Peter Wheatley (born 7 September 1947) is a retired

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy 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 and administration of di ...

in the

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, ...

. From 1995 to 1999, he was the

Archdeacon of Hampstead The Archdeacon of Hampstead is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of London, named after, and based in and around, the Hampstead area of London. They are the priest responsible for the Archdeaconry of Hampstead. Hist ...

. From 1999 to 2014, he was the Bishop of Edmonton, an

area bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the Metropolitan ...

in the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

Early life

Educated at

Ipswich School Ipswich School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) for pupils aged 3 to 18 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. North of the town centre, Ipswich School has four parts on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nur ...

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

, Wheatley trained for ordination at the

College of the Resurrection A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

and Ripon Hall, Oxford and 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 1973.

Ordained ministry

Wheatley 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 ...

All Saints Church, Fulham All Saints' Church is the ancient parish church of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, pre-dating the Reformation. The parish was founded in the precinct of Fulham Manor, currently adjacent to it, which was in the possession of the Bishops o ...

, becoming

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 ...

of Holy Cross in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

in 1978. In 1982, he moved to become

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 All Souls'

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

and St Mary's Kilburn. He also became vicar of St James' in

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden. Neighbouring areas includes Childs Hill to the north, Frognal to the east, Swiss Cottage to the south-east, South Hampstead to the south and Kilburn to the south-west. The neighbourh ...

at this time. While remaining a parish priest, Wheatley became the Director of Post-Ordination Training in 1988 for the Edmonton area. Between 1988 and 1993, he was also

Area Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...

of North Camden and was a member of the General

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

from 1975 to 1995. He became

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 ...

of Hampstead in 1995. Wheatley was consecrated as Bishop of Edmonton in March 1999. He announced his intention to retire at the end of 2014 to the London Diocesan Synod on 17 July 2014. He retired from full-time ministry on 31 December 2014. Wheatley retired to the south coast of England in 2014, but since that time has been licensed as an

honorary assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

in both the Diocese of Southwark and the Diocese of London. Additionally, since 2014, he has served as episcopal patron of the chapter and companions of the Shrine of

Our Lady of Willesden Our Lady of Willesden is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated by Christians in London, especially by Anglicans, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox. It is associated with the historic image (statue) and pilgrimage centre in the community o ...

. From 2019 to 2022, during an ''

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

'', he was

of Christ Church, St Leonards-on-Sea in the Diocese of Chichester. Since the appointment of a new rector, he has continued to serve in the parish as an honorary assistant clergy.

Doctrinal positions

Wheatley is opposed to the

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

as priests and bishops. In 2008 he was one of several hundred clergy who signed an open letter from

Forward in Faith Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the pri ...

calling upon the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as co-chairmen of the Church of England's General Synod, to ensure that legal protections established in 1992 for those clergy who were conscientiously unable to accept the ordination of women be preserved. This was in response to a proposal in General Synod that the statutory legal protections concerned should be replaced with a merely advisory "Code of Practice".

Personal life

In 2003, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported that Wheatley was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. By 2003, he had been sharing his home with his partner for eight years. He has stated that he is "a

celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...

Christian living by Christian teachings".

Styles

* Peter Wheatley (1947–1973) * The Revd Peter Wheatley (1973–1995) * The Ven Peter Wheatley (1995–1999) * The Rt Revd Peter Wheatley (1999—present)

References

External links

Anglican Communion websiteDiocese of London profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, Peter 1947 births People educated at Ipswich School Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Alumni of the College of the Resurrection Bishops of Edmonton (London) Archdeacons of Hampstead Living people LGBTQ Anglican bishops 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English LGBTQ people