English ARC Membership 2018-2023 Biographies Anglican Church of England The Rt Revd Christopher Foster, Bishop of Portsmouth (Co-Chair) Bishop Christopher has been Bishop of Portsmouth since 2010 after nine years as a Suffragan bishop in St Albans Diocese. He grew up in the industrial west midlands and, after a brief career as an academic economist, has served in a variety of parish, university and cathedral ministries in five dioceses. He served as Convenor/Chair of Churches Together in England for four years and recently took up leadership of the ecumenical Churches Funerals Group. His roles outside the diocese also include chairing a theological college and the CofE s remuneration and conditions of service committee. He speaks nationally for the bishops on economic policy, benefits and welfare, and defence. The compact Diocese covers south east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. It has embarked on a strategy live pray serve - focused on hard to reach people and areas with a commitment to make disciples, grow churches, learn for life, and transform society. The Revd Canon Dr Andrew Davison The Revd Dr Andrew Davison is the Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is also Canon Philosopher of St Alban s Cathedral, where he works on a programme of education and apologetics. Alongside his work on theology and natural science, Christian dogmatics and philosophical theology, he has written books on ecclesiology and mission, sacramental theology and care for the dying. He covers a range of theological subjects for Church Times and the Time Literary Supplement. Before his current role, he was tutor in Christian doctrine at St Stephen s House, Oxford and then Westcott House, Cambridge. He served on the previous quinquennium of English ARC. The Rt Revd Dr Jill Duff The Rt Rev Dr Jill Duff is the Bishop of Lancaster with a brief for mission, evangelism and church planting. Previously she was the founding Director of St Mellitus College North West, the first full-time ordination course in the North West for over forty years. She s served as an urban parish priest, school chaplain, and pioneer minister. Her previous career in the oil industry prompted her to write her Oxford dissertation on the Theology of Work, drawing heavily on Roman Catholic social teaching. She was thrilled to find that Pope Francis announced the Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancaster just weeks before her announcement in March. They look forward to working together.
The Rt Revd Mike Harrison After University, Mike worked as a lay-worker at St Paul s Church Deptford, as a management consultant in the city and as an unqualified social worker for Lewisham Borough Social Services. Mike trained for ordination at Ripon College, Cuddesdon and then at Union Theological Seminary, New York (studying the relationship between psychotherapy and theology). Mike served his curacy in the parish of St Anne & All Saints, South Lambeth and also studied for a PhD in Christian doctrine at Kings College, London. Mike then served as Chaplain to the University of Bradford and Bradford & Ilkley Community College, and from 1998 until 2006 was vicar of Holy Trinity, Eltham. From 2006 to 2015 Mike was Director of Mission and Ministry in Leicester Diocese. He became Bishop of Dunwich in February 2016 and has a national responsibility for Pioneer Ministry. Mike is married to Rachel and they are blessed with four children aged 15-23. Ms Doral Hayes The Revd Canon Maggie McLean Having been raised within an interchurch family I have been involved in ecumenism throughout my life. I am currently the Executive Development Officer for the Association of Interchurch Families as well Ecumenical Facilitator for Churches Together in Hertfordshire. I am Chair of the Bodies in Association with CTE/CTBI and am currently completing an MA in Contemporary Christian Theology at Newman University. Locally, I serve as a lay preacher and sit on the Mission and Pastoral Team in the Wycombe Deanery with responsibility for lay leadership. I am married to Declan and have two very energetic children, Amelia and Dylan. I am a parish priest in the parish of Battyeford in Leeds Diocese. Battyeford is well known as the Community and College of the Resurrection are our neighbours, with whom we have a strong and healthy relationship. I have been the priest here for 9 years and also have a diocesan responsibility within the School of Ministry and I am the Tanzanian Link Officer for our diocese. I studied at Queen's Theological Foundation and was ordained deacon in 1991 and then priested in 1994 in St. Alban's Diocese. Throughout my ministerial career I have been heavily involved in a variety of different education institutions as chaplain, pastoral tutor or academic tutor. The Revd Andrew Moughtin-Mumby I ve been Rector of St Peter s, Walworth in the Anglican Diocese of Southwark since 2010 and absolutely love it. Being a parish priest is my greatest joy and passion in ministry. I also enjoy an interest in ecumenism, inter faith relations, vocational discernment and ministerial formation. My interest in ecumenism began when I was a pastoral assistant in Eltham from 2001, where the Anglican and Roman Catholic parishes worked very closely and collaborated regularly on spiritual formation. My first spiritual director was a Sister of Mercy from the convent attached to the parish, and we remain in touch today. During my time at Westcott House, training for
