The Bishop of Maidstone is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

Diocese of Canterbury The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering East Kent, eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest episcopal see, see of the Church o ...

, in the

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The title takes its name after the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Canterbury suffragan

Until 2009, the suffragan Bishop of Maidstone had a similar, though subordinate, role to that of the

Bishop of Dover The Bishop of Dover is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Dover in Kent. The Bishop of Dover holds the additional title of "Bishop ...

: to assist the diocesan bishop (the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

) in the episcopal leadership of the Diocese of Canterbury. It was decided at the diocesan synod of November 2010 that a new bishop would not be appointed; rather the

Archdeaconry of Ashford The Archdeacon of Ashford is a senior office-holder in the Diocese of Canterbury (a division of the Church of England Province of Canterbury). The Archdeacon of Ashford is an Anglican priest that oversees the Archdeaconry of Ashford, which is one ...

was erected.

"Headship" bishop

On 4 December 2014, it was announced that the see of Maidstone would be filled again in order to provide alternative episcopal oversight for particular members of the Church of England who take a

conservative evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

view on male "headship".Thinking Anglicans – Appointment of a bishop who takes a conservative evangelical view on headship
(Accessed 4 December 2014) On 23 September 2015,

Rod Thomas Rod Thomas (born 11 January 1947) is a Welsh former professional footballer who represented Wales at International level. During his career Thomas played for Gloucester City, Swindon Town, Derby County, Cardiff City, Gloucester for a second ...

was consecrated Bishop of Maidstone.Lambeth Palace – Suffragan Bishop of Maidstone announced
(Accessed 5 May 2015) In June 2022, it was announced that, from January 2023, oversight of conservative Catholics in the west of the

(formerly the

Bishop of Ebbsfleet The Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a suffragan bishop who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. From its creation in 1994 to 2022, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet served traditionist Anglo-Catholic parishes that could not a ...

's area) would be taken by a new

Bishop of Oswestry __NOTOC__ The Bishop of Oswestry is a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Lichfield who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. Background Following the first ordinations of women in 1993 to the priesthood in ...

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

to the

Bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and W ...

; while oversight of conservative Evangelicals would be taken by the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet; the See of Maidstone would be left vacant, available for other uses.

Canterbury suffragan

"Headship" bishop

List of bishops

See also

References

External links