POPE Emeritus Benedict XVI, who had served as Pontiff from 2005 to 2013, had died on New Year’s Eve, aged 95. Other deaths noted this year among the episcopate included those of the Bishop of Woolwich, Dr Karowei Dorgu; the Bishop of Argyll & The Isles, Dr Keith Riglin; the Rt Revd James Johnson, a former Bishop of St Helena; Metropolitan John of Pergamon, John Zizioulas; the Rt Revd Frank Griswold, a former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States; the Most Revd Michael Peers, a former Primate of Canada; the Rt Revd Derek Pytches, founder of New Wine; the Rt Revd Dr Colin Buchanan, a former Bishop of Aston and of Woolwich.
MEMBERS of the clergy whose deaths were recorded included those of the Very Revd Alistair Grimason, Dean of Tuam, of Killala, and of Achrony; the Revd Bridget Baguley, Vicar of Sherwood; the Revd Marco Filipe Lopes, Vicar of St Martin’s, Plaistow; Canon Anna Matthews, Vicar of St Bene’t’s, Cambridge; the Revd Dr Leonard Onugha, Rector of Finchampstead and California; the Revd Graham Guinness, Rector of St Andrew’s, Fort William; Prebendary Roy Pearson, Vicar of All Hallows’, Tottenham, since 1970; Canon Patricia Isaac, Rector of Shedfield and Wickham; Canon Timothy Lipscomb, Priest-in-Charge in the Bryn a Môr Mission Area; the Ven. Paul Bryer, Archdeacon of Cornwall.
The Ven. Graham Davies, former Archdeacon of St Davids; the Ven. Charles Thomas, former Archdeacon of Wells; the Ven. Martyn Gough, former Chaplain of the Fleet and Archdeacon for the Royal Navy; the Ven. Frank Johnston, former Chaplain-General of the Combined Forces.
The Very Revd Brian Horlock, former Dean of Gibraltar; the Very Revd Mervyn Wilson, former Dean of Dromore; the Very Revd Brandon Jackson, former Dean of Lincoln; Canon Rex Davis, former Sub-Dean of Lincoln; the Very Revd Trevor Beeson, former Dean of Winchester; the Very Revd Dr Alec Knight, former Dean of Lincoln.
The Revd John Collins, a leading pioneer of Charismatic Renewal; Fr Stanley Bennie, priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; the Revd Ruggles Fisher, a clergy chess champion; Canon Michael Wolfe, who enabled the “Mersey Miracle” between the C of E, the RC Church, and the Free Churches Group; the Revd David Hill, founder of St Martin Vestment; the Revd Trevor Dearing, a pioneer of Charismatic revival; Canon Robert Reiss, former Canon Treasurer of Westminster Abbey, author, and cricketer; the Revd Paul Skirrow, theologian; the Revd Robert Nind, an industrial chaplain, and Vicar of St Matthew’s, Brixton, for 12 years; the Revd Peter Liddelow, former Chaplain to the Magic Circle; Canon John Henson, former Chaplain of Scargill House; the Revd Dr Roger Beckwith, conservative Evangelical scholar; Canon Paul Nener, surgeon turned Anglo-Catholic priest.
The Revd Kenneth Mason, former Principal of Canterbury School of Ministry, of Edinburgh Theological College, and of the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church; the Revd William Wheeldon, former Principal of the College of hte Resurrection, Mirfield; the Revd Professor Anthony Thiselton, former Principal of St John’s College, Nottingham, and of St John’s College, Durham; Canon Ronald Coppin, former Selection and Ministry Secretary of ACCM, and founding Principal of the North-East Ordination Course; the Revd Sister Rosemary CHN, a former Church Times diarist.
DEATHS among the laity in 2023 included those of Sister Dorothea CSC; Sister Verity Anne CSJE, the last remaining Sister of that Community, aged 90; Sister Columba SSM, a midwife, who had trained at St John the Divine Maternity Home, in Poplar; Sister Gillian Mary SSC, Reverend Mother SSC for 21 years.
The theologian Ann Loades; the writer and Reader Ronald Blythe; the theologian E. A. Livingstone, co-editor of The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church; Roger Sawtell, founder of an ecumenical Christian community; the theological trainer and educator, Bishop’s Selector of potential ordinands, and lay minister Hilary Unwin; Dr Ewan Bowlby, who explored his brain tumour through theological study; the ecumenist Dr Martin Conway.
The founder and artistic director of Riding Lights, Paul Burbridge; the broadcaster Andrew Barr; the founder of Operation Mobilisation, George Verwer; a former Chancellor of Armagh and Down & Dromore dioceses, Lord Carswell; the justice and environmental campaigner Keith Neal; Dr Agnes Abuom, a lay canon in Kenya; the author and traveller Shelby Tucker; an adviser of children’s work in Blackburn diocese, Mary Binks; Kate Saunders, actor, novelist, journalist, and broadcaster; Katy Hounsell-Robert, Church Times reviewer.
The diplomat and churchman Sir Peter Marshall; Hugh Samson, formerly of Christian Aid; Professor Arthur Burns, church historian; Chris Smith, former Chief of Staff at Lambeth Palace; Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Zulu leader; Alan Mould, former headmaster of St John’s College School, Cambridge; Church Times reviewer Katy Hounsell-Robert.
Musicians included Bill Llewellyn; Stephen Roberts, former Lay Vicar of Westminster Abbey; David Lumsden, a former Fellow, Organist, and Tutor of New College, Oxford; and the countertenor James Bowman.
The death also occurred of the Revd Dr Tim Keller, pastor and author.