New bishop 'honoured' to be appointed

A new bishop says she is "deeply honoured" to have the opportunity to lead the Diocese of Ely.

The election of the Bishop of Ely, the Right Reverend Sarah Clark, has been approved by King Charles III.

Clark will succeed the Right Reverend Stephen Conway who moved to become Bishop of Lincoln in July 2023. The diocese covers most of Cambridgeshire, the parts of Peterborough south of the Nene, and also parts of west Norfolk and a small number of parishes in Essex and Bedfordshire.

"I feel such a sense of joy, vocation and thankfulness to God about coming to the Diocese of Ely," she said.

The new bishop attended Loughborough University, and before being ordained she worked as a civil servant within the Department of Employment.

She trained for the ministry at St John's College in Nottingham, before undertaking her curacy at St James Porchester in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham.

Clark was Acting Bishop of Durham and Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow in the Diocese of Durham before being appointed.

In a message to local people, she said: "I am deeply honoured by this opportunity to serve as your bishop and I am so looking forward to joining you, getting out and about throughout the whole diocese, hearing your stories and learning from them and about the communities you love and serve."

The Ely diocese thanked Bishop Dagmar Winter for her service as acting bishop, and said she would return to her role as Suffragan Bishop of Huntingdon.

Winter said she was "excited by the leadership, energy and vision" Clark would bring.

The bishop has already been visiting a school in Northstowe and a church in Arbury in Cambridge and she is due to end the day with Evensong at the cathedral.

The diocese said she was expected to be welcomed and installed as bishop at Ely Cathedral in the summer.

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