June Osborne

June Osborne, DL (born 10 June 1953) is a British Anglican bishop. Since July 2017, she has served as the Bishop of Llandaff in the Church in Wales. Between 2004 and 2017, she served as the Dean of Salisbury, and was the first woman to head one of England's medieval cathedrals.


June Osborne

Bishop of Llandaff
ChurchChurch in Wales
DioceseDiocese of Llandaff
In office14 July 2017  present
PredecessorBarry Morgan
Orders
Ordination1980 (deaconess)
1987 (deacon)
1994 (priest)
Consecration15 July 2017
by John Davies
Personal details
Born (1953-06-10) 10 June 1953
Manchester, England
NationalityBritish
DenominationAnglican

Early life

Osborne was born on 10 June 1953 in Manchester, England.[1][2] She began studying law until she felt "the hand of Heaven" and decided to study for the ministry.[3] She attended Manchester University, where she graduated in sociology, after which she worked as a lay person in parish ministry at St Aldate's Church, Oxford.[4] She then moved to the administrative staff of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, where she directed the week-long 'Vocation 78' conference. This event, attended by 1400 evangelical students from the UK and overseas, aimed to help professionals develop "thorough-going Christian minds" so as to allow their faith to influence them in their work.[5]

From UCCF she moved to Wycliffe Hall, Oxford to undertake ordination training, following a sense of calling to parish ministry: "Women should be prepared to put aside their natural reticence [to] take on full participation in the leadership in the church". She also stated that "the whole structure of ministry needs to be changed so that we do not put anybody in an isolated position at the top as happens at present. It should be a team".[4] She was the first woman to take up a place at the previously all-male college.[3] She also undertook training at St John's College, Nottingham.[6]

Ordained ministry

In 1980, she became a deaconess at St Martin in the Bull Ring, Birmingham. She has also served at St Aldate's Church, Oxford, and in the Old Ford parishes in London. In the 1980s she was a regular speaker at the Greenbelt Christian music festival.[7][8] She was made one of the first woman deacons in the Church of England in 1987.[3]

Osborne was ordained to the priesthood in 1994, one of the first women to be ordained in England.[2] There was much discussion at the previous year's Church General Synod as to whether or not to ordain female priests. The Times attributed Osborne's speech at the synod "for swinging the General Synod vote in favour of female priests".[3]

She moved in the following year to Salisbury, where she served as Canon Treasurer until her appointment as Dean. She was Dean of Salisbury from 1 May 2004[9] until July 2017. She was the first woman to serve as a Dean at Salisbury Cathedral and the first at any of England's medieval cathedrals.[2] She had served as acting dean since the retirement of her predecessor, Derek Watson, in 2002.[10]

She is interested in interfaith dialogue and, in 2017, participated in the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.[11]

Episcopal ministry

In 2014, after the vote to allow for the consecration of women as bishops, there was speculation that Osborne could become the first female bishop in the Church of England.[3][12]

On 27 April 2017, it was announced that Osborne would be the next Bishop of Llandaff in the Church in Wales.[13] Her election was confirmed at a Sacred Synod meeting on 14 July 2017, whereby she legally took up her new post.[14] She was consecrated a bishop on 15 July 2017 by John Davies, Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, during a service at Brecon Cathedral.[6] She was installed as the 72nd Bishop of Llandaff during a service at Llandaff Cathedral on 22 July.[14][15]

Personal life

She is married to Paul Goulding QC, a barrister. They have two children.[6]

In 2006, she was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire (DL).[16]

References

  1. "Llandaff, Bishop of, (Rt Rev. June Osborne) (born 10 June 1953)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO.
  2. "BBC - Wiltshire - Faith in Wiltshire - Cathedral installs its first woman Dean".
  3. Dodd, Celia (14 February 2004). "Interview: Superior mother". The Times. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  4. "ThirdWay". 13 July 1978.
  5. "ThirdWay". 3 August 1978.
  6. "Consecration of the Bishop of Llandaff". Church in Wales. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  7. "ThirdWay". Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. 13 August 1986 via Internet Archive.
  8. "ThirdWay". June 1985.
  9. "Contact Us". Salisbury Cathedral.
  10. "News". Salisbury Cathedral.
  11. "Religious Leaders Across the World Issue a Coordinated End of Ramadan/ Eid al-Fitr Message: Make Friends Across Religions". Elijah Interfaith. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  12. Kinchen, Rosie (20 July 2014). "June Osborne: Crashing through the stained glass ceiling". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  13. "From Dean June to Bishop June". Diocese of Salisbury. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  14. "New Bishop of Llandaff appointed". Church in Wales. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  15. "Bishop of Llandaff enthroned in cathedral ceremony". BBC News. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  16. London Gazette, Issue 57993 of 26 May 2006, page 7299 online
Church in Wales titles
Preceded by
Barry Morgan
Bishop of Llandaff
2017–present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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