on Friday, 17 July 2026 at 10.39 am by Peter Owen
categorised as Church of England, News
It was announced yesterday that the Revd Canon Andrew Dodd will be the next Dean of Coventry. He is currently Canon Treasurer at Canterbury Cathedral. The full announcement is here.
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Realist
16 days ago
Four days at the top of the news items list and no comments – is that a record? I’m just hoping for all concerned it’s because (unusually for any online blog, or indeed group of people anywhere…) all are content about the appointment. Though I’m afraid that also makes me ponder the old adage about how to keep all of the people happy all of the time – speak about nothing controversial, do nothing controversial and have as little impact as is humanly possible!! I hasten to add I don’t know this appointee or his work, so have no idea… Read more »
Pitkin Books have been publishing guides to English cathedrals for a very long time. One of them was not about Coventry Cathedral per se but about its consecration in 1962. It had a photo of Bishop Cuthbert Bardsley in the presence of the Queen and her husband, and one of Andrew Dodd’s predecessors (though the title then was Provost, not Dean) is also in the photo. I learn from Wikipedia that he was H.C.N. Williams. a South African.
Oh dear, I was trying to avoid the temptation of a further comment. As a young boy my parents took me to a service in the then Croydon Parish Church (now Minster) and the sermon was preached by the Bishop of Croydon, Cuthbert Bardsley. Years later I watched the television broadcast (in black and white) of the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral which began with Bardsley, now Bishop of Coventry, standing with his crozier and loudly exclaiming “Open the doors”! The Provost was the Very Revd HCN Williams, formerly of the parish of St Bartholomew Hyde, Winchester where he… Read more »
Thank you. I was a boy of 10 at the time of the consecration of Coventry Cathedral, and our whole school was assembled in the school hall to listen to it on the radio. The headteacher (who had once been a professional footballer of note) was in Coventry for part of WW2, so he gave an account of that in the ten or so minutes before the consecration began.
I suspect that the truth is that readers of TA have been obsessed with the discussion on same-sex relationships…
I briefly met the new Dean of Coventry last Thursday. He strikes me as a Good Thing.
The last similar comment on TA about ‘non-interest’/ lack of response to an appointment was posted at around midnight, a mere ten hours after the new thread had appeared that same day. I thought that was possibly a record. In the event quite a spirited discussion followed, including some dissent. I’m sure that in the present case those of us who have no knowledge of the Dean or any connection with Coventry wish him well.
Stephen Griffiths
16 days ago
It’s pretty much a brand new senior clergy team in Coventry Diocese. Bishop Sophie arrived last year. She has appointed one archdeacon and a dean but still needs another archdeacon and a suffragan bishop to complete the set.
Homeless Anglican
16 days ago
Smiled at the reference to being an artisanal Baker! Not just a home baker, or likes to make bread!! Looking forward to his mission shaped sourdough!
I also noticed how the Comments on Canon Dodd’s appointment remained as naked as Lady Godiva for several days. May I wish him well as he takes over as Dean at St. Basil’s modern masterpiece in Coventry.
Colin Semper when he was Provost complained about the acoustics in the cathedral. I can’t say I noticed a problem when I attended services there. However, from his vantage pont in the Provost’s Stall or at the High Altar, he was less than impressed.
It will be interesting to see how the new Dean takes forward the Ministry of Reconciliation which the Cathedral has developed over the years, with Paul Oestereicher and Justin Welby playing their part over the years.
The acoustics are terrible, like those of an empty warehouse. Anyone speaking there needs to speak very slowly to avoid competing with their own echo. I have been present at a service where I barely heard a word of the address because the speaker hadn’t grasped that.
On the other hand, some of the glass, especially around the baptistery, is wonderful.
After posting my earlier comment (possibly of peripheral interest to most TA readers) I realised that I may have over-egged the pudding. Possibly I should have said the finest cathedral organ of much of the 20th century – there were earlier rivals (Ely, Liverpool and Westminster RC), all in the first quarter. As well as Coventry, Cuthbert Harrison’s major new organs included those of the Royal Festival Hall and St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Coventry stands as his finest cathedral organ. I don’t have any experience of Coventry services, but my impression has been that the acoustic is no more challenging… Read more »
Really? Liverpool? (both Cathedrals!); Westminster Cathedral? Notre Dame rebuild? A bold statement to make about cathedral organs. All truly artisanal – like like Dean-elect Dodd’s bread!