ordination, I had the opportunity to visit Rome twice for courses at the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Angelicum on the ARCIC Seattle Statement and The Bishop and the Church, respectively. Most recently, my wife who is also an Anglican priest and I spent a two-month sabbatical in Rome with our children. We spent time at the ACR as visiting scholars and the children attending a pontifical Italian-language primary school. Church in Wales The Revd Dr Matthew Hill I currently serve as 0.5 Priest in Charge of a 4-church benefice in the diocese of St David s just six miles inland from the Bay of Cardigan, with the other 0.5 of my time as IME Officer for the diocese of St Davids. I am also a Companion of the Community of the Resurrection Mirfield. My doctoral research was concerned with the Welsh Wittgensteinian Philosopher of Religion, D. Z. Phillips. In my thesis I offered a theological reading of his work on the nature of God, prayer, evil and eternal life which rejects articulations of him as a non-realist. I am married with two teenage daughters and enjoy singing and walking. The Revd Canon Dr Jeremy Worthen (Co-Secretary) Jeremy Worthen is the Secretary for Ecumenical Relations and Theology at the CofE s Council for Christian Unity, which is involved in supporting the whole range of the Church of England s partnerships with other Churches. Prior to taking up his current post he worked for many years in theological education, serving as Principal of the South East Institute for Theological Education from 2005-2013. His publications include The Internal Foe: Judaism and Anti-Judaism in the Shaping of Christian Theology (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009) and Responding to God s Call: Christian Formation Today (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2012). He is an Honorary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral and wrote his doctoral dissertation on medieval spirituality and cultural history at the University of Toronto. Roman Catholic Church The Rt Revd Robert Byrne, Bishop of Birmingham (Co-Chair) The Rt Rev Robert Byrne is an Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Born in Manchester in September 1956, Bishop Byrne entered Birmingham Oratory in 1980 and was ordained to the priesthood in January 1985. In 1990, he was part of a group from Birmingham who moved to St Aloysius parish, Oxford, to found what was to become the Oxford Oratory in 1993. He served as Provost from 1993-2011. In 2012, Fr Byrne was appointed Secretary to the Bishops Conference Department of Dialogue and Unity. He has served as a prison chaplain for over 35 years and has also served as Convenor of Churches Together England. On Tuesday 13 May 2014, Bishop Byrne was Ordained an Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Birmingham in St Chad's Cathedral.
Fr Andrew Cole Father Andrew Cole is parish priest of the Parish of the Most Holy & Undivided Trinity, Grimsby, Cleethorpes & Immingham. He comes from Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire, and after reading theology in the University of Birmingham trained for the priesthood in the Venerable English College, Rome. After Ordination in Swansea on 4th August 2001, he worked in Swansea, Llanelli & Aberystwyth before returning to Rome to study canon law in 2005. From 2011 until he moved to North East Lincolnshire in 2017, he was Private Secretary to the Bishop of Nottingham & Catholic Chaplain to the University of Nottingham. Mr Claudio Gangemi I Graduated St Mary's University College with 2:1 BA in Theology and Religious Studies with Philosophy. Having always felt a vocation in teaching RE, I continued at St Mary s to complete my PGCE with where I was lucky enough to acquire placements at St John the Baptist Roman Catholic School, Woking and Salesian Roman Catholic School, Chertsey. I then procured a teaching post at St Bede s School, Redhill where I still have the privilege of working in the role of Head of the RE department. It was here at St Bede s where I was entered into an Ecumenical ethos as we welcome and strive to deliver an outstanding learning of students from the many different Christian traditions in our catchment area. St Bede's is the only state-funded school in the UK where Anglicans, Roman Catholics and the Free Churches are bound together in a formal ecumenical partnership. We are passionate to explore ways of our Church and Christian family to work for unity within our diversity and I feel very honoured to have the opportunity to explore our Church s Ecumenical journey in this capacity. The Revd Canon William Isaac Canon William Isaac is Parish Priest of St. Teilo s with Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in North Cardiff. He has been a priest of the Archdiocese of Cardiff for 34 years. He is the Archdiocesan Ecumenical Officer and serves on both local and national Ecumenical Commissions. Before being ordained a Catholic Priest, Canon Isaac worked for the YMCA as a Youth Worker and then studied for the Anglican ministry at St. David s College, Lampeter and Salisbury & Wells Theological College. Following reception into the Catholic Church he studied at the Pontifical College Rome before ordination as a Catholic Priest. The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham
