Biographical Notes

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Bishops

Rt Rev Tom Butler - Bishop of Southwark

Born in 1940, Bishop Tom is a scientist by background having gained a Masters and Doctorate in electronics. He trained for ordination with the Mirfield Fathers at the College of the Resurrection in Yorkshire. Having been ordained in 1964 he spent three years as a curate in the Ely and Canterbury Dioceses, before spending twelve years as a lecturer in electronics and as chaplain, first at the University of Zambia and then at the University of Kent at Canterbury. During this period he was on the staff of Lusaka and Canterbury Cathedrals respectively.

Bishop Tom was the Archdeacon of Northolt from 1980 to 1985 and then became Bishop of Willesden (both in the London Diocese). He was appointed Bishop of Leicester in 1991 and Bishop of Southwark in 1998.

He is married to Barbara, who is the Executive Secretary of Christians Aware, an education and development charity and they have two grown up children and three grandchildren.

Bishop Tom has been active at national level and until 1995 he chaired the follow-up to 'Faith in the City', which published the controversial Staying in the City Report. He chaired the General Synod's Board of Mission from 1995 until 2001, the Board of Social Responsibility from 2001 until 2003, and is now Vice Chair (Public Affairs) of the Mission and Public Affairs Council. He is also Chair of the Governors of Ripon College Cuddesdon. He served as the General Synod representative on the Inner Cities Religious Council, an initiative set up by the Department of the Environment until 2001 and is currently Co-Chair of the Inter Faith Network. He entered the House of Lords in 1997.

Bishop Tom is a regular contributor to Radio 4's Thought for the Day and has taken part in other national and local TV and radio programmes. He has also co-authored two books with his wife Just Mission and Just Spirituality in a World of Faiths.

Bishop Tom was enthroned in Southwark Cathedral on 12 September 1998.

Rt Revd Nick Baines - Bishop of Croydon

Bishop Nick was born in Liverpool in 1957 and educated at Bradford University, graduating in 1980 with a BA in German & French. Prior to his ordination he was a specialist in modern languages, working briefly in Germany and France and then for four years in the UK as a Linguist Specialist in Russian.

He graduated from Trinity College, Bristol with a BA in Theological Studies in 1987 and was ordained Deacon in the same year. He was priested in 1988. He was curate at St Thomas, Kendal and St Catherine, Crook in the Diocese of Carlisle, then moved to the Diocese of Leicester in 1991. Since 1995 he has been a Proctor in Convocation on General Synod and in 1999 he was appointed to the Crown Appointments Commission Review Group. Through the General Synod he also served on the Partnership for World Mission committee.

Nick came to Southwark Diocese in February 2000, when he took up the post of Archdeacon of Lambeth. He chaired the Diocesan Children & Youth Development Group until 2007. Other interests include the shaping of the church to face the challenges and opportunities of the twenty first century, clergy development, ecumenism and mission to people outside the church.

Before moving to Southwark, Nick was the Vicar of Rothley, Leicester, and Rural of Goscote, in the Diocese of Leicester. He has had wide parish experience, including city centre, urban UPA, town centre, market town, rural village, and commuter village. As Archdeacon of Lambeth he had oversight of mainly inner-city and suburban churches, with the extra responsibility of sharing the Bishop’s staffing and management of them.

Nick was appointed a Director of Ecclesiastical Insurance in 2002. For many years he has regularly contributed to Pause for Thought on Radio 2 and a book based on these reflections, 'Speedbumps & Potholes', was published in 2004. 'Hungry for Hope?' was published in 2007.

He was consecrated Bishop of Croydon in May 2003 at St Paul’s Cathedral. He is also the Bishop of Diocesan Communications Officers in England.

Nick is married to Linda and they have three children.

Rt Revd Christopher Chessun - Bishop of Woolwich

Christopher Chessun was born in 1956 in Hampton, Middlesex, the elder of identical twin boys. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School and went on to University College Oxford where he read Modern History. He trained for the priesthood at Westcott House, Cambridge from 1980-1983, reading for Part II Theology Tripos through Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Ordained as deacon in 1983, he served his title at St Michael & All Angels, Sandhurst, before moving on in 1987 to the post of senior curate at St Mary, Portsea in Portsmouth Diocese.

In 1989 he became Chaplain and Minor Canon at St Paul’s Cathedral and Vocations Adviser in the Diocese of London in 1990, staying in both these roles until 1993 when he was appointed Rector of St Dunstan & All Saints’, Stepney. Between 1997 and 2001 he was Area Dean of Tower Hamlets. In Stepney he held a number of ex-officio posts on the Governing Bodies of various Trusts and Church Schools. He remains a Trustee of Tower Hamlets Mission.

In April 2001 he was installed as Archdeacon of Northolt and during this time he was a Trustee of the North Thames Ministerial Training Course, Chairman of the Trustees of St George’s Chapel at Heathrow Airport and chaired the London Diocesan Schools’ Committee.

In April 2005 he was consecrated bishop in Southwark Cathedral, taking up his appointment as Area Bishop of Woolwich and Urban Bishop for the Diocese. The Woolwich Area is twinned with the Diocese of Manicaland in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe and Bishop Christopher made an initial visit in June 2006.

Apart from his territorial duties as an Area Bishop, his initial Diocesan responsibilities are as Urban Bishop chairing the Urban Umbrella and helping to co-ordinate the Diocesan response to the Faithful Cities Report (twenty-one years on from the watershed Faith in the City Report). This reflects his continued commitment to tackling urban deprivation and to working for community renewal, an essential counterpart to the continual pouring of capital resources into regeneration programmes. He is a strong advocate for the parish system as the most effective means of church presence and engagement in the life of local communities including the need to proclaim the Gospel afresh amid the rapid changes in church and community life in South East London. He recognises that the vibrancy of parishes in the Woolwich Area and many encouraging signs of congregational growth owe much to the rich ethnic diversity and willingness of people to unite in the Lord’s service. He represents the Bishops in the Diocese on Churches Together in South London and is currently in the Chair.

His interests include history, music, travel and links with overseas churches.
 

Rt Revd Richard Cheetham - Bishop of Kingston

When he became Bishop of Kingston in 2002, Richard Cheetham returned to the area of his childhood. He was brought up in Surbiton and his parents still live there. He attended Kingston Grammar School between 1966 and 1974, went to church in Tolworth and was confirmed in Surbiton.

He won an Open Exhibition to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He graduated in 1977, with a Joint Honours degree in Physics and Philosophy. He was an Oxford Hockey Blue and an under 19 player for England. He followed this with a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at Corpus Christi College Oxford and then taught science at a large comprehensive school in Richmond, North Yorkshire, (1978-1980). From there he moved to be Assistant Physics Master at Eton College, Windsor (1980-1983) before becoming an investment analyst in London.

In 1985, he went to Ripon College, Cuddesdon where he obtained a Certificate in Theology and in 1987 he was ordained deacon.
He served his title at Holy Cross Church, Newcastle and was priested in 1988.

In 1990, he moved to become Vicar of St Augustine of Canterbury, Limbury, Luton in the Diocese of St Albans and was Rural Dean of Luton from 1995 –1998. During this period he was founder and convenor of an ecumenical study group and a founding member of Luton SACRE. He was awarded a PhD by King College London in October 1999.

In February 1999 he became the Archdeacon of St Albans and in July 2002, he moved to Southwark when appointed Bishop of Kingston.

He is married to Felicity and they have a daughter and a son. He still plays hockey and squash regularly. His other interests include theatre, cinema and walking.

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