EIGHTEEN months after the retirement of the Bishop of Lewes (News, 19
October 2012), his successor has been announced.
The Revd Richard Jackson, named on Monday, is the mission
renewal adviser and leader of the church-growth team in the diocese
of Chichester. He succeeds the Rt Revd Wallace Benn.
On Tuesday, he said that it was "absolutely crucial" to have a
bishop in the diocese who ordains women: "I think it would have
been untenable to have a Bishop of Lewes who would not. . . I am
very much looking forward to doing the first one on 15 June, when
three women are ordained in the diocese of Chichester."
Mr Jackson, who is 53, is married with three grown-up children.
Before being ordained priest in 1995, he worked as an agricultural
consultant advising farmers. He has served in parishes in the
diocese as Assistant Curate of Lindfield, Vicar of Rudgwick, and
Rural Dean of Horsham. Preparing to travel the diocese astride his
Harley-Davidson motorbike, he has foreseen the possibility of being
dubbed the "biking bishop".
