THE Bishop of Taunton, the Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, is to be the Interim Bishop of Liverpool, it was announced on Friday — just under a month after the resignation of Dr John Perumbalath.
Bishop Worsley will serve as the Suffragan Bishop of Wigan, after the Archbishop of York petitioned the King to revive the see. She will have diocesan powers delegated from Archbishop Cottrell.
This will be Bishop Worsley’s third temporary diocesan ministry, having previously served as Acting Bishop for both Bath & Wells and Coventry.
In a video posted on the diocese of Liverpool’s website on Friday morning, she said that her interim ministry would last for at least two years. She was excited, she said, to “work together to think about what God is saying to us during this time of challenge and change” in Liverpool.
“I know it’s been a really difficult time in the last few weeks, and you will all come with your own mixed emotions and feelings about that,” she said.
Dr Perumbalath resigned at the end of January after an allegation of sexual assault against him was broadcast by Channel 4 News (News, 30 January). He denied the allegations, but said that he did not want the story to be “a distraction for this incredible diocese and its people whom it has been an honour and joy to serve”.
He also said that he had been subject to a “trial by media”, and that he had “not done anything wrong”.
The Suffragan Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Bev Mason, also made a complaint against Dr Perumbalath, the details of which have not been made public (News, 30 January).
On Friday, Bishop Mason, welcoming the new appointment, said that Bishop Worsley brought “immense experience, sensitivity, and insight and will play a significant part in restoring joy and confidence as she leads the diocese in its ministry and mission”.
Archbishop Cottrell said: “To all those affected by the events that have led us here, I offer my heartfelt prayers. The clergy and people of the diocese of Liverpool have been in my prayers as well.
“This is a time for healing and for facing the challenges ahead together. I am deeply grateful to Bishop Ruth for offering her leadership and to the diocese of Bath & Wells for releasing her to support Liverpool in this time of change.”
A statement from the diocese of Liverpool said that Bishop Worsley would continue as the Bishop of Taunton, in the diocese of Bath & Wells, with delegations in place so that she could deal with urgent legal issues in Liverpool.
Her final service in Bath & Wells before she fully takes up her new post is scheduled to be the chrism eucharist in Holy Week.
Her appointment followed “consultation with the senior leadership team in Liverpool”, the statement said. The Dioceses’ Commission and the Bishop’s Council in the diocese had approved the revival of the see of Wigan for the duration of Bishop Worsley’s interim ministry.
The statement made clear that the see of Wigan would lapse once a permanent diocesan bishop had been appointed, and that the Liverpool Crown Nominations Commission would meet “in due course”.
The see of Wigan is included by Crockford’s Clerical Directory in its list of successions in suffragan sees, but is described as “never filled”.
