Thinking Anglicans

Suffragan See of Sherwood

Updated

Press release from Number 10

Suffragan See of Sherwood
11 March 2020

Queen approves nomination to the Suffragan See of Sherwood.
Published 11 March 2020
Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street

The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Doctor Andrew Neil Emerton BSc, BTh, DPhil, Dean of St Mellitus College, in the Diocese of London to the Suffragan See of Sherwood, in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, in succession to the Right Reverend Anthony Porter BA MA who is due to retire on 22nd March 2020.

Andy was educated at York University, and Queens College, Oxford and trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He served his title at Holy Trinity Brompton in the Diocese of London and was ordained Priest in 2006.

In 2008, Andy was appointed as Assistant Dean, St Mellitus College and in 2015 Andy took up his current roles as Dean, St Mellitus College and Principal, St Paul’s Theological Centre

Update

There is more detail on the diocesan website, including the consecration date which is Ascension Day 21 May 2020.

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Graham Williams
Graham Williams
4 years ago

Fantastic appointment as Bishop of Sherwood

We should be expecting the Bishops of Horsham and Lewes to be announced in the next couple of weeks too. Exciting times for the church

Sam Jones
Sam Jones
Reply to  Graham Williams
4 years ago

Looks a good appointment although +Nottingham was always likely to appoint a charismatic evangelical.

Will be interesting to see whether +Chichester keeps with the tradition of a catholic as +Horsham and an evangelical as +Lewes.

Richard Ashby
Richard Ashby
Reply to  Sam Jones
4 years ago

I’m not sure the the Chichester ‘tradition’ has a very long history. I do remember reading that Bishop Kemp said that he needed an evangelical at Lewes when Wallace Benn was appointed, and of course Peter Ball, hardly that, was a predecessor at Lewes. Again, three Anglo-catholics in succession at Horsham Doesn’t necessarily mean another will be appointed. More important is that at least one, if not both, should ordain women and one should be a woman. Though whether Bishop Martin would countenance a woman or whether any woman would want to come to Chichester is another matter.

peter kettle
peter kettle
Reply to  Graham Williams
4 years ago

Graham: what makes this appointment ‘fantastic’?

Kate
Kate
Reply to  Graham Williams
4 years ago

Why is it fantastic?

We are told nothing about Andrew’s achievements.

Fr. Dean Henley
Fr. Dean Henley
4 years ago

Andy appears to have had virtually no parish experience (HTB is not what I’d consider a normal parish). I wonder how the parish clergy in Nottinghamshire will interpret that?

Charles K
Charles K
Reply to  Fr. Dean Henley
4 years ago

Why not give him a chance?! He could be amazing and he has been chosen not just by a Bishop but by a pretty thorough process.

Laurence Cunnington
Laurence Cunnington
4 years ago

But will he take over the current Bishop of Sherwood’s crucial role as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sport Ambassador? 🙂

Charles Read
Charles Read
Reply to  Laurence Cunnington
4 years ago

He is moving to be nearer his brother!

Simon W
Simon W
Reply to  Charles Read
4 years ago

Kensington to Mansfield will be quite some move.

Laurence Cunnington
Laurence Cunnington
Reply to  Simon W
4 years ago

Sherwood is as rough as, so the Bishop of it doesn’t live there but in one of the posher suburbs of Nottingham. Not quite Kensington, though!

Simon W
Simon W
Reply to  Laurence Cunnington
4 years ago

Dick Darby lived in Halam or Edingley I recall and then Alan Morgan was based just off the Nottingham Road in Mansfield. So why the retreat to Nottingham? Surely better to have an episcopal presence further north than Southwell or the metropolis?

Kate
Kate
Reply to  Laurence Cunnington
4 years ago

No good shepherd sleeps away from his flock

Father David
4 years ago

Bishops Mike, Nick, Pete now Andy. Pray, why not Christian and saintly names – Michael, Nicholas, Peter and Andrew?
Mercifully, no bishop called David chooses to be known as “DAVE”

Rowland Wateridge
Rowland Wateridge
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

My Diocesan is Tim. I tried to edit this to his proper Christian name (and episcopal title) on Wikipedia, but my edit was subsequently reversed to the original, so they, or someone, decided that was how the Bishop prefers to be known.

