Thomas Frederick Butler
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The Rt Revd Dr Thomas Frederick Butler (born 1940) is the ninth Bishop of Southwark.
Dr Butler 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.
After ordination in 1964, he served three years as a curate in the Ely and Canterbury Dioceses, before spending twelve years as a lecturer in electronics and as chaplain 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.
Dr Butler was the Archdeacon of Northolt from 1980 to 1985, then became Area Bishop of Willesden (both in the Diocese of London). 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, a charity that is involved in education and development. They have two grown-up children and four grandchildren.
Dr Butler has been active at national and international level. 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 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. Since mid-2003 the Bishop has represented the Church of England on the central committee of the World Council of Churches. He entered the House of Lords in 1997.
Dr Butler is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day and has taken part in many 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.
He was enthroned in Southwark Cathedral on 12 September 1998.
[edit] Public drunkenness controversy
On Tuesday, 5 December 2006, Dr Butler returned home from an embassy function with a head injury, which he claimed to be unable to remember sustaining. He contacted the police to inform them that he had been mugged. However, it was subsequently suggested in the media that Butler, apparently under the influence of alcohol, had sustained the injury while being removed from a stranger's car into which he had apparently climbed [1]. On being questioned about his behaviour by the car's owner, he is alleged to have responded, "I'm the Bishop of Southwark, it's what I do". [2] Dr Butler has stated that he has no plans to resign his position.
[edit] External links
| Religious Posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Cecil Richard Rutt |
Bishop of Leicester 1991–1998 |
Succeeded by: Tim Stevens |
| Preceded by: Robert Kerr Williamson |
Bishop of Southwark 1998–present |
Succeeded by: (current incumbent) |
