Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office: the Bishop of Beverley is the provincial episcopal visitor (PEV) for the Province of York. There is more on the York diocesan website. The new bishop will be consecrated on St Andrew’s Day.
Appointment of Suffragan Bishop of Beverley: 12 October 2022
Her Late Majesty The Queen approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Stephen Race to the Suffragan See of Beverley, in the Diocese of York.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 12 October 2022
Her Late Majesty The Queen approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Stephen Race, Incumbent of the Benefice of Central Barnsley and Area Dean of Barnsley, in the Diocese of Leeds, to the Suffragan See of Beverley, in the Diocese of York, in succession to The Right Reverend Glyn Webster following his retirement.
Background
Stephen was educated at St Hild and St Bede College, Durham. He trained for ministry at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and was ordained Priest in 2003.
Stephen served his title at St Mary’s Wigton, in the Diocese of Carlisle, and in 2005 he was appointed Vicar of St John the Baptist, Dodworth, in the Diocese of Wakefield. He was additionally appointed Diocesan Director of Ordinands (DDO) in 2008 for the Diocese of Wakefield (and subsequently the Diocese of Leeds), having served as Assistant DDO from 2005.
Stephen was appointed Priest-in-Charge of St Mary’s Barnsley in 2014, and additionally Priest-in-Charge of St Edward the Confessor Barnsley and St Thomas Gawber in 2017. Following this, he was licensed as Priest in Charge of St George’s Barnsley in 2018 and with the pastoral reorganisations completed, he was licensed as Incumbent of the Benefice of Central Barnsley in 2019. Stephen has served as Area Dean of Barnsley since 2009 and has been an Honorary Canon of Wakefield Cathedral since 2011.
Nothing but praise and respect from this clergy colleague in the Diocese of Leeds and former Diocese of Wakefield.
Congratulations to, and prayers for, Fr Race. As far as I can see, whilst the churches of the Central Barnsley benefice are under the episcopal care of the Bishop of Beverley, they are not affiliated to the Society. Is Fr Race currently registered as a priest of the Society, does anyone know?
Why oh why are we still appointing Bishops (and Priests) who oppose the ordination of women as Priests? Its getting on for 30 years now since women were ordained, a generation. Furthermore women are now the backbone of the church.
It is time now to shut up and just go if for any other reason other then we just can’t afford to support misogyny any more.
We are doing it because it was what was agreed as part of the legislative package that Synod approved in July 2014 which enabled the ordination of women to the episcopate. This recognises that those who are unable to accept the sacramental ministry of women as priests and bishops have a place in the Church of England, and therefore suitable provision needs to continue to be made. The five guiding principles underlying that package are as follows: Now that legislation has been passed to enable women to become bishops the Church of England is fully and unequivocally committed to all… Read more »
Yes, 30 years when some clergy are allowed to deny the validity of other clergy and refuse to recognise them or share the eucharist. Would any other denomination let this happen?
Yes, the RC Church bars women clergy and declares Anglican Orders invalid.
But it doesn’t have some clergy who refuse to recognise the orders of other clergy, and dioceses who arrange separate services to facilitate the breach. That was my point. Which denomination, apart from ourselves, allows some of its clergy to discriminate and refuse to recognise others of its own clergy?
Do you prefer the RC approach which discriminates against ALL women? Or an Anglican accommodation for the minority who wish to stay, despite not accepting female clergy?
I’m sorry, the church is shrinking, those who do not agree with women Priests have had long enough to get over it.
We just can’t afford these “Forward in Faith” Priests and flying Bishops with tiny congregations.
I’ve seen years of discrimination against women, let it end now.
I’m opposed to discrimination against women too (obviously). However, a conscientious belief that the priesthood should be male (for which there are theological arguments) is not, in and of itself, discrimination. I’m sorry, but it isn’t. There is a place for people in the Church of England for people who see the role of ordained priest as male. The five guiding principles were built on a recognition of that commitment. Do I support women’s ordination? Yes, 100%. Do I detest discrimination of people, with the purpose of putting them down? Yes. But conscience, as in the case of sexual orientation,… Read more »
So, Alan, what do you expect these tiny congregations to do to “get over it”? There have been arguments here before over whether or not their theological beliefs are valid. Whether you think they are, or whether you believe them to be “misogyny”, these folk do believe what they do seriously and after considerable thought and prayer. Let’s not start that again. What do they do to “get over it”? Would you just disallow the existence of PEVs and thus require them to go against their conscience? Or would you point to the exits and tell them that other “misogynist”… Read more »
A lot of us would have left, if it was clear the legislation would never pass.
You would have left, Janet? May I ask whither? How would you have kept your CofE faith and yet honoured your vocation? Am I right in thinking that those leaving would have done so because they felt that they had no place in the CofE? Would you, and Alan, prefer that the Five Guiding Principles be dismantled, the system of PEVs removed and an approach adopted like ECUSA did? Would you be comfortable if this meant that those who claim oversight from the PEVs left? Where would they go? Not to Rome, surely, or they would have gone earlier, wouldn’t… Read more »
And, forgive me, I forgot the most important question.
*Why* would you have left?
