Michael Thomas Ball (born 14 February 1932) is a retired Anglican bishop and the co-founder of the Community of the Glorious Ascension. He was the Bishop of TruroTruro Cathedral website
from 1990 to 1997. He is the identical twin brother of the former Bishop of Gloucester,

Peter Ball Peter Ball may refer to: *Peter Ball (bishop) (1932–2019), former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester and convicted sex offender * Peter Ball (physician) (died 1675), English physician *Peter Eugene Ball (born 1943), English sculptor *Peter Ball ( ...

, a convicted sex offender who died in 2019.

Early life

Ball was born on 14 February 1932. Ball was educated at Lancing College and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

Career

Ball's first teaching post in 1955 was in general science at Pocklington School, East Yorkshire, where he was also house tutor at Lyndhurst, the junior boarding house. He left in 1960 to found the community mentioned below, following training at a separate community known as the Society of the Sacred Mission at Kelham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire. He was a teacher of biology and chemistry at Marling School in

Stroud, Gloucestershire Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

and was then head of the lower school until 1975. He was chaplain of

Sussex University , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

1976 to 1980,

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 jurisdictiona ...

Bishop of Jarrow The Bishop of Jarrow is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Durham, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the former Anglo Saxon monastery in the town of Jarrow in Tyne and ...

from 1980 to 1990 and then the 13th Bishop of Truro. He was the first bishop there to ordain women. In 1960, Ball founded a monastic community at

Stratford Park Stratford Park is a green flag awarded area of Stroud in Gloucestershire, south west England. With a large park and lake, and a leisure centre complex, Stratford Park is a major tourist area for Stroud. It is located on the outskirts of Stroud to ...

in Stroud, along with his identical twin brother

. Peter Ball later became

Bishop of Lewes (1977–1992) and then Bishop of Gloucester (1992–1993). Peter Ball was later convicted and imprisoned for sex offences. Ball is the author of ''Foolish Risks of God'', a

Lenten Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

study course on the parables of the New Testament (Mowbray Lent Book, ) published in 2002. In the book's introduction he writes of the parables,

The deepest problems of the universe are hidden in their simplicity, whether it be free will and choice, reward and punishment, or justice and mercy, power and powerlessness, and in most cases Jesus has complete confidence in our ability to understand their significance for ourselves, despite what the Gospel writers and preachers ever since have tried to do with them. They are not commandments for behaviour, though they may gently persuade; neither are they black and white morsels of theology. They are signposts to God and guides to living and loving.

Ball was one of four bishops who failed to respond to reports of sexual abuse by a prominent member of Truro diocese, according to a 2018 case review commissioned by the diocese. The diocese had failed to investigate the accusations against Jeremy Dowling, a lay reader and

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

member, who rose to influential positions including being a diocesan communications officer. Dowling was jailed in 2015 for seven years, and again in 2016 for a further eight years, for a series of indecent assaults on boys while teaching at a Cornwall school during the 1960s and '70s. The review found that "There is no doubt that there were a number of missed opportunities for the diocese of Truro to undertake its own investigations into the allegations made in 1972 against Jeremy Dowling." Kim Stevenson, a criminal justice expert said that the report made "sadly familiar reading" and she contrasted the situation in Britain with that in Australia where those who concealed or did not act on evidence of a sexual offence faced prosecution.

Personal life

In retirement, Ball and his twin brother Peter, a former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, lived together in rural Somerset until Peter Ball was convicted of sex offences. Peter Ball died at his home in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Michael Bishops of Truro Bishops of Jarrow British identical twins People associated with the University of Sussex 1932 births Living people People educated at Lancing College Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge 20th-century Church of England bishops Members of Anglican religious orders English twins