Paul John Slater (born 22 March 1958) is a retired

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop. From 2015 until January 2022, he served as the Bishop of Kirkstall, a

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

in the Diocese of Leeds. He was previously the

Archdeacon of Craven The Archdeacon of Craven was a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Bradford. The final archdeacon was Paul Slater. As an Archdeacon, they were responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within four area deanerie ...

from 2005 to April 2014,

Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven The Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven is an archdiaconal post in the Church of England. It was created in about 1088 within the See of York and was moved in 1541 to the See of Chester, in 1836 to the See of Ripon and after 2014 to the See of ...

from April 2014 to July 2015, and the Bishop of Richmond from 2015 until his title (but not his role) changed to Bishop of Kirkstall in 2018.

Early life

Slater was born on 22 March 1958. He was educated at

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational private day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination. For the sixth form admission is based on GCSE results. The school gives means-tested ...

, then a

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, Yorkshire. He studied

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, which was later promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA Oxon) degree in 1983. In 1981, Slater entered Cranmer Hall (part of

St John's College, Durham St John's College is one of the Colleges of Durham University#Types of College, recognised colleges of Durham University. The college was established in 1909 as a Church of England theological college and became a full constituent college of th ...

) to study for

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

. He graduated from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

with a BA degree in theology in 1983 and completed a further year of training for ministry at Cranmer Hall.

Ordained ministry

He was ordained in the

Anglican ministry The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. ''Ministry'' commonly refers to the office of ordination, ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. Anglican m ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1984 and as a priest in 1985. From 1984 to 1988, he served his

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

at St Andrew's,

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

, in the

Diocese of Bradford The Diocese of Bradford is a former Church of England diocese within the Province of York. The diocese covered the area of the City of Bradford, Craven district, the former Sedbergh Rural District now in Cumbria and the parts of the Lancashi ...

. He was then appointed

Priest in charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

of St John the Evangelist,

Cullingworth Cullingworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Bradford and south of Keighley. The surrounding countryside is mainly ...

, and Director of the Diocesan Foundation Course between 1988 and 1993. Subsequently, he became the Personal Executive Assistant to the Bishop of Bradford from 1993 to 1995, and concurrently served as Warden of Readers from 1992 to 1996. He then served as the Rector of St Michael and All Angels Church,

Haworth Haworth ( , , ) is a village in West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines south-west of Keighley, 8 miles (13 km) north of Halifax, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhop ...

, from 1995 to 2001, before taking on the role of Bishop's Officer for Ministry and Mission from 2001 to 2005. He was appointed

in 2005 and became the acting

Archdeacon of Richmond The Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven is an archdeacon, archdiaconal post in the Church of England. It was created in about 1088 within the See of York and was moved in 1541 to the Bishopric of Chester, See of Chester, in 1836 to the Diocese of ...

on 2 February 2014. When the two posts were merged, he became the

on 20 April 2014. His residence was at Kadugli House,

Episcopal ministry

On 18 June 2015, it was announced that Slater would become the next Bishop of Richmond, a

in the Diocese of Leeds. The bishopric of Richmond had been in abeyance since 1921.Diocese of Leeds — Archdeacon Paul Slater to be new Bishop of Richmond
(Accessed 13 July 2016) He was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

during a service at

Ripon Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, and until 1836 known as Ripon Minster, is a cathedral in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. Founded as a monastery by monks of the Irish tradition in the 660s, ...

on 19 July by

John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. In retirement he was subject to investigation over his handl ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

. This was the first consecration to take place at Ripon Cathedral since that of

Thomas de Kirkcudbright Thomas de Kirkcudbright, also known as Thomas de Dalton ''de Daltoun was a medieval prelate from the Kingdom of Scotland. He was apparently a ''nutritus'', or foster son, of Robert V de Brus, Lord of Annandale, and seems to have been closely ...

Bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7 ...

in 1293. On 14 March 2018, Slater's See was translated from Richmond to Kirkstall (in Leeds) by

Order in Council An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom, this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' ...

; thus, he kept the same role but became Bishop of Kirkstall. In October 2021, it was announced that Slater would retire from the post on 31 January 2022.

Personal life

Slater is married to Beverley, who works for the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. Together, they have two adult sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Paul John 1958 births Living people Archdeacons of Craven Archdeacons of Richmond Anglican bishops of Richmond Bishops of Kirkstall 20th-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People educated at Bradford Grammar School Alumni of Cranmer Hall, Durham