First female Bishop of Peterborough is installed in 'uplifting service'

The first woman Bishop of Peterborough has been installed in an "uplifting and inspiring service".

The Right Reverend Debbie Sellin was welcomed as the 39th bishop in the diocese during a 90-minute service at Peterborough Cathedral.

The 59-year-old will lead the Anglican communities across Northamptonshire, Rutland and Peterborough.

She previously acted as Bishop of Southampton after the sudden retirement of the Right Reverend Tim Dakin.

The Diocese of Peterborough said representatives from churches across the Diocese attended the service on Sunday.

Bishop Sellin was born in Scotland where her father was an ordained minister and the family lived in the rectory.

Her first career was as an NHS manager, and she then moved to Sheffield where she became a children and families' church worker.

In 2004, she began training in the priesthood and became a deacon three years later, followed by her ordination as a priest in 2007.

After serving at a church in Guildford, she became Vicar of Wonersh, in Surrey.

In 2019, she became suffragan - or assistant - Bishop of Southampton in the Diocese of Winchester and ended up taking charge of the diocese after Bishop Tim Dakin stepped down in a row over the Channel Islands.

She was named as the new Bishop of Peterborough last year following the retirement of Donald Allister.

Bishop Sellin told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this week: "One of the early things I want to do is to actually meet community leaders, to meet faith leaders, to find out what they're doing, to work out what interests we have in common.

"There's a privilege of being able to speak into certain areas and doing that together across communities adds more power to it."

Although she intends to spend her first few months getting to know the whole diocese, she said she was looking forward to being based at Peterborough Cathedral.

"I popped in in the summer before I went for interview and I came on a beautiful summer's evening - and Cathedral Square had lots of people eating out at restaurants.

"There was a concert going on at the cathedral and there was just a buzz about the place."

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