The Right Reverend Jonathan Baker has been appointed as the next Bishop of Fulham.
He is the current Bishop of Ebbsfleet and succeeds John Broadhurst,
who resigned as Bishop of Fulham in 2010 to join the Roman Catholic
Church under the Pope's ordinariate scheme for opponents of women
bishops.
The responsibilities of the Bishop of Fulham have been carried out by
the Bishop of Edmonton, the Right Reverend Peter Wheatley, in the
interim period.
There will be a formal handover of responsibility from Bishop Wheatley to Bishop Baker on 13 February - Ash Wednesday.
The Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, welcomed Bishop Baker to the role.
He said: “Jonathan Baker will be a great asset to the London team. He
has already indicated his willingness to play the fullest possible part
in the life of the whole Diocese as well as caring for the Fulham
parishes in London, Southwark and Rochester."
Bishop Baker said: “I am thrilled to have been offered this opportunity
to join in leading the mission of the church in London. While it will be
an enormous wrench to leave the parishes and people who have looked to
me as Bishop as Ebbsfleet, I am greatly looking forward to this new
opportunity."
"The Diocese of London is vibrant and thriving, and it will be
exciting to be part of the next phase of its life and mission. As a
‘north London boy’ there is a sense of homecoming which confirms this as
the right next step in my own Christian pilgrimage and calling.”