The Most Reverend Bernard Longley is the Archbishop of Birmingham. Archbishop Longley was ordained to the priesthood in December 1981 and ordained an Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster on 24 January 2003. He was Installed as Archbishop of Birmingham at the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Saint Chad on 8 December 2009. Archbishop Longley authored the Catholic Commentary on the Agreed Joint Statement by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission - "Growing towards Unity and Mission" (2007). He was appointed Roman Catholic Co-Chairman of the International Roman Catholic-Anglican Commission in 2012 and a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation in 2011. He is also Chair of the Bishops Conference Department of Dialogue and Unity. Professor Janet Soskice Janet Soskice is Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge where she is a Fellow of Jesus College. Before Cambridge she taught part-time at Heythrop College and then, her first full-time post, at Ripon College Cuddesdon for 4 and a half years. Her current research interests are in area of religious language, doctrine of creation and doctrine of God. She s been a visiting Professor at the Gregorian University and has been widely involved with both the Catholic and Anglican church over the years. Specifically, Ecumenical Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury (1990-1996), English Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission (1994-2000); Advisor to the Theology Committee of the Catholic Bishop s Conference of England and Wales re inclusive language (1997-8); Chair (founding member) Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge Theological Federation (1998-2005); and from 2001 onwards various meetings of the Building Bridges Seminar, set up by Archbishop Rowan Williams and now run by the Jesuits at Georgetown University to foster Christian Muslim understanding. Latterly she was participant theologian in the Joint Bishops Conference and House of Bishops Meeting (Birmingham 2017), and has become a member of the Council of Reference for the Westminster Institute. Fr Steven Parkinson Steven is a Priest of the Diocese of Salford, currently Parish Priest in Whitefield, Manchester. After University he worked as a teacher of history and politics at St Aidan s CofE High School, Harrogate, before going on to study for Ordination at St Cuthbert s College Ushaw and the University of Durham. He was ordained in 2000, Steven has served in parish ministry, as University Chaplain and as private secretary to the Bishop of Salford, before moving to Whitefield in 2017. In May 2018, Steven was appointed to the chapter of Canons of the Diocese of Salford. Miss Patricia Whitney
My parents were Irish but I was born and grew up in Luton and went to university in London where I studied English and Italian. Later on, I had the opportunity to do a further degree in theology and a masters in spiritual and moral development in young people. I was a secondary school teacher and worked all my life in inner city areas in London. I have lived in a Focolare community for over thirty years www.focolare.org. The aim of the Focolare is to contribute to the fulfilment of Jesus prayer Father, may they all be one (Jn. 17:21): therefore, a commitment to foster unity in many different ways is central to who I am. Although I live in Welwyn Garden City, since retiring from teaching in 2015, I spend about ten days each month in Birmingham where our community is engaged with local ecumenical initiatives and interfaith work, especially among young people. The Revd Canon Tony Churchill (Co-Secretary) I entered seminary during the last session of Vatican 2. My interest in ecumenism was enhanced by the contact established at that time between our Seminary at Wonersh and the Anglican Theological college at Chichester. After ordination in 1971 and a two year Curacy at Caterham, I spent three years studying Moral Theology in Rome. The then Rector of the English College was Mgr Cormac Murphy O Connor who made ecumenical hospitality an important feature of college life. We met a great number of Christians from different backgrounds who came to stay in the College. On my return to England I taught Moral Theology at Wonersh before working as Press Officer for the Bishops Conference in London during the 1980 s. I have been a Parish Priest in five different parishes over the last 25 years. At present I am a member of the Arundel Cathedral Chapter as well as the Episcopal Vicar for Ecumenical Affairs in the Arundel and Brighton Diocese. I am looking forward to being part of English ARC.