Gordon Bates

The Rt Revd
Gordon Bates
Bishop of Whitby
Diocese Diocese of York
In office 1983–1999 (retired)
Predecessor Clifford Barker
Successor Robert Ladds
Other posts Honorary assistant bishop in York (2010–present); in Carlisle and in Blackburn (1999–2010)
Orders
Ordination c.1958 (deacon); c.1959 (priest)
Consecration 1983
Personal details
Born (1934-03-16) 16 March 1934
Denomination Anglican
Parents Ernest & Kathleen
Spouse Betty Vaux (m. 1960)
Children 2 daughters
Profession Youth chaplain
Alma mater Kelham Theological College

Gordon Bates (born 16 March 1934) was the eighth Bishop of Whitby.[1]

Bates received his ecclesiastical education at Kelham Theological College, being ordained deacon in 1958 and priest 1959. After a Curacy at Eltham he served as a Youth Chaplain in, firstly, the Gloucester and then the Liverpool Dioceses. From 1965 he began a long association with Liverpool Cathedral, becoming in time a Canon Residentiary, Precentor and finally Director of Ordinands.[2] From 1983 he was a Suffragan Bishop,[3] a post he held for 16 years. He retired to Carnforth and is now an Honorary Assistant Bishop within the Carlisle Diocese.[4] Towards the end of his Episcopate he stated:

The Church has got to realise its missionary responsibilities. We live in a society, whether that be urban or rural, which is now basically second- or even third-generation pagan once again; and we cannot simply work on the premise that all we have to do to bring people to Christ is to ask them to remember their long-held, but dormant faith … in so many instances we have to go back to basics; we are in a critical missionary situation.

CA News, April 1998[5]

References

  1. The Times, Friday, 10 June 1983; p. 16; Issue 61555; col C New Bishop of Whitby
  2. ‘BATES, Rt Rev. Gordon’, Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2011 , accessed 8 July 2012
  3. Crockfords, (London, Church House 1995) ISBN 0-7151-8088-6
  4. Listed as such
  5. Mission shaped church
Church of England titles
Preceded by
Clifford Barker
Bishop of Whitby
1983–1999
Succeeded by
Robert Ladds


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