Philip North | |
---|---|
Bishop of Blackburn | |
![]() North in 2010 | |
Church | Church of England |
Diocese | Blackburn |
In office | 25 April 2023 –present |
Predecessor | Julian Henderson |
Other post(s) |
|
Orders | |
Ordination | 1992 (deacon) 1993 (priest) |
Consecration | 2 February 2015 by Martin Warner |
Personal details | |
Born | Philip John North 2 December 1966 |
Nationality | English |
Denomination | Anglicanism |
Alma mater | University of York St Stephen's House, Oxford |
Philip John North CMP (born 2 December 1966) is a bishop in the Church of England. Since April 2023, he has served as Bishop of Blackburn, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Blackburn. He was previously Bishop of Burnley, a suffragan bishop in the same diocese, since 2015; and team rector of the parish of Old St Pancras.
It was announced in January 2017 that North had been nominated to become the next Bishop of Sheffield. He withdrew his acceptance of the nomination in March 2017 without taking up the post after concerns were raised about him being "unable to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests" and his citing "highly individualised attacks" which he had received. [1] In 2012, he had withdrawn his acceptance of the appointment as Bishop of Whitby primarily for the same reason.
North was born on 2 December 1966 in North London. [2] He was educated at Latymer Upper School, a private school in Hammersmith, London. [3] [4] He studied history at the University of York, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1988. [5] [6] He spent a year working as a pastoral assistant in Redhouse, Sunderland, before preparing for ordination at St Stephen's House, Oxford. [5] He graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA degree in 1991; as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree in 2001. [6]
North was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1992 and as a priest in 1993. [6] He was a curate at Saint Mary and Saint Peter's in Sunderland until 1996, after which he became the vicar of Holy Trinity in Hartlepool until 2002, during which time he was also Hartlepool's area dean (2000-2002).
In 2002, North became priest administrator of the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, also serving as priest-in-charge of Hempton and Pudding Norton from 2004 to 2007. In 2008 he became team rector in the parish of Old St Pancras and team vicar at St Michael's Church, Camden Town.
In 1997, North joined the Company of Mission Priests, a dispersed community (not a religious order) of male Anglican priests who do not marry and follow the Vincentian rule of life. [7] In 2015, he was elected a member of the general council of the Society of Mary, an Anglican devotional society. [8]
On 19 October 2012, North was announced as Martin Warner's successor as Bishop of Whitby. [9] On 16 December 2012, it was announced that North had withdrawn his acceptance of the post because of conflict between his views on women as priests and bishops, [10] his love for the Parish of Old St Pancras and "the views of people in the Archdeaconry of Cleveland". [11]
On 7 November 2014, it was announced that North had been selected as the next Bishop of Burnley. [7] He was consecrated at York Minster on 2 February 2015. [12] The laying on of hands was restricted to three bishops "who share his theological conviction regarding the ordination of women"; the other bishops at the service, including the only woman then consecrated as a bishop, Libby Lane, and John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, gathered around him during the consecration prayer instead. [13] The three consecrating bishops were: Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester; Tony Robinson, Bishop of Pontefract; and Glyn Webster, Bishop of Beverley. [14] Warner also presided at the service's Eucharist in place of Sentamu. [13] On 14 February 2015, he was installed as Bishop of Burnley at Blackburn Cathedral. [15] In May 2016, it was announced that North was to also be Acting Dean of Blackburn during the vacancy in the deanery caused by the resignation of Christopher Armstrong on 17 June 2016 (although Armstrong departed Blackburn prior to this date). [16] He later resigned the residentiary canonry on 31 August 2022 [17] (the day of Julian Henderson's retirement, upon which North became acting diocesan bishop). [18]
On 31 January 2017, it was announced that North was to be translated to become Bishop of Sheffield; his installation at Sheffield Cathedral had been scheduled for June 2017, [19] by which point he needed to have been elected and confirmed. However, he withdrew his acceptance of the nomination on 9 March 2017 following several public objections on the basis of his rejection of the ordination of women and the number of women serving as priests in the diocese. In his statement of withdrawal, North cited "personal attacks". [20] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, later described the affair as "deeply saddening for all involved" and "a setback". [21]
In addition to serving as the Bishop of Burnley, he was an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Manchester during the vacancy in the See of Beverley (the Provincial Episcopal Visitor for traditionalist catholics in the Province of York) from January to November 2022. [22] [4] He has also been an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Chester since 2022. [23]
It was announced on 10 January 2023 that North had been nominated to become the next Bishop of Blackburn, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Blackburn. [24] He legally took up the See of Blackburn at the confirmation on 25 April 2023 at York Minster of his election. [25] His installation took place on 24 June 2023 at Blackburn Cathedral. [26]
North supports the ordination of women as deacons, but does not support the ordination of women to the priesthood or episcopate. [27] In relation to homosexuality and same-sex marriage, he has stated: "I don't believe we have the authority to make changes to the doctrine of marriage ... I would certainly utterly condemn homophobia, and hope that the churches of Sheffield are places where gay people felt welcome." [28]
North is a member of the Council of Bishops of The Society. [29]
In an interview for Sky News North stated "I think some of the anger expressed in the Brexit votes was because Englishness in some situations is seen as a cause of shame. If we can recover a courageous, compassionate and diverse Englishness I think people may recover some of that language with some degree of pride." [30]
He has stated in a speech for the New Wine festival, "We are all trying massively hard to renew the Church. We are working like crazy, we are praying like mad, we are trying every new idea under the sun. Yet the longed-for renewal does not seem to come. In fact decline just seems to speed up. Why? Why are we struggling so much? I want to suggest that the answer is quite a straightforward one. It’s because we have forgotten the poor". [31]
During the Church of England's February 2023 General Synod meeting, North was one of two bishops in the house to abstain in the successful vote to introduce blessings and prayers for same-sex relationships. [32] He voted against introducing "standalone services for same-sex couples" on a trial basis during a meeting of the General Synod in November 2023; the motion passed. [33] [34]
The Bishop of Sheffield is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Sheffield in the Province of York.