I was thinking of English cathedrals (and possibly only Anglican as well) and you will see I modified my comment to concede other earlier possible contenders, the two you mention plus Ely. It appears you may not have read that? I also well know Liverpool RC and St Chad’s Birmingham RC cathedral organs (by the same, now sadly defunct, builder) and rate both highly, but still put Coventry at the top of this English league – personal opinion, of course. If you want to include France, that’s an entirely different story. Notre Dame is not strictly a new organ in… Read more »
Canon Dodd has a civil engineering background, and says that he has a love of concrete. He’ll need it.
Dave
15 days ago
There does seem to be an awareness of the need for broadness in senior appointments in dioceses. In the current situation that could be a good thing. So sad to see in some places bishops packing their senior teams with people who will not challenge, or at times disagree with them. (Consider the ailing Manchester diocese where no traditional Catholics are represented, and indeed never been a woman bishop). Durham has appointed an Archdeacon who is SSC. There is a vacancy there for a suffragan. A clear good choice would be a conservative evangelical bishop from outside the area. The… Read more »
‘Suffragans should move a little more.’ Cyril Garbett when he was ++Cyril Ebor said he would like to see translations from one suffragan see to another, but the idea was not taken up.
I wholeheartedly agree. But a massive re-framing of the role and workload of such bishop-vicars and archdeacon-rectors would be needed.
At the very least the provision of a full-time post-curacy associate minister in their parish.
Isn’t it the case, though, that suffragans and archdeacons have had to create much larger workloads for themselves to justify their full time roles? In the past suffragans were simply an extra pair of confirming hands. They could get on with their parish duties when they weren’t out conducting confirmation services.
It’s not so long ago that a number of archdeacons also had a parish. I believe there was the odd suffragan who did too. But I guess there were fewer Very Important Committees to chair in those days.
I have been an archdeacon without also being as incumbent or associate priest in a parish. This gave me the freedom to visit parishes across a large geographical area (central Lincolnshire) on Sundays – and especially to provide some cover for parishes in vacancy or the sudden illness of an incumbent (not every area is generously endowed with retired clergy who are able to assist in vacancies). For the last eleven years, I have been Dean of Guernsey (a role that doesn’t easily fit English definitions – think archdeacon with some of the ‘public square’ ministry that an English cathedral… Read more »
Four days at the top of the news items list and no comments – is that a record? I’m just hoping for all concerned it’s because (unusually for any online blog, or indeed group of people anywhere…) all are content about the appointment. Though I’m afraid that also makes me ponder the old adage about how to keep all of the people happy all of the time – speak about nothing controversial, do nothing controversial and have as little impact as is humanly possible!! I hasten to add I don’t know this appointee or his work, so have no idea… Read more »
Pitkin Books have been publishing guides to English cathedrals for a very long time. One of them was not about Coventry Cathedral per se but about its consecration in 1962. It had a photo of Bishop Cuthbert Bardsley in the presence of the Queen and her husband, and one of Andrew Dodd’s predecessors (though the title then was Provost, not Dean) is also in the photo. I learn from Wikipedia that he was H.C.N. Williams. a South African.
Oh dear, I was trying to avoid the temptation of a further comment. As a young boy my parents took me to a service in the then Croydon Parish Church (now Minster) and the sermon was preached by the Bishop of Croydon, Cuthbert Bardsley. Years later I watched the television broadcast (in black and white) of the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral which began with Bardsley, now Bishop of Coventry, standing with his crozier and loudly exclaiming “Open the doors”! The Provost was the Very Revd HCN Williams, formerly of the parish of St Bartholomew Hyde, Winchester where he… Read more »
Thank you. I was a boy of 10 at the time of the consecration of Coventry Cathedral, and our whole school was assembled in the school hall to listen to it on the radio. The headteacher (who had once been a professional footballer of note) was in Coventry for part of WW2, so he gave an account of that in the ten or so minutes before the consecration began.
I suspect that the truth is that readers of TA have been obsessed with the discussion on same-sex relationships…
I briefly met the new Dean of Coventry last Thursday. He strikes me as a Good Thing.
Perhaps watching the football. Or glued to the riveting political developments.
Dreadful cathedral. And the old one was so beautiful.
The last similar comment on TA about ‘non-interest’/ lack of response to an appointment was posted at around midnight, a mere ten hours after the new thread had appeared that same day. I thought that was possibly a record. In the event quite a spirited discussion followed, including some dissent. I’m sure that in the present case those of us who have no knowledge of the Dean or any connection with Coventry wish him well.
