The Bishop of Gloucester has announced he is to retire after almost a decade in the role.
The Right Reverend Michael Perham said he would go in November after more than ten “happy, stimulating and fruitful years” in the diocese.
Bishop Michael said the “time was right for him and his family” and that he would be “moving to Wells”.
I hate to say it, but I’m glad to see him stepping down. There are some good things that can be said about +Perham, not least his stewardship of the wonderful scholarly resource on liturgical history and theology, the Alcuin Club collection of liturgical studies. Personally, I also give him credit for his bold and surprising decision to back the inexperienced Justin Welby for being the next ABoC when Perham served on the nominating committee.
But on the other side of the ledger is his disastrous tenure as the leader of that dastardly organization, the so-called “Affirming Catholic” movement within the CoE. Alas, “Affirming Catholics” are an oxymoron, since there simply is no such thing as genuinely catholic Anglicanism that supprts the pro-gay agenda, and the whole theologically relativist mindset that undergirds it. No, Affirming Catholics are Pseudo-Catholics. Pure and simple. No exceptions. Not even for Rowan Williams.
David Handy+
(Pro-WO Anglo-Catholic of the Albany and Dallas type)