Dear friends,

Our Diocesan Bishop – The Rt Revd Bishop Christopher Chessun – will be retiring this summer, after many years of faithful leadership in our diocese. We’ll miss him greatly – and there’ll be an opportunity to give thanks for his ministry in due course.

Because of this, as a diocesan family, we are preparing to begin our search for the next Bishop of Southwark – and in doing so, we want to ensure that we hear the views of as many people as possible across our communities.

So we’ve created this simple anonymous online survey – we’d love you and those in your parish to fill it out. The whole thing should take no more than 5-7 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous – check out our Privacy Statement to find out more.

The survey will close at noon on 1 April 2026.

In all of this, let’s pray for ourselves, our communities – and for the person God is calling to serve Him in this role. Prayer resources will soon be uploaded to the website. Physical copies of these will be posted to all of our parishes – and a special prayer for this season of our life together may be found lower down this email.

Thank you for playing your part in this vital process – may God bless us and guide us as we seek the next Bishop of Southwark. With my thanks and prayers for all that you do and for our partnership in the Gospel,

The Rt Revd Dr Rosemarie Mallett Bishop of Croydon & Chair of the Vacancy-in-See Committee