The Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt Revd Rod Thomas, is to become an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Norwich.
Bishop Rod met a range of clergy and lay people at a special meeting set up by the Bishop of Norwich, Rt Rev Graham James, last week.
A Diocese spokesperson said: “Bishop Rod has been appointed by the Archbishops to offer extended pastoral and sacramental care to parishes and clergy who have a complementarian understanding of the ordained ministry.
“At the meeting on April 21, Bishop Graham reminded those who had gathered of the five guiding principles in the House of Bishops’ Declaration on the ministry of bishops and priests made in May 2014. Those principles guide our life together and ensure the mutual flourishing of different traditions within our Church. In that spirit Bishop Graham has appointed Bishop Rod as an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese so that he is part of the diocesan family and given appropriate authority to minister here.”
During the final negotiations before the vote on the women-bishops legislation, the Church of England committed itself to appointing a “headship Evangelical” to the College of Bishops, to minister to any parish that could not accept a woman bishop – and Bishop Rod was later appointed to the role.
Complementarianism is a theological view held by some Christians that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, religious leadership, and elsewhere.
Pictured above is the Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt Revd Rod Thomas
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