Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Today Downing Street has announced that Bishop Ruth Worsley, currently Bishop of Taunton will act as interim Bishop of Liverpool. You can read the press notice on our website and in the Bulletin, Ruth will be taking up her post with us as soon as feasible and we will have an installation service in the next few weeks. We will be letting you know when we have firmed up the date. Bishop Ruth has been… Read more »
Why hasn’t the Bishop of Warrington been made the acting Bishop of Liverpool? She covered the last vacancy.
As she says in the diocesan statement (and see my other comment) “I regret there remain uncertainties about my situation, but we hope to announce my pathway in the next few weeks.”
I saw that, but I don’t think it explains why she didn’t get the job. Unless she has another one in the pipeline.
A Chaplaincy in the Diocese of Europe perhaps?
Why a chaplaincy? Why not diocesan bishop?
She has been doing locum duty in a number of European Chaplaincies during her time out and could still be a bishop to help out where necessary. We’ll see……
Completely out of court to speculate on here. Such questioning is ‘wrong’.
Why? If there was more openess we would not need to speculate…..what is so secret about it all? That has been the problem for the C of E….such nonsense.
Perhaps you aren’t aware of the battle against the ingrained misogyny, and the continued re-abuse of survivors who dare to complain of sexual assault and abusive and insulting behaviour. Bishop Bev made a complaint of conduct unbecoming against the Bishop of Liverpool, in order to support a woman who made a complaint of sexual assault against him. Neither complaint has progressed; instead, Bp Bev was placed on indefinite ‘study leave’ and pressured to say nothing. This is scandalous. My question is whether Bp Bev is still being punished for daring to complain. She is well liked in Liverpool and has… Read more »
Janet, from my own experience of trying to negotiate with them, I absolutely dread to think what kind of ‘cattle trading’ is going on behind the scenes. I hope and pray that what emerges will not be a narrower pathway than might have otherwise been open to +Warrington. But I’m not holding my breath.
Who is ‘them’?
Janet it’s very perplexing and bureaucratic. The see of Wigan is being revived, the bishop of Taunton has only just returned to Bath and Wells after more than a year in Coventry, if she doesn’t become bishop of Liverpool, does she return once more to Taunton? That could be 2026 or even 2027 if the CNC process is deadlocked, as in Carlisle and Ely.
I understand Bishop Ruth is leaving Taunton, so we will be appointing a new suffragan in Bath & Wells.
She will cease to be Bishop of Taunton when she is translated to Wigan shortly. So there will be no slot in the Somerset diocese for her to return to. Quite likely (if the Dioceses Commission approves, which it always does) there will be a new occupant of the see of Taunton by then as well. She will be 63 this year, so pushing 65 perhaps by the time a new Liverpool is in post.
I cannot find any record of a previous Bishop of Wigan. It seems as if it was a suffragan see brought into formal existence but never occupied. I think the same is true of Oswestry.
When was there last a Bishop of Wigan? I can’t see any record of the see.
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragan_Bishops_Act_1534#Other_suffragan_titles notes that the see of Wigan was created by Order in Council on 6 April 1889 but has never been filled, and that the “Dioceses Commission has advised that these may be revived and filled just as any other dormant See might”.
The referenced 2015 report from the Dioceses Commission can still be read at https://web.archive.org/web/20160531030913/https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2469449/annual_report_2015.pdf and https://web.archive.org/web/20160530173348/https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2252539/dormant%20sees%20-23-6-15.docx
Thank you, that’s interesting to know.
There is, it seems to me, another aspect to all this. Church life in Wigan has taken something of a knock in recent years as a result of the ‘Transforming Wigan’ plan. I wonder what local Anglicans make of all this: after all, they were obliged to rationalise and re-organise themselves, but now see that the resources exist for an additional bishop.
The first comment on this thread makes it clear that this see is only being revived for this particular situation and there is no expectation it will continue. It is a means to provide the diocese with a very experienced bishop to be interim bishop as soon as possible rather having to wait for the CNC processes to work through – and also gives the Bishop of Warrington space to discern her future.
.
