Rt Reverend Vivienne Faull, Bishop of Bristol and all her staff team would like to welcome Revd Canon Arun Arora, Revd Canon Dr Chigor Chike and Revd Shemil Mathew as ‘participant observers’ at the House of Bishops which was announced by the Church of England recently.
Bishop Viv said, “I would like to extend a warm welcome to Revd Canon Arun Arora, Revd Canon Dr Chigor Chike and Revd Shemil Mathew as ‘participant observers’ at the House of Bishops.
"Working for racial justice is at the top of my agenda, and that of my Staff Team and we are working hard to make positive changes across the Diocese of Bristol.
"We have had a Bishop’s Advisor for Racial Justice for a little while now and we have recently appointed a Project Office to strengthen capacity in this area. That said, we see increasing the diversity of our clergy and staff teams as a long term project and there is more work to do as outlined in our new five-year strategy.
“I echo Canon Dr Sanjee Perera’s comments that this is a positive step forward in making the leadership of the Church of England more representative and provides an opportunity for the House of Bishops to work closely with members of the black and minority ethnic community who can share their lived experiences and insights with us. This high level engagement is important if things are going to change”