John Davies (bishop of Shrewsbury)

Last updated

John Davies
Bishop of Shrewsbury
Diocese Diocese of Lichfield
In office1987–1994
Predecessor Leslie Rees
Successor David Hallatt
Other post(s)Diocesan Missioner, St Asaph (1982–1987)
Honorary assistant bishop in St Asaph (2009–present); and in Lichfield (1995–2005)
Orders
Ordination1953 (deacon); 1954 (priest)
Consecration1987
Personal details
Born (1927-08-12) 12 August 1927 (age 96)
Denomination Anglican
ParentsCharles & Minnie
SpouseShirley Gough (m. 1956)
Children1 son; 2 daughters
Profession Bishop (retired), Author
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge

John Dudley Davies (born 12 August 1927) is a former Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury. During his tenure the post changed from suffragan bishop to area bishop [1] with the institution of area bishops in 1992. [2]

After service in the Royal Air Force from 1945 to 1948, Davies was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (becoming a Cambridge Master of Arts), and at Lincoln Theological College. [3] He was made a deacon [4] and ordained a priest, [5] and began his career as curate in Halton, Leeds. Following that he served for many years in Southern Africa: his posts including that of Missionary Director for Empangeni and Chaplain at the University of Witwatersrand. While he was chaplain at the University, Davies played a major role in drafting the document A Message to the People of South Africa, a pamphlet published by the South African Council of Churches that challenged the Christians in South Africa to examine the policy of Apartheid. [6] [7] [8] In 1970, action by the South African government terminated his ministry in that country.

Returning to Britain in 1970 to an administrative post at the Church of England Board of Education, he then served as Vicar and University Chaplain at Keele; he was subsequently appointed Principal of Ascension College, Selly Oak, and finally (before his appointment to the episcopate) [9] Diocesan Missioner of St Asaph. He was consecrated a bishop on 5 February 1987, by Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster Abbey. [10] In 2012, while in his retirement he and his wife Shirley led the parish of St Dogfan, Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in mid-Wales (where he had previously served as Vicar), while they were without a parish priest. [11]

On 11 February 2017, fourteen retired bishops signed an open letter to the then-serving bishops of the Church of England. In an unprecedented move, they expressed their opposition to the House of Bishops' report to General Synod on sexuality, which recommended no change to the Church's canons or practises around sexuality. [12] By 13 February, a serving bishop (Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham) and nine further retired bishops — including Davies — had added their signatures; [13] on 15 February, the report was rejected by synod. [14]

Davies’ books include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Butler (bishop)</span> British retired Anglican bishop

Thomas Frederick Butler is a British retired Anglican bishop. He was the ninth Anglican Bishop of Southwark. He was enthroned in Southwark Cathedral on 12 September 1998. He retired from this position on 5 March 2010. In 2014, Butler was involved in the transition process for the new Diocese of Leeds as "mentor bishop"; he remains an honorary assistant bishop of that diocese.

David Staffurth Stancliffe is a retired Church of England bishop. He was Provost of Portsmouth Cathedral from 1982 to 1993, and the Bishop of Salisbury from 1993 to 2010. He is the third generation of his family to serve the ordained ministry.

Stephen George Platten, is a retired Anglican prelate, the last to serve as diocesan Bishop of Wakefield in the Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham James (bishop)</span> British Anglican bishop (born 1951)

Graham Richard James is a retired British Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Norwich in the Church of England from 1999 to 2019.

John Martin Wharton, is a British Anglican bishop, a retired Bishop of Newcastle.

Alan Thomas Lawrence Wilson was a British Anglican bishop. He served as the area Bishop of Buckingham in the Diocese of Oxford from October 2003 until his death in February 2024.

Ian James Brackley is a retired British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Dorking from 1996 to 2015.

John Charles Saxbee is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England between 2001/2 and 31 January 2011. He was introduced to the House of Lords on 1 July 2008 together with Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director-General of MI5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Cameron</span> British bishop

Gregory Kenneth Cameron is a Welsh Anglican bishop. He is Bishop of the Diocese of St Asaph in Wales, having been elected on 5 January 2009 and confirmed as bishop on 16 March 2009.

