THE Archbishop of Canterbury has suspended the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Stephen Conway, from ministry, while a complaint to the National Safeguarding Team is investigated, it was announced on Friday.
A statement on the diocese of Lincoln’s website said that the complaint had also been referred “to the appropriate statutory authorities”.
Bishop Conway has been Bishop of Lincoln since 2023 (News, 24 May 2023). For more than a year beforehand, he was Acting Bishop of the diocese, in addition to being Bishop of Ely.
His suspension by the Archbishop of Canterbury follows the House of Bishops’ Code of Practice. The Suffragan Bishop of Grantham, in Lincoln diocese, Dr Nicholas Chamberlain, will be performing the function of the diocesan Bishop in Bishop Conway’s absence.
The diocesan statement recognised that this would be “a deeply unsettling time” for the diocese, and referred anyone concerned to the diocesan safeguarding team, and to the agencies Safe Spaces and ThirtyOneEight, which offer support.
On Sunday, the Bishop of Grantham, Dr Chamberlain, as the Acting Bishop of Lincoln, and the Bishop of Grimsby, the Rt Revd Jean Burgess, released a pastoral letter to the diocese. This had been done “as soon as we could” after the announcement of Bishop Conway’s suspension, they wrote.
“We both wish to assure you of our commitment to you over the next weeks and months, as your bishops. We cannot say any more about the circumstances of Bishop Stephen’s suspension, but we are able to say that he is being pastorally supported.
“We are committed to the pastoral care and support of victims and complainants when safeguarding allegations are brought forward. Such support is being given by the National Safeguarding Team in connection with the allegation against Bishop Stephen.”
The Bishops promised to serve the diocese “to the best of our ability” alongside the archdeacons and the Dean of Lincoln.
They continued: “It is the first Sunday of Lent. These forty days are days for reflection, fasting, penitence and service. During Lent it is the Christian’s faith that we will be restored, ultimately through the sacrificial grace that is found in the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day. There is always hope.
“Lent can be a hard time, during which we are tested, and it seems that for God’s people in the Diocese of Lincoln this year that will indeed be the case. But, together, as we love and serve, we believe that God will not abandon us. Indeed, it is perhaps in the most difficult of times that we will most assuredly find His mercy and His strength.”
This story was updated on 23 February