Yes, I know all that. I was commenting on the irony of this revived see bearing the name of a town whose church life has suffered at the hands of the strategic whizz kids. Perhaps the Bishop of Wigan-designate will give some of her time and obvious talents to addressing the hurt in the town whose name her see will bear.
This is a good point and may be voiced by some, but Church Wigan is now flourishing and growing in many ways.
That wasn’t the picture painted by the Transforming Wigan Evaluation report…
I don’t know Bishop Ruth from a bar of soap, but she clearly has carved out something of a bridging ministry which has been valued and recognized. Too often preferment is about who gets the next job and becomes like runners and riders in the Grand National. However, interim and acting roles and this sort of liminal and healing work is to be acknowledged and affirmed and this looks like a really creative appointment in a sea/see of uncertainty.
If and when Bishop Ruth succeeds Bishop John at Liverpool, albeit only as interim acting bishop, will this become the second occasion when a diocese of the C of E has had female bishops, but no male bishop, in post? (The first being between 6 November 2023 and 9 November 2023 when Bishop Ruth was Acting Bishop of Coventry on her own before being joined by a male Assistant Bishop.) Or have I missed an occasion?
Ely, at the present time, immediately springs to mind.
Didn’t Derby have two female bishops for a short while — Libby Lane as Bishop of Derby and Jan McFarlane as Bishop of Repton?
When the Bishop of Stockport, Libby Lane, was translated to Derby, the Bishop of Repton was Jan McFarlane.
Also Durham, at present
Bishop Ruth is due to keep up her role as Bishop of Taunton for a couple of months, simultaneously with her new role as Bishop of Wigan and Acting Bishop of Liverpool. Has anyone, apart from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, ever held episcopal roles simultaneously in both provinces of the C of E before?
I don’t read it quite like that, and I’m not sure multiple bishoprics can be held in plurality, can they? I read it that she will remain as Bishop of Taunton for a short while, whilst being Interim Bishop of Liverpool with full delegated powers. But shorty after that she will be translated to Wigan and at that point Taunton will become vacant.
The See needs to be revived first! Her episcopal stipend arrangements will move seamlessly from Bath and Wells to Liverpool, whenever the appointed day is!
Yes, that’s what I mean: for a short while Bishop Ruth will be fulfilling an episcopal role in both provinces at the same time, as Bishop of Taunton and as Interim Bishop of Liverpool. I was just wondering whether that had ever happened before, that someone had fulfilled an episcopal role in both provinces at the same time. I didn’t mean to ask about holding multiple bishoprics.
Thomas, Card. Wolsey was archbishop of York, 1514-30. During that time he was also bishop, in commendam, of Bath & Wells (1518-22), Durham (1523-29) and Winchester (1529-30). As if that were not enough, he was commendatory abbot of St Albans (the premier Benedictine house) from 1521-30, and lord chancellor (de facto chief minister) from 1514-29. Note that the three sees he held in commendam were among the most lucrative in England. An earlier instance of this was Wulfstan/Lupus, who was archbishop of York (1002-23) and bishop of Worcester (1002-16). Worcester was also held in commendam with York by Oswald (971-92)… Read more »
I learnt the above from a back issue of Thinking Anglicans: https://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/acting-bishop-of-lincoln/#comment-443213.
It would be interesting to know the answer to your question, Simon, in the narrow case of two diocesan bishoprics. It can certainly happen in the Roman Church: there is at least one Irish bishop holding two un-amalgamated dioceses. In the C of E as I understand it bishops are often translated from one See to another. But could the King in filling the second see not “translate” someone from the first see but just require the election to the second see. Or does election to a diocesan see at law automatically vacate all the ecclesiastical posts a person has?… Read more »
This is an excellent nomination; creative and good news for the Diocese of Liverpool and importantly also for Bishop Ruth with her already well-regarded ministry. I note that a two-year period is suggested. That takes us into 2027. Given that the 2022-2027 CNC will go down in history as the most troubled (and least effective) ever, and that there is every hope that the next elected set of central members will be properly representative of the Church of England, my hope and prayer is that the vacancy of the See of Liverpool is kept open for longer and is considered… Read more »
Ok…. How do Carlisle and Ely , with effective suffragans , manage to achieve a bye until then too?
Sadly not possible unless this time those otherwise on the side of the angels vote to frustrate Carlisle 2 and Ely 2.