David John Atkinson is the former Bishop of Thetford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kirkham (bishop)</span> British Anglican bishop (1935–2019)

John Dudley Galtrey Kirkham was a British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Sherborne in the last quarter of the 20th century and the first area bishop under the 1981–2009 area scheme.

Geoffrey Lewis Tiarks was a British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Maidstone in the latter part of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Atwell</span> British Anglican bishop and writer

Robert Ronald Atwell is a British Anglican retired bishop, writer, and former Benedictine monk. From 2014 until 2023, he served as the Bishop of Exeter; from 2008 to 2014, he was Bishop of Stockport, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chester.

Peter John Nott was an English Anglican bishop: from 1985 to 1999, he served as Bishop of Norwich.

Colin Clement Walter James was an Anglican bishop in the Church of England, successively suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke, then the Bishop of Winchester.

Ambrose Walter Marcus Weekes was an Anglo-Catholic bishop in the 20th century who served as the first Suffragan Bishop in Europe.

John Robert Geoffrey Neale was a British Anglican bishop. From 1974 to 1988, he was the first suffragan Bishop of Ramsbury in the Church of England and the first area bishop under that diocese's 1981–2009 area scheme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Morgan (bishop)</span>

Christopher Heudebourck Morgan is a retired bishop in the Church of England, the area Bishop of Colchester from 2002 until his retirement in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Winton</span> British Anglican bishop

Alan Peter Winton is a retired bishop who served as Bishop of Thetford in the Church of England Diocese of Norwich.

Oliver Simon is a retired Anglican bishop and Church of England priest. After a 40-year ministry as a priest, he served as Bishop of Antsiranana in Madagascar from 2012 until 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition), Church House Publishing ISBN   978-0-7151-1030-0
  2. ↑ "4: The Dioceses Commission, 1978–2002" (PDF). Church of England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  3. ↑ ‘DAVIES, John Dudley’, Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2011 , accessed 6 July 2012
  4. ↑ "Ordinations" . Church Times . No. 4715. 19 June 1953. p. 457. ISSN   0009-658X . Retrieved 12 June 2019– via UK Press Online archives.
  5. ↑ "Ordinations on Trinity Sunday" . Church Times . No. 4767. 18 June 1954. p. 477. ISSN   0009-658X . Retrieved 12 June 2019– via UK Press Online archives.
  6. ↑ Hayes, Stephen (12 April 2010). "Reconciliation". Khanya. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  7. ↑ Text can be found at: "A message to the people of South Africa". South African Council of Churches. Archived from the original on 13 April 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  8. ↑ Peter Walshe - Church versus state in South Africa: the case of the Christian Institute — Published in the United Kingdom by Hurst & Co ( ISBN   0-905838-81-5) and in the United States by Orbis Books ( ISBN   0-88344-097-0) — (1983)
  9. ↑ Debrett's People of Today: 1992, London, Debrett's ISBN   1-870520-09-2
  10. ↑ "Consecration at the Abbey" . Church Times . No. 6469. 6 February 1987. p. 3. ISSN   0009-658X . Retrieved 12 June 2019– via UK Press Online archives.
  11. ↑ Phil Topham, ed. (April–May 2012). "Teule Asaph - Sharing Good News with the Family of the Diocese" (PDF). Diocese of St Asaph. Retrieved 9 April 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ Retired Bishops' Letter — The Letter (Accessed 11 February 2017; the fourteen bishops were David Atkinson, Michael Doe, Tim Ellis, David Gillett, John Gladwin, Laurie Green, Richard Harries, Stephen Lowe, Stephen Platten, John Pritchard, Peter Selby, Tim Stevens, Martin Wharton, and Williamson.)
  13. ↑ Retired Bishops' Letter — New Signatures Archived 2017-02-18 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed 17 February 2017; the nine bishops were Gordon Bates, Ian Brackley, Davies, Peter Maurice, David Rossdale, John Saxbee, Martin Shaw, Oliver Simon, and David Stancliffe.
  14. ↑ The Grauniad — Church of England in turmoil as synod rejects report on same-sex relationships (Accessed 17 February 2017)
Church of England titles
Preceded by Bishop of Shrewsbury
1987–1994		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.