A prominent Church of England bishop has announced that he is stepping down in five days to become a Catholic. The Bishop of Ebbsfleet Jonathan Goodall, a suffragan in the Canterbury diocese, is resigning after what he described today as “one of the most testing periods of my life.”
His decision after eight years as Bishop of Ebbsfleet – one of the Anglican church’s provincial episcopal visitors, dubbed “fly-ing bishops”, whose role was pastoral care of certain groups of traditionalist parishes – was announced in a statement by Lambeth Palace this morning. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he had accepted his resignation “with regret.”