What are Bishops for?
What are Bishops for? What is their purpose - if any? And what sort of people ought to be appointed to that office in the 21st century? How would you answer those questions? Last Tuesday, on Michaelmas Day, three new bishops of the Church of England were consecrated in St Paul's Cathedral, London . They were t he Revd Anne Hollinghurst as Bishop of Aston, the Ven Ruth Worsley as Bishop of Taunton, and the Revd Ric Thorpe as Bishop of Islington. I heard that the sermon delivered by Bishop Stephen Cottrell on that occasion was an inspiration, so I looked it up. You can read the full text on his website here. One of the things the sermon seems to do is to present a view on the purpose of bishops and both challenge and encourage any feeling daunted by their new role. (OK - that's 2 things.) What particularly arrested me was Bishop Stephen's suggested 'new line for the litany'. I quote it below, but changing the prose form of setting it out to ...