Canon Christopher Whitehead is resuming his parish ministry following
the sudden cancellation of his ordination as the new Plymouth
bishop two months ago, which included his role as a parish priest being
put on pause during a subsequent investigation.
In an unprecedented move
at the start of the year, the bishops of England and Wales cancelled
the ordination of the Bishop-elect of Plymouth just weeks before
Whitehead’s installation Mass.
A priest of the Diocese of
Clifton, Whitehead also took a leave of absence from his active ministry
while a canonical process was undertaken by the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of England and Wales.
At the time, the bishops’
conference refused to give any further explanation for the sudden and
mysterious cancellation of the ordination beyond a short statement
confirming the fact.
“After what has felt like a very long two months, Fr Christopher has been given the chance to return to St John’s and resume his ministry here as our parish priest,” notes the Holy Week newsletter for the Parish of St John the Evangelist in Bath.
“He will, most probably, say something at each Mass, but he has tremendous gratitude for the concern, the love and the prayer that has accompanied him across the last eight or nine weeks, prayers that have truly sustained him along the painful journey of this process.”
The 54-year-old priest was named 10th bishop of Plymouth by Pope
Francis shortly before Christmas in 2023, ending a wait of more than 18
months for a replacement for Mark O’Toole after his elevation to
Archbishop of Cardiff and Menevia.
“There is nothing more to know,” a parishioner at St John’s told the Catholic Herald, “and more accurately, [Fr Christopher] stepped back and was not ‘suspended’ while the canonical process took place.”
That
process having been “completed”, the parishioner says the bishops’
conference decided that Fr Christopher “should” return to his ministry,
and “nothing more needs to be said” on the matter.
Bishop-elect Whitehead was a popular and highly-respected parish priest in Bath and had also worked as Clifton’s director of Adult Education, director of ongoing formation of priests, and director of formation for the permanent diaconate.
“It is good to enter into Holy Week with a shepherd,” the newsletter concludes.