Bishop of Bristol to retire

The 56th bishop of Bristol will soon retire.

The right reverend Vivienne Faull, otherwise known as Bishop Viv, will retire on Monday, following a farewell service due to take place on Saturday afternoon at Bristol Cathedral.

All Church of England clergy are required to retire at the age of 70. Bishop Viv turned 70 in May but was granted permission to remain in office until September by the Archbishop of York.

When Bishop Viv became bishop in 2018, taking over from Mike Hill who later became the subject of a racism scandal, she became Bristol’s first female bishop.

However, while she was only bishop of Bristol for seven years, her church career spans all the way back to 1982 when she became one of Britain’s first deaconesses.

A pioneer, in 1985 Bishop Viv became the first female chaplain of an Oxbridge college and in 2000 was installed as provost of Leicester Cathedral, becoming the first woman to lead a Church of England Cathedral. Some Leicester Cathedral staff were known to lovingly refer to her as “the Princess”.

Throughout her 42-year career, Bishop Viv was widely tipped as the person most likely to become the first female Church of England bishop. However, just three years before she became bishop of Bristol, Libby Lane ended up making history when she was consecrated as the bishop of Stockport in 2015.

At Bishop Viv’s farewell service, several members of the Bristol diocese are expected to thank her for her leadership and Angela Berners-Wilson, a former priest and the first woman to be ordained in the Church of England, will share a reflection on women’s ministry.

Towards the end of the service, Bishop Viv will hand the diocesan crozier, a ceremonial staff, to the vice dean of Bristol, Neil Patterson, marking the end of her ministry.

In tribute, Dr Mandy Ford, the dean of Bristol, said: “As a deaconess, priest, dean and bishop, Bishop Viv has been an inspiration to women in ministry since the 1980s.

“She has been in senior leadership in the Church of England for as long as I have been ordained, and has held those roles with wisdom, resilience and fortitude.

“I am particularly grateful to Bishop Viv for her encouragement over the years, firstly in the Diocese of Leicester and most recently in Bristol.

“As she moves on from senior leadership, I pray that she and Michael (Bishop Viv’s husband) will enjoy a well-deserved change of pace, more time to enjoy the wonders of Creation and know that the prayers of the cathedral and the diocese go with them.”

When Bishop Viv’s upcoming retirement was first announced in February, the bishop said: “After 42 years in full time ministry as deaconess, deacon, priest and bishop, the time has come for a rest.

“I have revelled in each of the places and communities to which God has called me and have been enriched by them all.

“My seven years in Bristol, where my mother – a great campaigner for the ordination of women – was born, baptised and confirmed, has been a beautiful coda and I will leave this generous, creative, brave and open diocese with deep gratitude for all that, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we have learnt and transformed together.

“May Christ bless and keep us now and in our pilgrimages ahead.”

The process to appoint the 57th bishop of Bristol is ongoing but, in the meantime, the right reverend Neil Warwick, the bishop of Swindon, will serve as the acting bishop for this diocese.

Main photo: Bristol Cathedral

Read next:

• Bristol appoints first female bishop
• Bristol’s first female bishop welcomed into city
• Bishop of Bristol appoints new advisor on racial justice