Apologies for being in ultra-pedantic mode today, but I see that the Bishop of Oxford signs himself “+Steven Oxford” rather than “+Steven Oxon.”. Father David, we are old hat. This is the modern face of the C of E (and No 10 Downing Street’s sloppy announcements!).

Father David
Reply to  Rowland Wateridge
4 years ago

At least it isn’t +Steve Oxford.

Fr. Dean Henley
Fr. Dean Henley
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

Do you think that ++Justin would prefer to be called ‘Jus’ or ‘Tin’? When I’m made a bishop I’m happy for you all to call me ‘My Lord’ rather than fretting about abbreviating Dean, I wouldn’t want anyone to have to stray too far from their comfort zone.

dr.primrose
dr.primrose
Reply to  Fr. Dean Henley
4 years ago

I know a priest whose first name is “Dean.” His ecclesiastical position is a dean. So he’s know by all his friends as “Dean Dean.”

cryptogram
cryptogram
Reply to  dr.primrose
4 years ago

When I was first ordained the Bishop of Malmesbury was universally known by his Christian name Leofric. His surname was Bishop, and he said that being called “Bishop” was like being back at prep school. Everyone from the humblest curate was welcome to call him Leofric.

MR DAVID J LAMMING
MR DAVID J LAMMING
Reply to  dr.primrose
4 years ago

Not forgetting similar job-based legal names. So Igor Judge (now Lord Judge), when LCJ, was Lord Chief Justice Judge.

T Pott
T Pott
Reply to  Fr. Dean Henley
4 years ago

just Just maybe

Tim Chesterton
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

I’m 61, and the only person in my life who has ever called me ‘Timothy’ is my mother – usually when I was in trouble. Everyone in my parish calls me ‘Tim’, and that’s how I’m known in the Diocese. Sorry if this offends you, but I was a teenager in the 1970s and it’s what comes naturally to my generation. I will never be a bishop, thank God, but if I was, I would definitely be Bishop Tim (or, preferably, just ‘Tim’).

Father David
4 years ago

P. S. I forgot “Tony” – the suffragan bishop of Sherwood who will be replaced by “Andy”
What a noble name is Anthony – the saintly founder of Eastern monasticism.

Phil
Phil
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

Quite some time back we had Bishop Tony, of Pontefract, now Wakefield…

Angusian
Angusian
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

Bishop Nick is commonly used for m’lord of Leeds et al ! Seldom Bishop Nicholas, but then he had a distinguished career before ordination.

Rowland Wateridge
Rowland Wateridge
4 years ago

More forgivable on the diocesan website, possibly, but don’t people at No 10 know how to correctly refer to The Queen’s College, Oxford? (And for pedants, like myself, promoting the retention of the apostrophe and its proper use, it’s Queens’ College, Cambridge.)

Richard
Richard
Reply to  Rowland Wateridge
4 years ago

I agree heartily with the promotion of proper use of the apostrophe. I have a cousin who sprinkles them too liberally, including (God help us): The Bahama’s.

Angusian
Angusian
4 years ago

An interesting appointment, but one that confirms preferment is only given to ‘those in a like image’.

Fr John Harris-White
Fr John Harris-White
4 years ago

Life is becoming more dangerous, and the ‘bunch’ of Bishops in the Church of England more common. I am old hat, but why cannot so called Christian leaders use their full proper CHRISTAN name. We have to put up with a curate who needs must be called Andy !.

Fr John Emlyn

Father David
Reply to  Fr John Harris-White
4 years ago

Let’s face it – Archbishop Randall Davidson was never known as Randy – they wouldn’t have dared to!

Angusian
Angusian
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

what a great thought !

Father David
4 years ago

Just watched the “Moondust” episode of The Crown including the setting up of St. George’s House, Windsor by Robin Woods. All the dispirited clergy wore full round clerical dog collars. I wonder when the slip in collar took over as seen worn by the next Bishop of Sherwood?

Fr. Dean Henley
Fr. Dean Henley
Reply to  Father David
4 years ago

It’s perhaps one of the rare occasions Andy has worn a collar since he was ordained. Nicky at HTB seems to eschew clerical dress these days. Nicky seems to have been overlooked in the preferment derby – something he said?

