Dean Pete is announced as the next Bishop of Sheffield
The Queen has confirmed that Dean Pete will be the next Bishop of Sheffield. The Dean was introduced to the diocese at a press conference this morning.
He is set to be consecrated at York Minster in June and installed in Sheffield Cathedral in the autumn.
Pete will leave us after 5 years of ministry where he has led our cathedral through a great period of change. He has overseen the multiplication of the cathedral congregations and launched the visionary 24 for 2024 campaign which aims to place the cathedral on a secure footing for the future. He inherited and developed a talented team of chapter colleagues and has enabled the staff and volunteer teams to grow. Pete has also embraced and developed the concept of the cathedral being the mother church of our diocese through establishing fresh expressions of church, such as Zone2, that serve as a resource for others, and bringing traditional expressions - such as the highly popular Walsingham Festival.
Pete’s ministry has also extended wider across our diocese as a member of the Bishop’s Core Team and through his many preaching and speaking engagements.
The Rt Revd Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, said: “This is a tremendous appointment for the Diocese of Sheffield. I have valued Pete immensely as a colleague and friend here in Liverpool. I shall miss his commitment to faithful study and teaching of Scripture, his living out of the cathedral’s mission as “a safe place to do risky things in Christ’s service”, and his generosity in making the cathedral a place where the diverse body of the church can come together to worship and to learn. He has built on the rich heritage of Cathedral Deans here, and has strengthened the cathedral’s reputation as a place of welcome, worship, thought and service.
I will miss Pete as a colleague in the Diocese of Liverpool but I look forward now to working alongside him in the House of Bishops. I know that as Diocesan bishop, Pete will act as a focus of unity, encouraging all in the diocese of Sheffield to live out their lives as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. I pray God’s blessing upon Pete and Cathy as their move to Sheffield gathers pace.”
The cathedral will start the process of seeking a new Dean in good time but Canon Myles Davies, as Vice Dean, has kindly agreed to act as Dean during the interregnum.