Next Bishop of Grantham could be a woman

 

THE next Bishop of Grantham could be a woman, thanks to a decision by the General Synod of the Church of England last week.

The suffragan post had been vacant since the retirement of the Rt Rev Tim Ellis and had been made redundant.

But there has been a change of heart.

The Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev Christopher Lowson said: “I recently received a mandate from my Diocesan Synod to seek approval from the Dioceses Commission and the Archbishop of Canterbury for the appointment of a suffragan Bishop of Grantham.

“Pending their approval for beginning that process, with today’s legislation(allowing the first women bishops to be appointed in the new year) finally adopted, the field of potential candidates would be very much wider.”

Mr Lowson a long-time supporter of the full ministry of women and a member of the General Synod, said: “It was an honour and deeply important to me personally to have been a participant in such a significant process, which formally recognises the wealth of experience, wisdom and faith which had previously been denied a place at the highest levels of the Church of England.”