Bishop of Dover

Bishop of Dover
Bishop in Canterbury
Bishopric
anglican
Incumbent:
Rose Hudson-Wilkin
Location
Ecclesiastical provinceCanterbury
Information
First holderRichard Yngworth
Established1536
DioceseCanterbury

The Bishop of Dover is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, England.[1] The title takes its name after the town of Dover in Kent. The Bishop of Dover holds the additional title of "Bishop in Canterbury" and is empowered to act almost as if the Bishop of Dover were the diocesan bishop of Canterbury, since the actual diocesan bishop (the Archbishop of Canterbury) is based at Lambeth Palace in London, and thus is frequently away from the diocese, fulfilling national and international duties. Among other things, this gives the Bishop of Dover an ex officio seat in the church's General Synod. There is another suffragan, the Bishop of Maidstone, who has different responsibilities.[2]

The role of the Bishop of Dover in the Diocese of Canterbury is comparable to that of the Cardinal Vicar in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rome, who exercises most functions that the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, formally has in his own diocese. The arrangements by which the Bishop of Dover acts as if the Bishop of Dover were the diocesan bishop date from 1980,[3] under provisions in Section 10 of the Dioceses Measure 1978. The 2001 report To Lead and to Serve recommended making these arrangement more permanent and styling the pseudo–diocesan bishop as "Bishop in Canterbury";[4] that style was already in use before the review.[5]

The current bishop of Dover is Rose Hudson-Wilkin. She was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral on 19 November 2019 and installed at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 November 2019.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference crockfords946 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Archbishop of Canterbury consecrates three new bishops at Canterbury Cathedral". The Archbishop of Canterbury. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  3. ^ The Times, 3 June 1980; p. 4; Issue 60641; col B, Church change to ease work of archbishop
  4. ^ To Lead and to Serve: The Report of the Review of the See of Canterbury, p. 5 (Accessed 16 November 2015)
  5. ^ Church of England — Review of the See of Canterbury (Accessed 16 November 2015)
  6. ^ "Rose Hudson-Wilkin: First black female bishop consecrated". BBC News. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.