June Osborne, who has served as Dean of Salisbury for the past 13 years, has been chosen as the 72nd Bishop of Llandaff,
One of the most senior and experienced church leaders in the UK will be the next Bishop of Llandaff.
June Osborne, who has served as Dean of Salisbury for the past 13 years, has been chosen as the 72nd Bishop of Llandaff, a diocese which serves most of Cardiff, the South Wales Valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan.
A ground-breaking figure in the Church of England, Dean June was the first female Dean to be appointed to a medieval cathedral, having served as Salisbury Cathedral’s Canon Treasurer for nearly 10 years. She has been active in the national life of the Church of England, serving for many years on General Synod’s Standing Committee, including sitting on the Panel of Chairs.
The announcement was made today (April 27) by the Church in Wales Bishops who became responsible for the Bishop of Llandaff appointment when no candidate nominated at the Electoral College in February secured enough votes for election.
The appointment will be confirmed on July 14 at a meeting of the Sacred Synod of Church in Wales Bishops in Brecon Cathedral where Dean June will be consecrated as Bishop the following day (July 15). She will be enthroned at Llandaff Cathedral on July 22.
Welcoming her appointment, the Church’s Senior Bishop, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Davies, said, “In June Osborne, both the Church in Wales and the Diocese of Llandaff will find themselves to be richly blessed. June’s track record admirably demonstrates her passion for Christian ministry modelled on the Gospel imperatives of love, justice, inclusivity and openness. All of these are qualities which I and my fellow bishops warmly support and welcome. She is known as a leader with clear vision, a pastoral heart and a strategic mind, all of which commend the Church to the wider community. In this way and through her teaching, her preaching and her leadership, she reveals herself to be someone who I am confident will provide for the Diocese of Llandaff excellence in leadership and oversight. I look forward, with keen anticipation, to her arrival amongst us and to her contributions to the work of the Bench of Bishops.”
Dean June, said, “It is a very great privilege to be nominated as Bishop of Llandaff, an ancient post with many noble predecessors. It will be something of a homecoming for the family, particularly because my husband is from Cardiff and it is a place we know and love.
“Leading a diocese that is so diverse, in an area that is both historic and beautiful, will be challenging but I have an enormous appetite for the task and am deeply honoured to have the opportunity to join a diocesan team which is strong and imaginative. These are turbulent times across the world and the need for faith, and for the confident, distinctive leadership of the Church has never been more important.
“I will, of course, be sad to say goodbye to Salisbury. It has been my home, both spiritually and as a family, for over two decades. I have been surrounded by wonderful colleagues, staff and volunteers, who have made my job a joyful undertaking. It has been a great pleasure to witness how the Cathedral has developed and flourished over the years and to have shared our wonderful Magna Carta 800 celebrations. I am immensely proud of what has been achieved here and wish all at the Cathedral and its diocese well in the years to come.”
The Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, described June as an “outstanding Dean”. He said, “June Osborne is one of the Church of England’s leading clerics. For the last 13 years she has been an outstanding Dean of Salisbury. She has made significant contributions to the wider Church of England including helping to organise the Leading Women group which has been massively influential in growing women into positions of leadership in the Church. I am delighted she has been appointed Bishop of Llandaff. The whole of the Diocese of Salisbury will join me in giving thanks for the enormous contribution she has made to this Diocese where she has served for 22 years. We wish her well as Bishop of Llandaff and pray for her and her family as they prepare for all that lies ahead.”
One of the first women to be ordained as a priest in England in 1994, having been a Deaconess since 1980, Dean June’s ministry has been characterised by her passion for equality and diversity and she was a founder of the Church’s Leading Women programme.
She is also deeply concerned about global poverty and has worked with the Episcopal Church of the Sudan on health, theological education and advocacy. She continues to play a key role in the Anglican Communion’s commitment to implementing the Millennium Development Goals, and is a member of the Government’s Advisory Panel for the Commemoration of WW1.
Dean June will celebrate her final Sunday at Salisbury Cathedral on July 9.
BACKGROUND
A graduate in Social Sciences from Manchester University, Dean June trained for ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. She was made a Deaconess in 1980 and served at St Martin-in-the-Bullring in Birmingham before moving to the Old Ford parishes in East London in 1984. Following her ordination as a priest she served as Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral and was Acting Dean of Salisbury for two years before being appointed Dean in 2004.
In her time at Salisbury, Dean June has overseen the majority of the Cathedral’s 30-year Major Repair Programme of essential work to restore the fabric of the Cathedral and safeguard it for the future. As Canon Treasurer and Dean she was instrumental in the commissioning of Salisbury Cathedral’s much-loved and admired William Pye font. In a Cathedral that has often been pioneering and had already establish the first girls’ choir in an English cathedral, she championed the installation of the girl Chorister Bishop in 2015, another historic first for the Cathedral. She played a significant role in the Magna Carta 800 celebrations two years ago, enjoying the huge range of events delivered by the Cathedral during that year. She has also been a deputy lieutenant of Wiltshire.
Dean June is married to barrister Paul Goulding QC and they have two children, Megan and Tom. Her interests include the arts and football. A lifelong supporter of Manchester City, she is looking forward to adding rugby to her portfolio of interests.