David Runcorn
David Runcorn
4 years ago

Can we please get back to the ‘Thinking’ bit of Anglicans here? This is narkey and tedious. Thanks – Dave.

David Exham
David Exham
Reply to  David Runcorn
4 years ago

David, well said. We are facing a pandemic, huge safeguarding problems, a major challenge with regard to a leading Oxford college, and people are freaking out about Bishops being called by a nickname. Get real.

Kate
Kate
Reply to  David Runcorn
4 years ago

I actually prefer bishops to be informal and call themselves Andy or Tim – or Jackie for that matter – but some people here a) prefer bishops to express more gravitas in the name they use and/or b) some people believe that the name used in baptism should be used. While I personally disagree, don’t think those legitimate views should be dismissed as “narkey”.

Tim Chesterton
Reply to  Kate
4 years ago

I don’t think it’s the view itself that’s being dismissed as ‘narkey’ – it’s the fact that in a time of pandemic etc., it seems such a tiny little thing to get into a righteous fit about. I’m sure Jesus doesn’t lose any sleep over whether I prefer to be called ‘Tim’ or ‘Timothy’.

FrDavidH
FrDavidH
Reply to  Tim Chesterton
4 years ago

Laughing at evangelicals who seem to prefer names like Nicky, Ricky and Mickey is not an alternative to taking the pandemic seriously. Why should Thinking Anglicans be so po-faced? Having a sense of humour is essential in these worrying times.

David Exham
David Exham
Reply to  FrDavidH
4 years ago

Laughing at people does not seem like a very Christian practice. Laughing with them is good. There’s nothing po-faced, though, about not being rude.

David Runcorn
David Runcorn
Reply to  FrDavidH
4 years ago

FrDavidH Actually in my corner of the church ministers called Andy, Nick, Tony and Steve are as likely to have the title ‘Father’ in front … with or without a sense of humour. Whether they find it any funnier to be told they make the CofE ‘common’ – well I will leave you to try that joke out on them.

FrDavidH
FrDavidH
Reply to  David Runcorn
4 years ago

Who said these funny abbreviated names make the CofE “common”? Not me.

David Runcorn
David Runcorn
Reply to  FrDavidH
4 years ago

Look back up this thread FrDavidH … Yes, David Exham – laughing ‘with’ is fun – laughing ‘at’ is derogatory behaviour. But Susannah as always calls us back to grace. I rejoice in Andy, called by name. I thank him for his ‘yes’ to God and pray for him and those he will serve as Bishop.

David Exham
David Exham
Reply to  Kate
4 years ago

No, Kate, they are not legitimate views, at least not if someone seeks to impose them on others or even criticises people whose choice is not what you think it should be. Common courtesy, let alone Christian love, requires that we address people by the name that they prefer. Our preference doesn’t come into it. To seek to ‘edit’ a Bishop’s Wikipedia page seems to be just bad manners.

Father David
4 years ago

“narkey” – “a righteous fit” – “freaking out”
Me thinks you doth protest too much with your OTT comments!
At a time of international crisis a little light relief is surely what the doctor ordered – so, “Keep Calm and Carry On”
It has been said that the next Bishop of Sherwood makes a rare appearance in a clerical collar for his photo opportunity, I wonder if we shall be seeing him in cope and mitre or will he be sticking with convocation robes – as I suspect are always worn by the Bishops of Islington, Maidstone and Wallace Benn?

Susannah Clark
Susannah Clark
4 years ago

Let’s try and focus on the Suffragan See of Sherwood and the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. That’s what this post is all about. The churches and people in the diocese, and their new suffragan bishop. May God bless their communities and their ministries. Not least, Nicky Skipworth’s inclusive ministry at AllSaints, Haworth and Bircotes, and James Pacey and the inclusive church at St John’s, Carrington. Also Father Wayne and Revd Tracey at St John the Baptist, Beeston – inclusive and welcoming; Father James Curry at the very inclusive church of St Mark’s, Mansfield; and Sue Caddy’s ministry in the… Read more »

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