TWO York suffragans have been appointed. The next Bishop of Selby is to be Canon Flora Winfield, and the subsequent Bishop of Whitby is to be the Revd Barry Hill, Downing Street announced on Wednesday.
Canon Winfield is the Third Church Estates Commissioner, before which she was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser on Reconciliation (News, 14 January 2022). She was trained at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, and among the many first women to be ordained priest within the Church of England, in 1994, having been ordained deacon in 1989. She will succeed Dr John Thomson, who’s retiring (News, 4 August 2023).
Mr Hill, who’s the Strategy Enabler for Leicester diocese, will succeed the Rt Revd Paul Ferguson, who can also be retiring. Mr Hill, who was trained for ordination at Wyliffe Hall, Oxford, was ordained deacon in 2005 and priest in 2006. Before his current post, he was the Team Rector of Market Harborough. He is a member of the General Synod.
Canon Winfield and Mr Hill will likely be consecrated in York Minster on 10 October: the feast day of St Paulinus, the primary Bishop of York. “I hope this will likely be an indication of the missionary purpose they may bring to our life in Christ,” the Archbishop of York said on Wednesday. “Both are hugely gifted and experienced; they’re people of depth and faith.”
Canon Winfield said that she was looking forward to working “to support and encourage God’s people in ministry, mission and evangelism, service, worship, study, prayer, hospitality, community, and life together”.
Archbishop Cottrell said that Canon Winfield “knows the Church inside out and has served the Church in an enormous number of contexts, be it as an Army Chaplain, representing the Anglican Communion on the United Nations, or helping the Church of England nationally sort out a few of its most thorny pastoral challenges — and more besides!”.
Mr Hill said of his appointment: “After 20 years, it’s going to be hard leaving the parishes and other people of Leicester diocese, whom I actually have grown to like very deeply, but I’m excited by what God little doubt has in store across the attractive diversity of the archdeaconry of Cleveland and the broader diocese, especially as we seek to grow younger and more diverse.”
Archbishop Cottrell said: “Barry will bring huge energy to work and ministry with children, young people, families, and schools. He has also served as a part of the leadership team of the international prayer movement, Thy Kingdom Come.”
