Christine Louise Wilson (née Bravery; born 26 March 1958) is a British retired

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

priest. She served as

Dean of Lincoln Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean S ...

, 2016–2023 and as

Archdeacon of Chesterfield The three Archdeacons in the Diocese of Derby are senior ecclesiastical officers in the Church of England Diocese of Derby. Each archdeacon has responsibility for church buildings and clergy discipline in her/his respective archdeaconry. History ...

from 2010 to 2016.

Early life and education

Wilson was born Christine Louise Bravery on 26 March 1958 in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, Sussex, England. She was educated at Margaret Hardy Secondary Modern, then an all-girls secondary school in Brighton. She trained for ordination on the

Southern Dioceses Ministerial Training Scheme STETS (Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme) was a ministerial training scheme for church ministers in southern England, based in Salisbury. Its functions were absorbed by Sarum College, also in Salisbury, in 2015. History STETS ...

, completing a Diploma in Theology (DipTh) in 1994.

Ordained ministry

Wilson was

ordained 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 ...

in the

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 1997 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1998. From 1997 to 2002, she served her

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 Peter's Church, Henfield in the

Diocese of Chichester The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075. The cathe ...

. She was

team vicar Vicar is a title given to certain parish priests in the Church of England and other Anglican churches. It has played a significant role in Anglican church organisation in ways that are different from other Christian denominations. The title aris ...

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

from 2002 until 2008; and then

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

Goring-by-Sea Goring-by-Sea, commonly referred to simply as Goring, is a neighbourhood of Worthing and former civil parish, now in Worthing district in West Sussex, England. It lies west of West Worthing, about west of Worthing town centre. Historically ...

until her appointment as

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

. On 27 May 2016, Wilson was announced as the next

. She was installed on dean on 22 October 2016. Wilson has been Senior Independent Director for

Ecclesiastical Insurance Ecclesiastical Insurance is an insurance company in the United Kingdom founded in 1887. The head office is located in Gloucester. The company is formally named Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc and is authorised and regulated by the FCA and P ...

since November 2017, having been on the board since 2012 when she was Archdeacon of Chesterfield. Commenting on her appointment, Wilson said "Ecclesiastical has enjoyed a long relationship with the Church of England and I am pleased to be able to continue this association." Ecclesiastical received criticism from three Church of England bishops in 2017 over its "horse trade" methods in settlements of

clerical abuse Religious abuse is abuse administered through religion, including harassment, humiliation, spiritual abuse or religious violence. Religious abuse may also include the misuse of religion for Selfishness, selfish, Secularism, secular, or Ideology, ...

cases.

Lincoln Cathedral

In April 2018, Wilson publicly apologised to victims and survivors of

child sex abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

by a former deputy head teacher at Lincoln Cathedral School. She acknowledged that some of the survivors had waited nearly fifty years for justice. The case was triggered by a new diocesan safeguarding officer carrying out a review of historic cases, which led to police setting up Operation Redstone in 2015. From April 2019 until March 2020 she took voluntary leave of absence from the cathedral. At this time, the Canon Chancellor, Paul Overend, also agreed to step away from his post. The cathedral said at the time that this was for separate reasons, connected to one issue. It was later confirmed that police outside of Lincolnshire were investigating a historical safeguarding matter reported to the Diocese of Lincoln. On 22 November 2019, Wilson issued a statement confirming that she is seeking legal action to bring an end to the "long running saga over her absence from the cathedral". She added that on Monday 18 November 2019, the President of Tribunals made a determination that a complainant and the bishop had not followed the proper process at the outset and therefore the complaint, which led to her absence, was void and invalid. The President of Tribunals stated that this was "unfortunate" and the complainant may wish to issue another complaint. Wilson added that she had over the last seven months respected the processes of the church throughout the inquiry and cooperated fully. Wilson retired effective 31 March 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Christine Louise Bravery 1958 births Living people Archdeacons of Chesterfield Deans of Lincoln Clergy from Brighton