Mark Sowerby

Sowerby was born on 28 October 1963 in Ripon, West Riding of Yorkshire.[http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/search/results/27057/Mark%20Crispin%20Rake%20Sowerby+HORSHAM.aspx Debrett's People of Today — Mark Sowerby Horsham] His father, Geoffrey (a priest),{{Who's Who | title=Sowerby, Mark Crispin Rake | id = U250116 | volume = 2017 | edition = November 2016 online | access-date = 15 August 2017 }} was a minor canon of Ripon Minster.{{Crockford| surname = Sowerby | forenames = Geoffrey Nigel Rake | id = 38510 | accessed = 15 August 2017}} He was educated at Barnard Castle School, then a direct grant grammar school in Barnard Castle, County Durham, and at St Aidan's and St John Fisher Associated Sixth Form, an ecumenical sixth form college in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.{{cite web |title=✠ The Rt Revd Mark Crispin Rake SOWERBY |url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/w13849/✠_The_Rt_Revd_Mark_Crispin_Rake_SOWERBY |website=The Church of England Year Book |publisher=Church House Publishing |access-date=9 April 2023}} He studied theology at King's College, London, and graduated in 1985, with a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree and the Associateship of King's College (AKC). He then entered the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, an Anglo-Catholic theological college, to train for the priesthood. He left the college in 1987 to be ordained.{{Crockford| surname = Sowerby | forenames = Mark Crispin Rake | id = 14342 | accessed = 1 May 2016}}

Sowerby was made a deacon in the Church of England at Petertide (28 June) 1987 by David Young, Bishop of Ripon, during a service at Ripon Cathedral.{{Church Times | title = Ordinations | archive = 1987_07_03_013 | issue = 6490 | date = 3 July 1987 | page = 13 | accessed = 17 August 2017 }} He was ordained a priest the Petertide following (3 July 1988) by Malcolm Menin, Bishop of Knaresborough.{{Church Times | title = Ordinations | archive = 1988_07_08_013 | issue = 6543 | date = 8 July 1988 | page = 13 | accessed = 17 August 2017 }} His first posts were curacies at Knaresborough and Darwen after which he was Vicar of Accrington then Vocations Officer and Selection Secretary in The Ministry Division.

His last post before his appointment to the episcopate was Team Rector of St Wilfrid's Church, Harrogate.[http://www.diochi.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.story&newsid=54&view=current Diocese of Chichester website][http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/blog_post.asp?id=76932 Church Times][http://www.stwilfrids-harrogate.co.uk/ Church website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930150513/http://www.stwilfrids-harrogate.co.uk/ |date=30 September 2008 }} One of his final acts as rector was to welcome a proposal from NEDL to erect a primary electricity station in the curtilage of the church. This proposal, generated criticism from, amongst others, the Victorian Society, Private Eye magazine and residents of Harrogate.[http://www.save-stwilfrids-harrogate.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831022232/http://www.save-stwilfrids-harrogate.com/ |date=31 August 2010 }}

Appointed to become Bishop of Horsham — one of two suffragan bishops of the Diocese of Chichester — in 2009, Sowerby was ordained and consecrated a bishop by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Chichester Cathedral on 25 July 2009.[http://www.diochi.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.story&newsid=59&view=current] (Archived

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090801223142/http://www.diochi.org.uk:80/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.story&newsid=59&view=current], 1 August 2009; archive accessed 17 August 2017) At first, his post was as an area bishop; but the area scheme was wound up in 2013 and he remained a non-area suffragan. During a protracted investigation – while there was a vacancy in the diocesan see — into the efficacy of safeguarding practices in the diocese, Sowerby was additionally Acting Bishop of Chichester. (The senior suffragan of the diocese, Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes, was involved in the ongoing investigation.)

On 30 April 2019, it was announced that Sowerby would be the next Principal of the College of the Resurrection, an Anglo-Catholic theological college in West Yorkshire and his alma mater. He succeeded Peter Allan CR, who retired at the end of the 2018–2019 academic year;{{cite web |title=Bishop of Horsham to be Principal of the College of the Resurrection |url=https://www.chichester.anglican.org/news/2019/04/30/bishop-horsham-be-principal-college-resurrection/ |website=Diocese of Chichester |accessdate=14 May 2019 |date=30 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514193359/https://www.chichester.anglican.org/news/2019/04/30/bishop-horsham-be-principal-college-resurrection/ |archive-date=14 May 2019 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=Mark Sowerby to become principal of the College of the Resurrection after 10 years as Bishop of Horsham |url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/mark-sowerby-to-become-principal-of-the-college-of-the-resurrection-after-10-years-as-bishop-of-horsham/132324.htm |accessdate=14 May 2019 |work=Christian Today |date=30 April 2019 }} Sowerby resigned his see effective 31 August 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chichester.anglican.org/glitter_news/2019/07/15/bishop-horsham-leaving-service/|title = Bishop of Horsham Farewell Service - Diocese of Chichester}} Since 2019, he has also been licensed an honorary assistant bishop of the Diocese of Leeds{{Crockford | forenames = Mark Crispin Rake | surname = Sowerby | id = 14342 | accessed = 30 July 2021 }} (in which Mirfield is situate).

Sowerby previously held views consistent with traditionalist Anglo-Catholicism, such as rejecting the ordination of women as priests or bishops. In June 2015, he announced that he had changed his theological outlook and now accepts the ordination of women as priests and bishops. Consequently, he resigned from the Council of Bishops of The Society, a traditionalist Anglo-Catholic association in the Church of England.{{cite web|title=Bishop of Horsham – Resignation as a member of the Society's Council of Bishops|url=http://www.chichester.anglican.org/documents/documentation/bishop-horsham-resignation-member-societys-council-bishops/|website=Diocese of Chichester|accessdate=10 June 2015|date=10 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616001914/http://www.chichester.anglican.org/documents/documentation/bishop-horsham-resignation-member-societys-council-bishops/ |archive-date=16 June 2018}}{{cite web|last1=Robinson|first1=Tony|authorlink1=Tony Robinson (bishop)|title=The Bishop of Horsham|url=http://www.sswsh.com/fullposts.php?id=158|website=The Society|accessdate=10 June 2015|date=10 June 2015}}

Sowerby married in 1989 and has three children.

• The Reverend Mark Sowerby (1988–2009)
• The Right Reverend Mark Sowerby (2009–present)

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Category:1963 births

Category:Alumni of the College of the Resurrection

Category:Alumni of King's College London

Category:Associates of King's College London

Category:21st-century Church of England bishops

Category:Bishops of Horsham

Category:Living people

Category:People educated at Barnard Castle School

Category:Anglo-Catholic bishops

Category:English Anglo-Catholics

Category:Academics of the College of the Resurrection