New Bishop Of Horsham Goes Viral

Tuesday, 21 July 2020 11:33

By John Warburton @Warblefly

Rt Revd Ruth Bushyager (kneeling) consecrated by Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London (Image: Lambeth Palace)

When the Church of England ceremonially put in place two new bishops for Sussex on Wednesday (15th July), no-one expected the viral success of a very modern joke from the woman who became Bishop of Horsham.

As the Diocese of Chichester celebrated the arrival of The Revd Ruth Bushyager to look after the Chichester and Horsham archdeaconries (church areas), she combined an old joke about a bishop's traditional hat with social distancing rules.

Bishop Ruth's subsequent tweet, as of 21 July, has been 'liked' or relayed by more than 18,000 other Twitter users:

we tried to keep two mitres apart pic.twitter.com/Px6Blj5qJM
— Ruth Bushyager (@BishopRuthB) July 17, 2020

Bishop Ruth who now takes the title "Right Reverend" was, until recently, the Vicar of St Paul’s, Dorking in the Diocese of Guildford.

In the same service of consecration in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury's official London residence, Lewes also received a new bishop.

He is (following the service) The Rt. Revd. Will Hazlewood, who came from Exeter Diocese.

The Church of England said both bishoprics have been vacant for months since the appointment of Bishop Mark Sowerby as Principal of the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield and the move (translation, in church terminology) of Bishop Richard Jackson to the Diocese of Hereford.

On-line live video of the two services showed that all the normal social distancing protocols were in place in the specially adapted services to reflect current restrictions — including the wearing of masks by all celebrants, candidates and guests which included the new bishops' close family members.

Both are suffragan bishops, meaning their role is principally to support the Bishop of Chichester, whose diocese covers Sussex.

A service to welcome them to Chichester Diocese is being organised for the autumn at Chichester Cathedral.

Since 1994, after years of debate and a conclusive vote, the Church of England has expanded the ordination of priests to include women equally with men.

But, to this day, many members of the Church of England find themselves unable to accept the consecration of women as bishops or as priests, instead interpreting the Bible as supporting the theory that leading roles in the ministry are restricted to men alone.

In keeping with the Church of England's procedures for encompassing differing opinions, ministry candidates of any gender who support women in the clergy are consecrated by bishops in agreement with the principle.

Candidates who disagree with women being ordained as priests are consecrated by bishops who themselves support the church's older, traditional position.

Two separate ceremonies took place at Lambeth Palace on July 15th to reflect this breadth of opinion within the Church of England today.