The Bishop of Dover is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Diocese of Canterbury The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering East Kent, eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest episcopal see, see of the Church o ...

, England. The title takes its name after the town of Dover in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The Bishop of Dover holds the additional title of "Bishop in Canterbury" and is empowered to act almost as if the Bishop of Dover were the diocesan bishop of Canterbury, since the actual diocesan bishop (the Archbishop of Canterbury) is based at Lambeth Palace in London, and thus is frequently away from the diocese, fulfilling national and international duties. Among other things, this gives the Bishop of Dover an ''ex officio'' seat in the church's

General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church of ...

. There is another suffragan, the

Bishop of Maidstone The Bishop of Maidstone is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the county town of Maidstone in Kent. Canterbury suf ...

, who has different responsibilities. The role of the Bishop of Dover in the Diocese of Canterbury is comparable to that of the

Cardinal Vicar Cardinal Vicar ( it, Cardinale Vicario) is a title commonly given to the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome for the portion of the diocese within Italy (i.e. excluding the portion within Vatican City). The official title, as given in the '' Annu ...

in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rome, who exercises most functions that the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, the

Bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

, formally has in his own diocese. The arrangements by which the Bishop of Dover acts as if the Bishop of Dover were the diocesan bishop date from 1980, under provisions in Section 10 of the Dioceses Measure 1978. The 2001 report ''To Lead and to Serve'' recommended making these arrangement more permanent and styling the pseudo–diocesan bishop as "Bishop in Canterbury"; that style was already in use before the review.Church of England — Review of the See of Canterbury
(Accessed 16 November 2015) The current bishop of Dover is

Rose Hudson-Wilkin Rose Josephine Hudson-Wilkin, (born 19 January 1961) is a British Anglican bishop, who has been suffragan Bishop of Dover in the diocese of Canterbury - deputising for the Archbishop - since 2019: she is the first black woman to become a Chur ...

. She was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral on 19 November 2019 and installed at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 November 2019.

List of bishops of Dover

References

External links

Crockford's Clerical Directory - Listings
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