Michael David Doe (born 24 December 1947) is the Preacher of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

and a former

Bishop of Swindon The Bishop of Swindon is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Bristol, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Swindon in Wiltshire. The title of Bishop of ...

. Doe was born in Lymington, Hants, and grew up on the Highfield Council Estate there. He attended Brockenhurst Grammar School and went on to Durham University (

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

). After studying at

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Hall, Oxford, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

priest in 1973 in Southwark Cathedral. He was a curate on the St Helier Estate in South London, after which he was National Youth Secretary at the British Council of Churches. He moved to Oxford in 1981 to be Priest Missioner in the Blackbird Leys Ecumenical Partnership, and also served as

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...

of Cowley from 1987-1989. During this time he co-presented the weekly religious affairs programme on BBC Radio Oxford: "Spirit Level". He was then Social Responsibility Advisor to the Diocese of Portsmouth and a canon residentiary (later, Acting Provost) at Portsmouth Cathedral, before his ordination to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in 1994 when he became the first Bishop of Swindon, in the Diocese of Bristol. After ten years in this post he was appointed, in 2004, the General Secretary of the mission agency

United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...

On retirement in 2011 he became Preacher to

, one of the four

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

in London. He is an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark, and an Honorary Minor Canon of Southwark Cathedral. He chaired the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility from 2012 to 2015. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. His publications include "Seeking the Truth in Love - the Church and Homosexuality" (DLT 2000), "Today!" (USPG 2009), and "Saving Power - the Mission of God and the Anglican Communion" (SPCK 2011).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doe, Michael David 1947 births Alumni of St John's College, Durham Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon 20th-century Church of England bishops 21st-century Church of England bishops Living people Bishops of Swindon (previously Malmesbury)