THE new Bishop of Taunton, the Rt. Rev Ruth Worsley. was officially installed on Saturday (October 3) in front of a congregation of hundreds at Wells Cathedral.
During the service, Bishop Ruth was presented with her pastoral staff by Phoebe Lang, a student at the Blue School, Wells, and was placed in her seat in the cathedral and by members of the Chapter.
Her first episcopal duties as Bishop of Taunton were to admit and license nine people into the office of Reader and welcome a further two into the diocese.
Bishop Ruth addressed the newly licensed Readers and congregation and delivered her first sermon as a bishop.
She said: “Ministry is not about setting ourselves up as people of power, to make judgements of others, or as leaders to whom folk will be drawn but rather to be messengers of the good news of Jesus to point towards Christ whom we follow and who loves each of us – whatever we have done, whoever we are.
“We can never hear too often the famous dictum attributed to St Francis: ‘Preach the gospel at all times and use words if you must’.
“By the way we live, through the things that we do and by the people we are, we are called to make God visible in the world he has created.”
Speaking before the event, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt. Re. Peter Hancock said: “Whether licensed as a lay minister or consecrated as a bishop, the 12 people who are the focus of this service have one thing in common - they have each heard God’s voice, beckoning them into the adventure of ministry.”
Before the service, Bishop Ruth said: “I am delighted to be heading to Somerset to join the diocesan team in this wonderful part of the world. It will be a great privilege to meet and serve everyone who lives and works in the county.”
Born in Middlesex in 1962, Bishop Ruth studied English Literature, Theological Studies and Biblical Studies at the University of Manchester. After this, while training as a nurse in the 1980s, she felt a calling and took on a voluntary role in pastoral care at her local church.
After ordination in 1996, Ruth served for twelve years as a parish priest in Nottingham, first as a curate and then as priest in charge.
She was later appointed as Honorary Chaplain to the Queen – a position that she resignedon becoming a Bishop. In 2013, she appointed Archdeacon of Wiltshire in the diocese of Salisbury.
Herr husband Howard was ordained in 1993 and is currently Vice Principal at Trinity College Bristol. They have three adult sons, Nathanael, Jonathan and Benjamin.