A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV) (popularly known as a flying bishop) is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who do not in conscience accept the ministry of women priests.
The Church of England ordained its first women priests in 1994. According to acts of the General Synod passed the previous year, if a parish does not in conscience accept the ministry of women priests it can formally request that none be appointed to minister to it. Likewise, if the local bishop has participated in the ordination of women as priests, a parish can request to be under the pastoral and sacramental care of another bishop who has not participated in such ordinations. In such a case the parish still remains in the diocese of the local diocesan bishop, at whose invitation the "flying bishop" makes his visitation.
To these ends, the act empowers the metropolitans of the Church of England's two provinces to appoint "provincial episcopal visitors", suffragan bishops whose main purpose is to be available for such visits to parishes across the province.
The three PEV bishops are:
Individual dioceses can also appoint suffragan bishops to fulfil this role locally; the Diocese of London, for example, has designated the Suffragan Bishop of Edmonton, who additionally performs a similar role as an assistant bishop licensed in the neighbouring dioceses of Southwark and Rochester. Until November 2010, the Bishop of Fulham filled this role.
In the Church in Wales, the Rt Revd David Thomas was appointed to the analogous office of Provincial Assistant Bishop in 1996 when the province voted to ordain women to the priesthood. No successor was appointed when Thomas retired in 2008.[3]
In December 2010, the then Bishops of Richborough and Ebbsfleet resigned to join the Roman Catholic Church. On 5 May 2011, their successors as PEVs were announced.[4]
The future of any flying bishops is uncertain beyond the point at which new episcopal ministry legislation might be passed in order to facilitate the appointment of female bishops.