Might I, away from England, say well done to ++York for finding a way to make such a welcome appointment in a relatively short time frame. Let everyone rejoice before arrival of Lent!
I disagree. Yet another of the 44 wayward bishops that signed the dreaded letter that set the ball rolling for the eventual breakup of the C of E in its present form. Wayward because they swore an oath at ordination and now see fit to break their promise to the church concerning historic doctrine. Some of you may disagree with me but the 44 bishops will be recorded in history as a low point for a vibrant orthodox faith in England.
Another example of how one person’s conscience can be regarded as another person’s bigotry?
And if the current CNC failed to discern on Carlisle and Ely, and have thereby added to their backlog is there not a reasonable argument for the two dioceses- and possibly Durham too- to be able to ask for a stay until 2027 to allow the current group to concentrate on Canterbury and other places where they have not yet reached stalemate? This would avoid a double jeopardy situation for the stalled dioceses
Geoff is not talking about conscience, he is talking about
existing church doctrine. I think there is a vibrant orthodox faith which has not been diminished, but is growing, although many will be discouraged. To try to silence these voices by calling it bigotry is a tactic that will not and doesn’t work, as these voices are reasonable based on the churches traditional teaching of marriage between a man and women representing the mystery of the relationship between Christ and His church. If this link is broken, the church becomes broken.
So existing church doctrine doesn’t have anything to do with conscience? There we go then
In a way you may have hit on why there is an impasse. ‘Conscience’ was the appeal of Luther. A sort of individualized reality to which one has access and which trumps. ‘Here I stand; I can do no other.’ The counter position was, ‘the conscience is not an individualized reality but something formed culturally and personally, and so not a touchstone at all.’ After listening to this endless back-and-forth at times it would just be a minor accomplishment to understand WHY there is a disagreement, with two sides assuming their a priori is correct. And obvious. Historically, no one… Read more »
I should add for avoidance of doubt: ‘appeal to conscience’ has taken many forms over the centuries. Luther ‘believed’ his conscience was correct, just to the degree he believed it was formed by the Word of God (which for him entailed the perspicacity of scripture — a matter debated for many years by others such as Bellarmine). Catholics have asked the confessee to ‘examine their conscience’ but they mean by this a faculty formed in the context of Catholic faith and life, A divine endowment made available via a view of Natural Law. My only point here–this is a blog… Read more »
‘This involves putting our own a priori under scrutiny by examining our place in time, vis-a-vis the past a priori.’
You have just written my Ash Wednesday sermon. Thank you.
Wishing all contributors to TA a Holy Lent.
Indeed a mystery. I understand Ephesians 1:23, but where does it say that the Jesus/church relationship is like a marriage? Does it imply, by backwards argument, that a man is head of the woman in marriage, in the same way that Christ is head of the church? OK, Ephesians 5:22. Argument by analogy. I never like argument by analogy, and I fear ‘tradition’ has pushed this analogy too far. It is not important for the gospel, a feature of the age in which it was written. It does not support the idea that the marriage between a man and woman… Read more »
Breaking ordination promises by changing historic doctrine is a familiar and rather silly accusation made by Ian Paul and others – who really should know better – against those holding views on sexuality they do not agree with The Church of England believes in the development of doctrine, Geoff. That is how, in our lifetime we now allow divorced people to remarry in church and, after centuries of being men only, we now ordain women to the priesthood. Oliver O’Donovan, writing in a collection of essays by conservative theologians, writes – “doctrine is a reflection on experience, not simply an… Read more »
David, you miss my point. I agree that changes have taken place and needed to take place. My wife was ordained in 2006 . The argument that the church should be welcoming and accepting of all people, without judging them, is a given. The ordination of women reflected a cultural change. I don’t recall biblical teaching stating the sinfulness of woman in leadership. The move away from Holy matrimony being only for one man and one woman is clearly moving away from Gods intended plan for us. However we try and dress up progressive doctrine, the LLF experiment has been… Read more »
Hi Geoff. Thank you for clarifying – though I do not understand your comment on sin and women in leadership. We agree, then, that doctrine can develop, and that the church can come to accept, on grounds of scripture, what it previously, long rejected. Interestingly I recall how the same warnings and prophecies of doom and decline now being declared against accepting same-sex relationships and marriage were being made against ordaining women. It was the Red Line issue back then for many conservative evangelicals. (tt still is for some). The fact Is there are many with the same faithful commitment to theology… Read more »
I never really understand the logical connection between ordaining women and same-sex marriage/blessings. They seem to me to be independent, different scriptural and theological background.
