Clarence Edgar Bester (born 1970/1971) is a South African-born Australian bishop in the
Anglican Church of Australia. He has served as the 11th
Bishop of Wangaratta since February 2020.
Early life and parish ministry
Bester was born, raised and educated in
Cape Town,
South Africa.
He wanted to be a priest from age 13 or 14, but after his education took a job at the
National Library of South Africa as a library assistant. He was offered a full scholarship to study library science but declined it to take up the opportunity to enter ministry.
In 1996, Bester was ordained as
deacon in the
Anglican Diocese of Cape Town in the
Anglican Church of Southern Africa. He then served in various parishes in the
Diocese of False Bay where he was ordained as priest and later collated 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 churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
. He served as rector of
Strand for 12 years as well as Archdeacon of Helderberg from 2006 to 2010 and Archdeacon to the Ordinary from 2010 to 2014.
During 2007 and 2013, Bester served as a
locum priest in the
Diocese in Europe at the
Chaplaincy of Bonn and Cologne and
Chaplaincy of Strasbourg respectively.
Bester still holds permission to officiate in that diocese.
In 2014, Bester decided to move overseas with his family and, when he was not able to pursue further options in the
United Kingdom or Europe,
he pursued three options in Australia in
Bunbury,
Perth and
Shepparton
Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...
. He chose the latter because he received a response from the Archdeacon of Wangaratta within an hour and because it gave him an opportunity to work with a fellow South African.
Bester was eventually appointed as assistant priest in the Shepparton parish, where he served for 20 months, during which time he was asked to do a ministry development plan for the parish and was included on the diocese’s strategic planning operational team.
He found the smaller size of congregations in Wangaratta a challenge compared to ministry in South Africa.
On 26 November 2016, Bester was appointed as priest of the Parish of Wangaratta West and the
Warbys. On the same day, he was collated as Archdeacon for Ministry Development within the diocese by Bishop
John Parkes.
The role was designed to strengthen the capacity of the diocese and offer new opportunities. After a further 14 months, he was appointed as full-time diocesan archdeacon and bishop's commissary and, on 1 November 2018, as vicar-general of the diocese. He administered the diocese following the retirement of Bishop Parkes.
Bester's time at Wangaratta has been characterised by his involvement in ministry development, clergy development and recruitment and clergy and lay training as well as exploring new models of ministry for the diocese.
Episcopal ministry
On 21 December 2019, Bester was elected as the 11th Bishop of Wangaratta, replacing John Parkes who had recently retired.
Before his appointment he was required to manage the DDiocese's response to the
2019–20 Australian bushfire season
The 201920 Australian bushfire season (Black Summer), was a period of bushfires in many parts of Australia, which, due to its unusual intensity, size, duration, and uncontrollable dimension, is considered a megafire. The Australian National ...
which affected the diocese.
Bester was consecrated as a bishop at
St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, on 22 February 2020 by the
Archbishop of Melbourne and then-
Anglican Primate of Australia,
Philip Freier. He was
enthroned at
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Wangaratta, on 23 February 2020.
Bester stated at the time of his appointment that he was "deeply humbled" to take on the role of bishop,
saw his role as to make a difference to people's lives
but saw it as a "team effort" for all within the diocese.
Advocacy
Bester is a supporter of LGBTQI inclusion
and allowing the
blessing of same-sex unions in the Anglican Church of Australia. In 2018, he moved a motion in the Wangaratta diocese to explore the blessing of same-sex marriages.
A planned blessing of the civil same-sex marriage of two priests in the diocese resulting from that motion was called off in September 2019 after the motion was referred to the Anglican Church of Australia's appellate tribunal on its legality.
In October 2019, Bester criticised the
Archbishop of Sydney,
Glenn Davies, for a speech asking bishops who disagreed with the church's doctrine on same-sex marriage to leave the Anglican Church.
Personal life
Bester became an Australian citizen on
Australia Day 2020.
Bester met his wife Michelle, a recruitment consultant,
during his first ministry posting in South Africa. They have been married since 2000
and have two sons.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bester, Clarence
1970s births
21st-century Anglican bishops in Australia
Anglican bishops of Wangaratta
Date of birth missing (living people)
Living people
South African emigrants to Australia