Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more on the Carlisle diocesan website.
Appointment of Bishop of Carlisle: 9 May 2025
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Robert Saner-Haigh, for election as Bishop of Carlisle
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 9 May 2025
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Robert Saner-Haigh, Suffragan Bishop of Penrith in the Diocese of Carlisle, for election as Bishop of Carlisle, in succession to The Right Reverend James William Scobie Newcome, following his retirement.
Background
Rob was educated at Birmingham University and trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served his title at St. Lawrence, Appleby in the Diocese of Carlisle, and was ordained Priest in 2006. He was appointed Diocesan Initial Ministerial Education Officer in 2007 and Diocesan Director of Ordinands in 2008. Alongside both of these roles he served as Bishop’s Chaplain and Assistant Priest at St. Michael’s, Dalston, with Cumdivock, Raughton Head and Wreay. In 2010, he was appointed Priest in Charge of Holy Trinity Kendal and, from 2020, served as Director of Mission and Ministry for the Diocese of Newcastle and Residentiary Canon of Newcastle Cathedral.
In 2022, Rob took up his current role as Suffragan Bishop of Penrith, in the Diocese of Carlisle and, since 2023, he has served as Acting Bishop of Carlisle.
Penrith to Carlise is becoming a bit of an habit. Once is an innovation – twice in a row becomes a tradition.
But James was not the first. Cyril Bulley made that move in the 1960s. Cumbria values continuity in a very particular way, and sometimes the internal candidate may become very obviously the right candidate.
Evangelicals becoming bishops seems to be a bit of a habit too!
In case you hadn’t noticed, Carlisle’s Diocesan bishops have been generally of a central-low tradition over many years. The current appointment is hardly indicative of a national trend.
I had noticed.
However there does seem to be a national trend.
James was head of my house, senior prefect, and full back for school and my house. I always remember he got down on his knees and prayed before getting into bed.
Man of integrity and decency, at least at school. Thrashing by prefects was banned by my time, but he was never a thrasher type anyway.
Nearly in tears when he missed a tackle in a house final rugger match and we lost.
The Church of England clearly needs good muscular rugger- playing chaps from the better public schools to keep our noses to the grindstone.
Ha ha! I also ran a lot with Nick McKinnel, who was quite good in his youth, used to win most cross country competitions and county championships.
nobody would ever have accused me of being muscular. Weedy would have been more accurate. Maybe that is why I didn’t become a bishop (or priest).
Absolutely. Get back on the fives court and the rugger pitch and don’t get too serious about all this religion stuff unless you get invited to a Bash Camp!
Don’t dismiss fives courts.In my Direct Grant Grammar,School Distinguished rather than posh, the fives courts were the safest place to go for a smoke.Prefects had to walk a long path,so even though you could hardly see for the smoke, nobody could actually get caught. As for rugby,the toughest (i hesitate to say dirtiest ) opponents were the boys of Ampleforth. No Bash Camps thank God!
Out of interest may I ask which school that was? (it’s not named in the press release or +James’ wikapedia)
I was hopeless at games at school but I went on to be a phenomenally successful parish priest. Did +Rob go to boarding school – I think we should be told. A university friend of mine went to a posh Edinburgh boarding school and he often wistfully said that his parents knew very little about his childhood as a result.
How does a ‘phenomenally successful parish priest’ compare to a ‘Rolls Royce priest’?
Bishop Patrick Rodger of Manchester and Oxford was a Scot and was ordained in Edinburgh. He identified strongly with Scotland, and his two sons (one of whom was to die tragically young in a car accident) were named Jock and Andrew. Immediately before his consecration he was Provost of the Episcopal cathedral in Edinburgh. Yet Patrick Rodger did not speak with a Scottish accent but with a very refined English accent. It seems to me that that was because of his schooling at Rugby (where he was head boy).
James Newcome (about whom various comments are made above) was Bishop of Carlisle 2009-2023, after being Bishop of Penrith from 2002. He’s not the new Bishop, so of course there’s no reference to his school in the press release about Rob Saner Haigh. The school that +J attended is on public record, and is in North Wiltshire.
If memory serves from Nigel’s earlier post it was Marlborough, also the alma mater of Archie Coates who succeeded two old Etonians at HTB.
Correct. It was a fairly liberal free thinking school. I was never a member of any school cu. I dont think anybody attended bash camps but cant be sure. It was just by chance i knew two future bishops. I didnt know coates was a marlburian. Marlborough always provided bursaries for children of clergy. My sisters children went there as she married a priest, james atwell, later dean at winchester.
Wikipedia says that.
We are going off track, but your comment prompted me to look up Archie Coates. I listened to his podcast https://www.premier.plus/the-profile/podcasts/episodes/rev-archie-coates-the-new-vicar-of-holy-trinity-brompton I know why I have never kept in touch will old school friends! At 6:40 he starts talking about privilege, then talks about diversity and George Floyd (ticks box), then says he has a Nigerian churchwarden, so that’s OK. It is agonising. Somewhere later on he talks about maybe starting a church in east London, but his wife took one look, burst into tears, and said it’s not for us. In contrast I have always respected a college acquintance… Read more »
In 1966 Bishop Bulley was also translated from Penrith to Carlisle.
And was not an Evangelical.
Wasn’t this the appointment in which the CNC was deadlocked last year or in 2023 and there was a problem of a ‘lack of trust’ among members? I wonder what changed in terms of candidates? Did they have to start all over again?
They did start afresh, I assume with different central members and possibly different diocesan members.
I think that depends what you mean by “start afresh”. My understanding is that the CNC that failed to make a nomination decides how far back in the process to go. They can decide to go back to the diocesan Vacancy-in-see committee and ask for a new election of 6 diocesan represntatives. Or they can decide to carry on. Again, my understanding is that in Carlisle the CNC decided to carry on. One central member was no longer eligible, but the rules allow the other member of that pair to replace them. As it happens, the Abp of Canterbury had… Read more »
One thing that changed was that in 2023 the suffragan had been in post for just 1 year, by 2025 he’d been there for three, serving for 2 of them as acting diocesan.
So could there be hope for poor Ely??