Bishop of Winchester answers questions in Cathedral Friends interview

Two weeks after being welcomed, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen returned to Winchester Cathedral to face a range of questions from Cathedral Friends chairman Bruce Parker.

In front of a large audience in the quire, and with more joining the online live-stream, the new bishop spoke openly about his stance on several local and national issues.

Rev Mounstephen was born in Hampshire and graduated from the University of Southampton. Before assuming his current post, he was Bishop of Truro.

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As co-chair of the Living in Love and Faith steering group with the Bishop of London, Bishop Mounstephen has been involved with the issue in the Church of England of the blessing of same-sex relationships.

He said: “I think the way in which we conduct ourselves in these debates is at least as important as the attitudes that we hold.

Bruce Parker (Left) and Rev.d Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Winchester (Image: Friends of Winchester Cathedral)

“If we can’t speak what we hold to be the truth in love, we will be far better not to speak at all. My understanding of marriage is that it is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. But I long for us to be a generous and welcoming church and a non-judgemental church, so my pastoral instinct is always to include rather than exclude and I would much rather have a messy church with some unanswered questions in it than a pure church that goes on excluding people.

“I would be the first to recognise that there were good things in same-sex relationships that I think should be recognised and celebrated … some of the nicest, most supportive, least judgemental clergy in the diocese of Truro were the gay clergy who were just a joy to work with.”

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Mr Parker, who is a former BBC South presenter and political editor, also raised the question of a number of Hampshire parishes which were angry about having to amalgamate with many other parishes and with only one priest in charge.

The bishop said the approach was not “second best”, but how the church is supposed to function, saying: “This is all of our business. It’s not the business of ‘some’, it’s not the business of the ordained, it’s the business of us all.”

Bishop Mounstephen has already taken his seat on the front bench of the House of Lords and made his maiden speech, which focused on a key personal interest – the persecution of Christian believers across the world.