Paul John Slater (born 22 March 1958) is a retired

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

bishop. From 2018 until January 2022, he was the

Bishop of Kirkstall __NOTOC__ The Bishop of Kirkstall is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Leeds, in the Province of York, England. It is the suffragan see serving the episcopal area of Leeds, and takes its na ...

, a

suffragan bishop 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 ...

in the Diocese of Leeds. He was

Archdeacon of Craven The Archdeacon of Craven was a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Bradford. The final archdeacon was Paul Slater. As an Archdeacon, he or she was responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within four area deane ...

from 2005 to April 2014,

Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven The Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven is an archdiaconal post in the Church of England. It was created in about 1088 within the See of York and was moved in 1541 to the See of Chester, in 1836 to the See of Ripon and after 2014 to the See of ...

from April 2014 to July 2015, and Bishop of Richmond from 2015 until his title (but not role) changed in 2018.

Early life

Slater was born on 22 March 1958. He was educated at

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school g ...

, then a

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, Yorkshire. He studied

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; this was promoted to an Oxford Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree in 1983. In 1981, he entered Cranmer Hall (part of

St John's College, Durham St John's College is a University of Durham#Colleges, college of the University of Durham, United Kingdom. It is one of only two "recognised colleges" of the university, the other being St Chad's College, St Chad's. This means that it is financial ...

) to study for

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

. He graduated from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

with a BA degree in theology in 1983 and completed a further year of training for ministry at Cranmer Hall.

Ordained ministry

He was ordained in the

Anglican ministry The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglica ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in 1984 and a priest in 1985. From 1984 to 1988, he served his

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at St Andrews's,

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

, in the

Diocese of Bradford The Diocese of Bradford is a former Church of England diocese within the Province of York. The diocese covered the area of the City of Bradford, Craven district and the former Sedbergh Rural District now in Cumbria. The seat of the episcopal ...

. He was then

Priest in charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent. Such priests are not legally responsible for the churches and glebe, but simply hold a ...

of St John the Evangelist,

Cullingworth Cullingworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Bradford and south of Keighley. The surrounding countryside is mainly u ...

and Director of the Diocesan Foundation Course between 1988 and 1993. He then became the Bishop of Bradford's Personal Executive Assistant from 1993 to 1995 and was also Warden of Readers from 1992 to 1996. He served as the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of St Michael and All Angels Church,

Haworth Haworth () is a village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines, south-west of Keighley, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope. Nearby villages includ ...

from 1995 to 2001, and then the Bishop's Officer for Ministry and Mission from 2001 to 2005. He was appointed the

in 2005 and the acting

Archdeacon of Richmond The Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven is an archdiaconal post in the Church of England. It was created in about 1088 within the See of York and was moved in 1541 to the See of Chester, in 1836 to the See of Ripon and after 2014 to the See of ...

on 2 February 2014, before becoming the

when the two posts were merged on 20 April 2014. His residence was Kadugli House,

Episcopal ministry

On 18 June 2015, it was announced that Slater was to be the next Bishop of Richmond, a

in the Diocese of Leeds. The bishopric of Richmond had been

in abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ''abeance'' meaning "gaping") is a state of expectancy in respect of property, titles or office, when the right to them is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true owner. ...

since 1921.Diocese of Leeds — Archdeacon Paul Slater to be new Bishop of Richmond
(Accessed 13 July 2016) He was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

during a service at

Ripon Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, and until 1836 known as Ripon Minster, is a cathedral in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. Founded as a monastery by monks of the Irish tradition in the 660s, i ...

on 19 July by

John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. Born near Kampala in Uganda, Sentamu studied law at Makerere U ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

. This was the first consecration to take place in Ripon Cathedral since that of

Thomas de Kirkcudbright Thomas de Kirkcudbright, also known as Thomas de Dalton ''de Daltoun was a medieval prelate from the Kingdom of Scotland. He was apparently a ''nutritus'', or foster son, of Robert V de Brus, Lord of Annandale, and seems to have been closely ...

Bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th ...

in 1293. On 14 March 2018, Slater's See was translated from Richmond to Kirkstall (in Leeds) by

Order in Council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...

; so, keeping the same role, he became Bishop of Kirkstall. In October 2021, it was announced that Slater would retire from the post on 31 January 2022.

Personal life

Slater is married to Beverley who works in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. Together, they have two adult sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Paul John 1958 births Living people Archdeacons of Craven Archdeacons of Richmond Anglican bishops of Richmond Bishops of Kirkstall 20th-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People educated at Bradford Grammar School Alumni of Cranmer Hall, Durham