If I had left, it would have been because I could not fulfil my vocation within the C of E, and because I didn’t think England’s national church should be practising discrimination. In fact, I very nearly resigned when the Act of Synod was brought in, but was persuaded to stay by my spiritual director, Sr. Marion Eva OHP, and by Dame Christian Howard. I think the question of how dissenters from women’s ordination should be treated is a very difficult one. But I grew up in the USA during the civil rights struggle of the 60s, and it was… Read more »
Thank you very much for your candour, Janet, and taking the trouble to reply to my barrage of questions. While I do not think we are as free to choose the consequences of our theological stances as you seem to suggest, I do agree that the CofE should have had the courage of its convictions in 1992 and not made provision in either direction on either outcome. It would have saved lingering mental pain for Christians on either side of the divide, including thee and me. In my opinion, there is only one solution for the CofE and that is… Read more »
Thank you for that charitable reply. Most of us can cope, and get on well, with people on the other side of a divide such as this, who behave with courtesy and grace. Sadly that isn’t always the case. In one deanery I was on friendly terms with the vicar of a nearby parish who was opposed to women’s ordination but didn’t let that interfere with relationships with colleagues. At a clergy conference he was seen talking to a couple of us, and promptly ostracised by those of his own conviction who would have nothing to do with female clergy,… Read more »
I know a parish which had a Catholic priest and weekly communicants were 70, when he left they put an evangelical in numbers down to 25?
The society church I attend has anything but a dwindling congregation.
An imaginative and inspiring appointment not just for those of us who live in the northern Province and look to the Society bishops in the first instance for sacramental and pastoral provision but for all Anglicans in Archbishop Stephen’s jurisdiction. And, in answer to Alan’s rather ungenerous comment requesting that people of my traditional Catholic persuasion to shut up and go, just have a look at what the Archbishop says on the York diocesan website.
Any other organisation in decline gets rid of a tranche of its middle management. Only the CofE resolutely keeps filling every vacancy. With dwindling numbers of people what do these senior clergy do all day?
‘Her Late Majesty The Queen approved the nomination’
so why is it announced more than a month after her death?
I imagine because the Prime Minister’s Office has been somewhat occupied with non-Church business in the intervening period…
An easy answer NJW but … it must take all of five minutes to announce this – all will have been in place at the time of approval.
No. HMK approves the nomination and the letter goes back to Downing Street. Then it is a communications question and planning for the announcement. Obviously different for a PEV, but the same principles apply. Two other announcements must be imminent, possibly also impacted by the death of TLHMQ; Liverpool and Newcastle. Blackburn is a work-in-progress. While writing, it is interesting to note that the CNC is rostered to work harder than it has ever done before, with four vacancies to consider in six months between February and July 2023, in order, Lincoln, Winchester, Birmingham, and Peterborough. Then it goes quiet.… Read more »
I attended an induction of a vicar into a parish taken by a flying bishop. Why did he have to do it? He had travelled over 100 miles to get there. A suffragan bishop of the same diocese was present. And then another vicar friend in another part of the country told me there had been a confirmation of three young teenagers in a neighbouring parish by the flying bishop who had travelled again well over one hundred miles to get there. How much of time do these men spend in sitting in cars or trains – travelling around? Is… Read more »
Last year there was an ordination in a church near me with the BIshop of Maidstone and the Area Bishop and one candidate. A bishop: candidate ration of 2:1 seems a little strange.
Does the “majority of Christendom” practice confirmation?
Years ago (in response to a Diocesan strategy consultation I think) I suggested that Rural Deans should be used for Confirmation…. Obviously the Bishop didn’t buy it. I wonder if churches would… Though I guess they prefer a Bishop, even if it’s a long commute. The same for inductions? I’ve stood in for the Archdeacon…. Who stood in for the Bishop… Who was somewhere else… Retired I think
In some form or another the ‘majority of Christendom’ does. (I know thats an unusual phrase but I can’t quite see an alternative at the moment!). Roman Catholics (who are the majority of Christians, aren’t they), Anglicans, and if we see chrismation as Confirmation, the Orthodox, all practice confirmation. Only Anglicans require this to be done by a bishop. What do assistant bishops / suffragans actually do? It seems to me bishops (especially suffragans) fill their diaries with activities that are not necessarily episcopal, and sadly don’t focus on some areas that could be seen as more episcopal. Thus for… Read more »
How many are actually being confirmed now. The number has declined enormously .
Indeed it has. However what has also declined is the number of confirmands at a Confirmation service.
An interesting statistic to know would be what was the average number of confirmands at a confirmation service 50 years ago and what is the same figure now?
It is informative to look at the bishop-designate’s General Synod hustings at Race.pdf (anglican.org). In particular, to give one Q and A in full: Q: The Bishop of Liverpool has said “The Church in Wales … has chosen to affirm love, in the spirit of the unchanging God of love whom we know in Jesus. I trust that my own Church will follow this creative and gospel-inspired lead, and I hope that this will happen soon.” Do you agree with Bishop Paul that the C of E should bless the marriages of same-sex couples? A. It is disingenuous to bless… Read more »
I would be interested to know more of the involvement of the Dioceses Commission in this regard. It seems to me this should include consideration of the need for or indeed acceptability of, 30 years on, gender discrimination. How long did folk have to convince their consciences to accept to the abolition of slavery?