:Lister Tonge

Tonge was born on 23 December 1951 in Oldham, Lancashire, England.{{cite web|title=TONGE, Very Rev. Lister|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U256524|website=Who's Who 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=24 December 2016|date=November 2016}} He was educated at Heywood Grammar School, Salford Grammar School, King's College London and Loyola University Chicago.TONGE, Very Rev. Lister’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, Nov 2014 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U256524, accessed 24 March 2015] He is the second child of Edward Tonge and Dorothy Tonge (née Clough).

Tonge was ordained as an Anglican in 1975.Crockfords (London, Church House, 1995) {{ISBN|0-7151-8088-6}} After a curacy at Liverpool Parish Church he was Precentor of Johannesburg Cathedral from 1978 to 1979. From then until 1991 he was a member of the Community of the Resurrection. He was then resident Chaplain to the Community of St John the Baptist until his appointment as Dean.

He, alongside Archdeacons Jonathan Williams and Ambrose Mason, raised grievances - which they termed "concerns about the well-being" - against the Bishop of Monmouth, Richard Pain. Despite an internal investigation which determined that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a formal disciplinary tribunal and finding "there was no case to answer", the three men remained unsatisfied. Tonge, Williams and Mason then wrote a letter to the Archbishop, John Davies, and all Welsh bishops expressing how unhappy they were with the outcome. A process of mediation was then put into place, they withdrew from this in December 2018 when a press release from the Church in Wales seemed to confirm the breakdown-in-relationships rumours. Bishop Pain later retired on ill health. The Archbishop, who would not take questions from clergy, claimed in a meeting that the three senior clerics had behaved properly throughout.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/17731584.archbishop-of-wales-john-davies-declares-saga-that-has-engulfed-diocese-of-monmouth-for-months-is-now-closed/|title = Saga that saw Bishop of Monmouth absent from his post for nine months declared 'over' by Archbishop of Wales}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/17608424.bishop-of-monmouth-has-resigned/|title=Bishop retires following nine-month absence}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46989110|title=Monmouth Bishop absent amid mediation with team|work=BBC News|date=25 January 2019}}

He retired as Dean in 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/31595/the-very-revd-lister-tonge|title=Crockford's Clerical Directory: The Very Revd Lister Tonge|access-date=19 February 2021}}

Following his conversion to Catholicism, he was ordained a Roman Catholic transitional Deacon on 13 December 2023 at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Everton by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP, Archbishop of Liverpool. He was ordained priest by Archbishop McMahon on 13 July 2024 at the Metropolitan Cathedral.

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Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:People educated at Heywood Grammar School

Category:People educated at Salford Grammar School

Category:Alumni of King's College London

Category:Associates of King's College London

Category:Loyola University Chicago alumni

Category:Deans of Monmouth

Category:People from Oldham

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