It’s pretty much a brand new senior clergy team in Coventry Diocese. Bishop Sophie arrived last year. She has appointed one archdeacon and a dean but still needs another archdeacon and a suffragan bishop to complete the set.
Smiled at the reference to being an artisanal Baker! Not just a home baker, or likes to make bread!! Looking forward to his mission shaped sourdough!
I also noticed how the Comments on Canon Dodd’s appointment remained as naked as Lady Godiva for several days. May I wish him well as he takes over as Dean at St. Basil’s modern masterpiece in Coventry.
Also St Cuthbert’s (Harrison) modern masterpiece. The finest cathedral organ, by far, of the 20th century.
Colin Semper when he was Provost complained about the acoustics in the cathedral. I can’t say I noticed a problem when I attended services there. However, from his vantage pont in the Provost’s Stall or at the High Altar, he was less than impressed.
It will be interesting to see how the new Dean takes forward the Ministry of Reconciliation which the Cathedral has developed over the years, with Paul Oestereicher and Justin Welby playing their part over the years.
The acoustics are terrible, like those of an empty warehouse. Anyone speaking there needs to speak very slowly to avoid competing with their own echo. I have been present at a service where I barely heard a word of the address because the speaker hadn’t grasped that.
On the other hand, some of the glass, especially around the baptistery, is wonderful.
After posting my earlier comment (possibly of peripheral interest to most TA readers) I realised that I may have over-egged the pudding. Possibly I should have said the finest cathedral organ of much of the 20th century – there were earlier rivals (Ely, Liverpool and Westminster RC), all in the first quarter. As well as Coventry, Cuthbert Harrison’s major new organs included those of the Royal Festival Hall and St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Coventry stands as his finest cathedral organ. I don’t have any experience of Coventry services, but my impression has been that the acoustic is no more challenging… Read more »
Thank you!
Really? Liverpool? (both Cathedrals!); Westminster Cathedral? Notre Dame rebuild? A bold statement to make about cathedral organs. All truly artisanal – like like Dean-elect Dodd’s bread!
I was thinking of English cathedrals (and possibly only Anglican as well) and you will see I modified my comment to concede other earlier possible contenders, the two you mention plus Ely. It appears you may not have read that? I also well know Liverpool RC and St Chad’s Birmingham RC cathedral organs (by the same, now sadly defunct, builder) and rate both highly, but still put Coventry at the top of this English league – personal opinion, of course. If you want to include France, that’s an entirely different story. Notre Dame is not strictly a new organ in… Read more »
Canon Dodd has a civil engineering background, and says that he has a love of concrete. He’ll need it.
There does seem to be an awareness of the need for broadness in senior appointments in dioceses. In the current situation that could be a good thing. So sad to see in some places bishops packing their senior teams with people who will not challenge, or at times disagree with them. (Consider the ailing Manchester diocese where no traditional Catholics are represented, and indeed never been a woman bishop). Durham has appointed an Archdeacon who is SSC. There is a vacancy there for a suffragan. A clear good choice would be a conservative evangelical bishop from outside the area. The… Read more »
‘Suffragans should move a little more.’ Cyril Garbett when he was ++Cyril Ebor said he would like to see translations from one suffragan see to another, but the idea was not taken up.
Suffragans and archdeacons should be chosen from among the diocesan parish clergy, and remain incumbents of their parishes.
I wholeheartedly agree. But a massive re-framing of the role and workload of such bishop-vicars and archdeacon-rectors would be needed.
At the very least the provision of a full-time post-curacy associate minister in their parish.
Isn’t it the case, though, that suffragans and archdeacons have had to create much larger workloads for themselves to justify their full time roles? In the past suffragans were simply an extra pair of confirming hands. They could get on with their parish duties when they weren’t out conducting confirmation services.
It’s not so long ago that a number of archdeacons also had a parish. I believe there was the odd suffragan who did too. But I guess there were fewer Very Important Committees to chair in those days.
I have been an archdeacon without also being as incumbent or associate priest in a parish. This gave me the freedom to visit parishes across a large geographical area (central Lincolnshire) on Sundays – and especially to provide some cover for parishes in vacancy or the sudden illness of an incumbent (not every area is generously endowed with retired clergy who are able to assist in vacancies). For the last eleven years, I have been Dean of Guernsey (a role that doesn’t easily fit English definitions – think archdeacon with some of the ‘public square’ ministry that an English cathedral… Read more »