THE next Bishop of
Manchester is to be the Bishop of Dudley, the Rt Revd David Walker,
it was announced on Wednesday. He will succeed the Rt Revd Nigel
McCulloch, who retired earlier this year.
Bishop Walker, who is 56,
was born and bred in Manchester. He has been Bishop of Dudley, in
Worcester diocese, since 2000. The date of his enthronement has not
yet been decided.
Bishop Walker has been a
critic of the Government's welfare policies. Earlier this year he
criticised politicians for "scapegoating" migrants (
News, 28 March), and has criticised the Government's benefits
reforms (
News, 8 March). He has served on the board of the National
Housing Federation, and is a former chairman of South Yorkshire
Housing Association.
Speaking on Wednesday,
Bishop Walker said that he knew from his own life story what it was
like to struggle financially. He was raised in a home that was
later demolished in a slum-clearance programme. His father died
when he was 14, leaving his mother to raise him and his 11-year-old
brother on her own.
"I remember as a 14-year-old
sitting down with my mother, who was deeply bereaved, to work out
whether we could afford for me to stay on at school for sixth
form," Bishop Walker said. "She ran a shop that didn't turn over a
lot of money. With what little that brought in, and what she could
get in benefits, there was just enough to keep me in school for
sixth form. I remember doing the calculations in pennies and
pounds."
He continued: "At heart I'm
a pastor, and I care about the things that make a difference in
people's lives. When I speak to people and hear the same sort of
pattern, I start to think, what's behind this? Can we, as well as
alleviating immediate suffering, look at the causes?"
Bishop Walker said that he
would "probably have abstained" on a wrecking amendment to the
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which
was defeated in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening. "The
legislation is flawed, but at the end of the day what's clearly
been sent out is a signal that gay people have suffered so much
abuse and vilification in society for so long that society feels
that whatever it can do to help them in their lot needs to be
done."
Bishop Walker was elected to
the General Synod in 2005. He said that he was "hopeful" about the
House of Bishops' legislative proposals on women bishops, which
will be brought before the Synod next month (
News, 31 May).
"I don't start from a
neutral position: I start from the position the House of Bishops
has set out. Clearly 'option one' has the best chance of delivering
for the Church of England; I think we can pastorally meet the needs
of those who have theological objections."
Bishop Walker, speaking from outside the cathedral to which he
had been brought as a schoolboy, said he was "humbled to be offered
a chance to come back and serve the community that gave me my start
in life."