A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests". The system by which such bishops oversee certain churches is referred to as alternative episcopal oversight (AEO).
Robert Sidney Ladds is an English Anglican bishop. From 1999 to 2008, he served as the Bishop of Whitby, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of York.
The Bishop of Burnley is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Blackburn, in the Province of York, England.
John William Goddard is a British Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop. From 2000 to 2014, he was Bishop of Burnley, a suffragan bishop in the Church of England's Diocese of Blackburn. He left the Church of England and was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 2021. He was ordained deacon on Tuesday 29 March 2022 and priest on Saturday 2 April 2022 by Bishop Tom Williams in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
Martin Clive Warner is an Anglican bishop in England. He is currently the Bishop of Chichester.
Richard Finn Blackburn is a British retired Anglican bishop. From 2009 until 2018, he served as the Bishop of Warrington — the sole suffragan bishop in the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool; he was also temporarily the acting Bishop of Sodor and Man, 2016–2017.
Jonathan Hugh Frost is a British Anglican bishop. He has served as the Bishop of Portsmouth since 18 January 2022. He was previously Dean of York and Bishop of Southampton, a suffragan bishop in the Church of England's Diocese of Winchester since 2010.
Martyn James Snow is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2016, he has been the Bishop of Leicester. He previously served as Bishop of Tewkesbury from 2013 to 2016, and as Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham from 2010 to 2013.
The Anglican Diocese of Leeds is a diocese of the Church of England, in the Province of York. It is the largest diocese in England by area, comprising much of western Yorkshire: almost the whole of West Yorkshire, the western part of North Yorkshire, the town of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, and most of the parts of County Durham, Cumbria and Lancashire which lie within the historic boundaries of Yorkshire. It includes the cities of Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and Ripon. It was created on 20 April 2014 following a review of the dioceses in Yorkshire and the dissolution of the dioceses of Bradford, Ripon and Leeds, and Wakefield.
Peter Jonathan Wilcox is a British Anglican bishop. Since June 2017, he has been the bishop of Sheffield in the Church of England. He was previously the dean of Liverpool from 2012 to 2017.
Paul John Ferguson FRCO is a British retired Anglican bishop. From 2014 to 2024, he was the Bishop of Whitby, a suffragan bishop in the Church of England's Diocese of York.
John Bromilow Thomson is a British retired Anglican bishop. From 2014 to 2024, he was the Bishop of Selby, a suffragan bishop in the Church of England's Diocese of York.
Elizabeth Jane Holden Lane is a British Anglican bishop and Lord Spiritual. Since February 2019, she has served as Bishop of Derby in the Church of England, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Derby. From January 2015 to 2019, she was the Bishop of Stockport, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chester. She was the first woman to be appointed as a bishop by the Church of England, after its general synod voted in July 2014 to allow women to become bishops. Her consecration took place on 26 January 2015 at York Minster.
Mark Simon Austin Tanner is a British Anglican bishop and academic. Since 2020, he has been the Bishop of Chester; he previously served as Bishop of Berwick, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle since his 2016 consecration as bishop; and from August 2011 until his consecration, he was the Warden of Cranmer Hall, Durham, a Church of England theological college.
Jillian Louise Calland Duff is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2018, she has been the Bishop of Lancaster, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. Previously, she had been Director of St Mellitus College, North West, an Anglican theological college, from 2013 to 2018.
Stephen Peter Race SSC is a British Anglican Bishop. Since 2022, he has been the Bishop of Beverley, the Provincial Episcopal Visitor for traditionalist Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England's Province of York.
Joseph Kennedy is a Scottish Anglican bishop and academic. Since 2024, he has been Bishop of Burnley, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. Having served in parish ministry in the Church of England and as a chaplain to two Cambridge University colleges, he was Principal of the College of the Resurrection from 2008 to 2011. He then served as vicar of St Saviour's Church, Oxton in the Diocese of Chester until his elevation to the episcopate.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)7. The motion (as amended) 'That this Synod, conscious that the Church is not of one mind on the issues raised by Living in Love and Faith, that we are in a period of uncertainty, and that many in the Church on all sides are being deeply hurt at this time, recognise the progress made by the House of Bishops towards implementing the motion on Living in Love and Faith passed by this Synod in February 2023, as reported in GS 2328, encourage the House to continue its work of implementation, and ask the House to consider whether some standalone services for same-sex couples could be made available for use, possibly on a trial basis, on the timescale envisaged by the motion passed by the Synod in February 2023.' was carried following a counted vote by Houses.