In office 1994–2001 Profession Author Successor Lee Rayfield Diocese Diocese of Bristol Parents Albert & Violet Curtis Consecration 1994 | Denomination Anglican Role Bishop of Swindon Ordination 1973 Nationality British Name Michael Doe Predecessor Peter Firth | |
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Other posts Preacher to Gray's Inn (8 June 2011–present)
General Secretary, USPG (2004–2011)
Honorary assistant bishop in Southwark (2004–present) Born 24 December 1947 (age 76)
Lymington, Hampshire ( 1947-12-24 ) | ||
Education Ripon College Cuddesdon | ||
Michael David Doe (born 24 December 1947) is the Preacher of Gray's Inn and a former Bishop of Swindon.
Doe was educated at Durham University (Bachelor of Arts {BA(Hons)}). After studying at Ripon Hall, Oxford, he was ordained priest in 1973. He was a curate on the St Helier Estate in South London, after which he was Youth Secretary of the British Council of Churches. He moved to Oxford in 1981 to be Priest Missioner in the Blackbird Leys Ecumenical Partnership, and also served as Rural Dean of Cowley from 1987-1989. During this time he co-presented the weekly religious affairs programme on BBC Radio Oxford: "Spirit Level". He was then Social Responsibility Advisor to the Diocese of Portsmouth and a canon residentiary at Portsmouth Cathedral, before his ordination to the episcopate as suffragan bishop of Swindon in the Diocese of Bristol in 1994. After ten year in this post when he was appointed, in 2004, the General Secretary of the mission agency United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel., now renamed as Us. On retirement in 2011 he became Preacher to Gray's Inn, one of the four Inns of Court in London. He is an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark, and chaired the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility from 2012 to 2015. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath. His publications include "Seeking the Truth in Love - the Church and Homosexuality" (DLT 2000), "Today!" (USPG 2009), and "Saving Power - the Mission of God and the Anglican Communion" (SPCK 2011).
On 11 February 2017, Doe was one of 14 retired bishops to sign an open letter to the then-serving bishops of the Church of England. They expressed their opposition to the House of Bishops' report to General Synod on sexuality, which recommended no change to the Church's canons or practises around sexuality. By 13 February, a serving bishop (Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham) and nine further retired bishops had added their signatures; on 15 February, the report was rejected by synod.