I greatly look forward to beginning ministry as the next
Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf. Bishop Clive is spoken of
with deep respect around the Anglican Communion, and I know
I'm stepping into a rich inheritance.
Julia too looks forward to our getting to know people and
places. (She's lived in the heat more than I have, for
instance in Kuwait and Libya.) |
 |
At
this stage Alan has asked me to say a little about myself. I grew up
in Hampshire. At Oxford I read Oriental Studies before a second
degree in Theology - but Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac rather than
Arabic.
Cuddesdon Theological College led to ordination in Southwark by the
formidable Bishop Mervyn Stockwood and a curacy in a Surrey village.
There Julia and I married. She comes from Somerset. Our three
children, now grown up, are Paul, Eleanor, and George, and so far
Jacob is our one grandson.
My work since that curacy has encompassed a higher-education
chaplaincy in inner South London, time as vicar of the suburban
parish of Welling in the Borough of Bexley, leadership of the main
team ministry in Worcester, and, since 1999, the bishopric of
Middleton. Geographically this gives me day-to-day responsibility
for Rochdale, where we live, Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, and also the
area of Manchester local authority itself. I lead on education in
the diocese of Manchester and am also Warden of Readers and Lay
Eucharistic Assistants. Nationally I chair the Higher Education
Panel of the Board of Education as well as being part of the body
that relates bishops and dioceses to Anglican religious communities
of monks and nuns. I am Bishop Visitor of the Sisters of the Love of
God at Fairacres.
A slice of my time is devoted to interfaith cooperation, and I chair
the Oldham Interfaith Forum, a practical response by Christian,
Muslims, and Hindus in particular to the serious civil disturbances
that followed far-right political activity in 2001. I also take part
in Jewish-Christian dialogue in Manchester, where of course the
Jewish population is long-standing and considerable.
Though I've travelled quite a lot in other parts of the Province of
Jerusalem and the Middle East I don't know the Gulf at first hand.
Please be patient with me as I meet you and begin to absorb the
situations you live and work in. And together, whatever our
different and highly varied circumstances, let's carry on delighting
in our common life in Christ.
With prayers and all blessings.
+ Michael
|
