I am delighted to let you know that The Very Revd Vivienne Faull (@vivfaull), currently Dean of York, has today been announced as the 57^th Bishop of Bristol.

Bishop Designate Viv, brings great experience of ministry in the Church of England to her new role. When appointed to Leicester Cathedral, she was the first ordained woman to serve as a Dean/Provost. In that role Bishop Designate Viv was also incumbent of the parish of St Martin’s, an area with multiple challenges including significant poverty. Together with the Bishop, she worked with other city centre parishes in Leicester to bring new possibilities for Christian witness when the number of worshippers was declining rapidly. As Dean she also acted as the Bishop’s Deputy in a Diocese which then lacked a Suffragan Bishop.

In Leicester, and for a number of years in the Diocese of York, our Bishop Designate has been actively involved with parishes across a wide range of Church contexts and traditions, working hard to build and maintain prayerful and mutually respectful relationships. All this has given her a very good understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing clergy and their congregations, as well as an appreciation of the role a Bishop and Diocese must play in enabling parochial ministry and mission to flourish when resources and commitment are being tested.

Our Bishop Designate is known as a relational person who favours evolution over revolution. Having begun to get to know her since her appointment, I am seeing many of the qualities and experience she will bring to this next season of Episcopal ministry in our Diocese. As the next Bishop of Bristol, Viv will help us to build on what is and has been fruitful while enabling us to make progress in areas where fresh approaches are needed.

We look forward to welcoming her to the Diocese in the autumn. Please hold our new Bishop Designate and her husband Michael in your prayers.

Yours, as ever, in our Great Shepherd,

+Lee