Photo is from 2013 when Jonathan Goodall was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Ecumenical Secretary
The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, one of the so-called flying bishops serving Church of England parishes that do not accept women’s ordination, has resigned in order to join the Roman Catholic church.
Jonathan Goodall, the bishop of Ebbsfleet for the past eight years, said he had reached his decision “after a long period of prayer, which has been among the most testing periods of my life”.
He is the first Church of England bishop to join the Roman Catholic church in a decade. His ministry in the C of E will end next week.
Goodall was appointed as a provincial episcopal visitor, more commonly known as a flying bishop, to minister to clergy, lay people and parishes who do not accept the ministry of female priests or bishops.
Bishop Goodall said: “I have arrived at the decision to step down as Bishop of Ebbsfleet, in order to be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, only after a long period of prayer, which has been among the most testing periods of my life.
…
Bishop Goodall is married to Sarah, a musician. They have two children, Thomas and AnnaMary. As an assistant bishop he has had the episcopal care of parishes [in] the Dioceses of Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Exeter, Lichfield, Oxford, Truro and Worcester.
Church Times reports “Before his consecration in 2013, he was personal chaplain and ecumenical secretary to Lord Williams when he was Archbishop of Canterbury, from 2005 to 2013.”
It is unclear whether Goodall will have a clergy role in the Catholic church which does allow for married Anglican priests to be received as priests.