So, being a statistician, I look for conflating factors. Power and control? Male dominance?
David, the point the foolish Bishops overlooked when they set out on the destructive path of LLF was that it will have an unintended consequence. An example being, I am in a Benefice consisting of 4 churches. My own church PCC voted 10- 3 to not use prayers of blessing. One other church voted in a similar way. Two churches are happy to use the prayers ( when the green light is given). Having a pro LLF priest, the moment she publicly carries out a blessing, in any church, she loses her authority for those of us who voted not… Read more »
Geoff. I agree there are painful divisions here. But they are present in the church already. We need to find a way of managing this better, more honestly and lovingly. What is your message to folk in your church who are gay? You only present the pain or faithful convictions of one side. Gay people have always been the excluded ones. You think that should just continue? This is not the fault of the bishops. LLF offered a unique way of moving forward in understand for all sides by consulting the entire church. The ‘green light’, as you call it,… Read more »
Historically, sexual matters were not regarded as doctrine. That’s an innovation.So if you want to stay faithful to historical doctrine, admit that sexual ethics are a question of ethics, not doctrine.
I suppose the only question that this raises is the idea that ‘doctrine’ is over here and ‘ethics’ over there. At the Council of Nicaea, for example, ‘creed’ and ‘ethics’ existed in the same ambit. The canons of Nicaea and the creed were of one package. The rejection of Arianism, moreover, had to do with his teaching and preaching, and also what followed from that ethically. Or, when Luther attacked the teaching of Rome, it was based on his observations in the arena of ethics — buying indulgences instead of proper confession and absolution. Or, Zwingli and proper worship of… Read more »
Of course they swim in the same sea. But there is nothing in the creeds about marriage or human sexual behaviour. Nor was this taught in Systematics when I was in college – it was in Pastoralia.
The point is that creeds arise — as in Nicaea — along with canons concerning ethical issues.
The academic ‘divisions’ trace themselves to the rise of German Universities, focusing on Wissenschaft instead of paideia. ‘I do Pastoralia’ and Sam does ‘Systematics’ and Judy does ‘Historical Theology’ and Bob ‘Hebrew Bible (sic)’ etc.
Enables one to set exams and give marks. Terrible for integration.
Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that the Church of England may need some interim episcopal ministry as we do in parishes. People like Ruth who are gifted and skilled at this role. It also enabling and serving rather more than hierarchy.
Having been left holding the proverbial baby of major problems concealed by those doing the appointing in three big jobs in my ministerial career (successfully resolved two of them, and one remains a disaster to this day, many years now since I left the battlefield), I’m a great believer in interim ministry. It’s much better for all concerned if someone can come in, do the hard things that need doing and/or facilitate healing where it’s needed, then go, leaving someone else without the baggage of the sorting out to lead the next chapter. I think the principle holds at episcopal… Read more »
It is the second time of both the history of the Diocese of Liverpool and the Diocese of Bath and Wells that there has been Episcopal Comings and goings between these two Dioceses, the last time this happened was in 1975 when the then Suffragan Bishop of Warrington Bishop John Bickersteth was translated to Bath and Wells and was Bishop of Bath and wells from 1975 to 1987. Jonathan
Yes, I recall that. Bickersteth was consecrated in April 1970 alongside Richard Watson, Bishop Suffragan of Burnley. It was at a time when York Minster was needing urgent repairs, so the consecration was held in Liverpool Cathedral. The bishops elect had been at Rugby together, and chose as the preacher at the consecration another Rugbeian, Patrick Rodger. At the time of the consecration Patrick Rodger was Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral Edinburgh, though by then it had been announced that he was to be consecrated Bishop of Manchester in a couple of months’ time. Watson’s grandfather-in-law was Francis Chavasse, Bishop… Read more »