New Bishop of Fulham

The Right Reverend Jonathan Baker has been appointed as the next Bishop of Fulham.

He is the current Bishop of Ebbsfleet and succeeds John Broadhurst, who resigned as Bishop of Fulham in 2010 to join the Roman Catholic Church under the Pope's ordinariate scheme for opponents of women bishops.

The responsibilities of the Bishop of Fulham have been carried out by the Bishop of Edmonton, the Right Reverend Peter Wheatley, in the interim period.

There will be a formal handover of responsibility from Bishop Wheatley to Bishop Baker on 13 February - Ash Wednesday.

The Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, welcomed Bishop Baker to the role.

He said: “Jonathan Baker will be a great asset to the London team. He has already indicated his willingness to play the fullest possible part in the life of the whole Diocese as well as caring for the Fulham parishes in London, Southwark and Rochester."

Bishop Baker said: “I am thrilled to have been offered this opportunity to join in leading the mission of the church in London. While it will be an enormous wrench to leave the parishes and people who have looked to me as Bishop as Ebbsfleet, I am greatly looking forward to this new opportunity.

"The Diocese of London is vibrant and thriving, and it will be exciting to be part of the next phase of its life and mission. As a ‘north London boy’ there is a sense of homecoming which confirms this as the right next step in my own Christian pilgrimage and calling.”