New bishop legally confirmed during special service

The new Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Dr Joanne Grenfell, has been legally confirmed

A bishop said she could not "think of a greater responsibility" as she was due to become the first woman to lead a diocese.

The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Dr Joanne Grenfell, was legally confirmed as the count's next diocesan Bishop during a service in London on 5 September.

She takes on the role after the Right Reverend Martin Seeley retired after 10 years serving as the area's ordinary.

Bishop Grenfell will move into the Bishop's House in Park Road, Ipswich, at the end of October ahead of a welcome service that will be organised at a later date.

"In the midst of the curiously historic Anglican legal aspects of the ceremony, I was asked to express my own willingness to say yes to my election as Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and to make my declaration and oaths under God," she said.

"I was asked to commit to being your servant and pastor.

"I can't think of a greater responsibility.

"I chose the hymns and the reading because I wanted to try to express something of the kind of ministry that I hope we will share."

The service in London was a mixture of legal court and personal commitment, surrounded by prayer and worship at Saint Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside, London

The service in London has roots in medieval law and completes the legal process by which Bishop Grenfell would assume spiritual oversight of the diocese.

The Right Reverend Graeme Knowles had served as the acting bishop of the diocese after Bishop Seeley's retirement.

He will continue as an honour assistant bishop helping with pastoral duties.

It has been a privilege to serve the diocese since Bishop Martin's retirement and I am now delighted to be asked to continue supporting Bishop Joanne as an assistant Bishop too," he added.