Two new Honorary Assistant Bishops have been approved by Diocesan Synod to serve in the Diocese of York.

They join eight other Honorary Assistant Bishops - mostly retired from full-time ministry - to whom Archbishop Sentamu has delegated authority to licence clergy, administer Confirmation and and consecrate burial grounds at the request of himself or one of our Suffragan Bishops.

  • The Rt Revd Frank White (upper picture) retired in 2016 after six years as full-time Assistant Bishop of Newcastle, following eight years as Suffragan Bishop of Brixworth in the Diocese of Peterborough. Bishop Frank hails from County Durham, where he served as Archdeacon of Sunderland and previously Vicar of Chester-le-Street. He is no stranger to York, having spent time as a detached youth worker there prior to his ordination in 1980. He now lives in Hessle - with his wife, Bishop Alison of Hull, who abstained in the Diocesan Synod vote on his nomination!
  • The Rt Revd David Wilbourne (lower picture) has come home to the Diocese of York after eight years as full-time Assistant Bishop of Llandaff in The Church in Wales. Between 1997 and 2009 he was Vicar of Helmsley and latterly Priest-in-Charge of Upper Ryedale, but Bishop David is well-remembered as Chaplain to Archbishops John Habgood and David Hope, and Diocesan Director of Ordinands from 1991 to 1997. The son of a priest of the Diocese of York, Bishop David has often spoken and written of his love for North Yorkshire and now lives in Scarborough.

We hold them both in our prayers as they take on their new ministry among us.