FORMER ARCHBISHOP ACCEPTS NEW ROLE IN EUROPE

The former Archbishop of York, the Right Reverend & Right Honourable Lord Hope, has accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese in Europe. He will join a number of other bishops who assist the Diocesan and his Suffragan in their pastoral care of more than 270 congregations scattered over 45 countries in and around Europe.

Since retiring as Archbishop of York in 2005, David Hope served as a Parish Priest in the Yorkshire town of Ilkley. He is currently also Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Bradford Diocese.

The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, Dr Geoffrey Rowell, welcomed Dr Hope’s acceptance of the position. “We are delighted that he is willing to use his energies to share in the work of maintaining ministry as well as commissioning and developing new congregations in this fast growing diocese” he said.

Before his role as Archbishop, Dr. Hope had previously been Bishop of Wakefield, then Bishop of London.

Honorary Assistant Bishops are used occasionally in the Diocese in Europe when the busy Diocesan and Suffragan are unable to fulfill every request by congregations for an Episcopal visit in this, one of the 44 Dioceses in the Church of England, but covering one-sixth of the world’s land surface and operating across 9 time zones.