Welcome service to be held for the Bishop of Berwick

The new Suffragan Bishop of Berwick, the Right Reverend Mark Tanner, will make his first official visit to north Northumberland on Sunday.
Bishop Mark Tanner and his wife Lindsay at Berwick Station.Bishop Mark Tanner and his wife Lindsay at Berwick Station.
Bishop Mark Tanner and his wife Lindsay at Berwick Station.

A welcome service is being held at St Aidan’s Church in Bamburgh on Sunday at 2.30pm, with various church and community leaders expected to attend.

The service will celebrate Mark’s role as the second bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle, which stretches from the Tyne to the Tweed and includes 239 churches and 47 Church of England schools .

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On Saturday, he will be officially welcomed to his role in the diocese and installed at Newcastle Cathedral in a service led by Bishop of Newcastle, the Rt Rev Christine Hardman. The service will include singing from the choirs of Newcastle and Durham Cathedrals, as well as readings and music. Mark will give the address.

Mark, formerly Warden of Cranmer Hall, part of St John’s College in Durham University, was consecrated as a bishop by Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu at York Minster in October.

Mark said: “I’m looking forward to getting to know the people here, to spending time in churches and with communities, to hearing the good news about where God is working, and to giving all the encouragement I can in all of this and more.

“It is a privilege to pray and work together with each other in Christ as we grow church and bring hope in this wonderful and varied diocese.”

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Bishop Christine said: “Mark has varied experience – of youth work, military chaplaincy, parish ministry in a range of settings, and theological education.

“He comes to us as someone recognised as a good, strategic and caring leader who believes in people and loves to invest in them. We welcome him, his wife Lindsay, and their children to the diocese.”