In office 1990–1997 Name Michael Ball Ordination 1971 Nationality British Role Bishop of Truro Consecration 1980 | Denomination Anglican Successor Bill Ind Diocese Diocese of Truro Profession Schoolmaster Predecessor Peter Mumford | |
Other posts Bishop of Jarrow
1980–1990 Born 14 February 1932 (age 92) ( 1932-02-14 ) Parents Thomas Ball &
Kathleen Bradley Education Queens' College, Cambridge | ||
Michael Thomas Ball (born 14 February 1932) is an Anglican bishop and the co-founder of the Community of the Glorious Ascension. He was the Bishop of Truro from 1990 to 1997.
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Early life
Ball was born on 14 February 1932. Ball was educated at Lancing College and Queens' College, Cambridge.
Career
His first teaching post in 1955 was in General Science at Pocklington School, East Yorkshire, where he was also house tutor at Lyndhurst, the junior boarding house. He left in 1960 to found the community mentioned below, which in fact was first situated in Kelham, near Newark. He was a teacher of biology and chemistry at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire and was then head of the lower school until 1975. He was chaplain of Sussex University 1976 to 1980, suffragan Bishop of Jarrow from 1980 to 1990 and then the 13th Bishop of Truro. He was the first bishop there to ordain women.
In 1960 Ball founded a monastic community at Stratford Park in Stroud, along with his identical twin brother Peter Ball. Peter Ball later became suffragan Bishop of Lewes (1977–1992) and then Bishop of Gloucester (1992–1993).
Michael Ball is the author of Foolish Risks of God, a Lenten study course on the parables of the New Testament (Mowbray Lent Book, ISBN 0-8264-6395-9) published in 2002. In the book's introduction he writes of the parables,
The deepest problems of the universe are hidden in their simplicity, whether it be free will and choice, reward and punishment, or justice and mercy, power and powerlessness, and in most cases Jesus has complete confidence in our ability to understand their significance for ourselves, despite what the Gospel writers and preachers ever since have tried to do with them. They are not commandments for behaviour, though they may gently persuade; neither are they black and white morsels of theology. They are signposts to God and guides to living and loving.
Personal life
In retirement, Ball and his twin brother Peter, a former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, lived together in rural Somerset until Peter Ball was convicted of sex offences.