TWO York suffragans have been appointed. The next Bishop of Selby is to be Canon Flora Winfield, and the next 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 first women to be ordained priest in the Church of England, in 1994, having been ordained deacon in 1989. She will succeed Dr John Thomson, who is retiring (News, 4 August 2023).
Mr Hill, who is the Strategy Enabler for Leicester diocese, will succeed the Rt Revd Paul Ferguson, who is also 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 be consecrated in York Minster on 10 October: the feast day of St Paulinus, the first Bishop of York. “I hope this will be a sign of the missionary purpose they will bring to our life in Christ,” the Archbishop of York said on Wednesday. “Both are hugely gifted and experienced; they are 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 a huge variety of contexts, be it as an Army Chaplain, representing the Anglican Communion at the United Nations, or helping the Church of England nationally sort out some of its most thorny pastoral challenges — and more besides!”.
Mr Hill said of his appointment: “After 20 years, it will be hard leaving the parishes and people of Leicester diocese, whom I have grown to love very deeply, but I am excited by what God no doubt has in store across the beautiful diversity of the archdeaconry of Cleveland and the wider 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 part of the leadership team of the international prayer movement, Thy Kingdom Come.”
