The dates for the forthcoming Visitation at Chelmsford Cathedral and the details of the Commissaries who will lead the Visitation have been confirmed.
The Visitation, which was announced by the Bishop of Chelmsford and the Dean of Chelmsford earlier this year, will take place between 20 January and 25 January 2023.
Details of the panel of Commissaries is as follows:
Bishop Tim Stevens CBE, will be leading the team. He is former Bishop of Leicester and Dunwich and previously served as Archdeacon of West Ham and as a parish priest in Chelmsford Diocese.
Bishop Tim is a former Chair of The Children’s Society, and Convenor of the Lord’s Spiritual. He was a non-executive NHS Trust member from 2016-2020.
Ms Juliet Taylor has partnered with clients across the Public and Voluntary Sector for 20 years, strengthening board and leadership capability by identifying and supporting the appointment of effective leaders. She continues to handle complex or sensitive appointment processes and frequently undertakes board reviews. Juliet continues to hold longstanding relationships with her clients and other people she has worked with during her time in her profession.
Charles George KC was Chancellor of the Diocese of Southwark from 1997-2009 and thereafter Dean of the Arches and Auditor from 2009-20 during which time he was also an ex officio member of General Synod. At the Bar he specialised in public law, especially town and country planning.
Revd Canon Jessica Martin has been Residentiary Canon for Learning and Outreach at Ely Cathedral since 2016, and before that was for six years priest-in-charge of a multi-parish benefice in South Cambridgeshire. She was an academic, specialising in English Literature (16th and 17th century) until 2010, at the University of Cambridge, combining that with ministry as a Self Supporting Minister from 2003. She is Director of the Lambeth Research Degrees in Theology (since 2021) and is currently overseeing its governance review; and she is author of several books, most recently Holiness and Desire, on human sexuality, commodification, and the longing for God.
Purpose
The panel will write a report, the primary aim of which is to arrive at a place where the Cathedral has every chance to move forward well: as the seat of the Bishop, as the Cathedral for the Diocese and as a Parish Church. The Bishop and the Dean are hopeful that the Visitation will provide the opportunity for harnessing all that is positive, learning where needed and leading to a renewed commitment to be a symbol of the presence of God in our community, worshipping faithfully and looking outwards to serve the people amongst whom it is placed.
Further information