Rt Revd Martin Gorick
0121 550 3407
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The role of the Bishop of Dudley
The Bishop of Dudley shares with the Bishop of Worcester in the episcopal oversight and leadership of the whole diocese.
He is a presence within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley where he is involved across a range of private, public and voluntary sector initiatives.
Within the diocese he shares with Bishop John in the care of the clergy, licensing and instituting priests, and conducting confirmations, ordinations and pastoral visitations. He has a particular oversight for safeguarding, ministry, spirituality and education.
Bishop Martin, as a member of the College of Bishops, plays a part in serving the wider church, reflecting and speaking about issues affecting human flourishing, including about the environment and the bioethics around the use of human tissue, and encouraging ways in which the Christian Gospel can be enjoyed, celebrated and shared.
Ministry
Martin was born in Liverpool in 1962, later moving to Nottingham where he went to West Bridgford Comprehensive School. He first felt called to be ordained at his confirmation aged 12, and studied theology at Cambridge and for the priesthood at Cuddesdon, before being ordained in Durham in 1987.
Martin went on to be chaplain to Richard Harries, then Bishop of Oxford, before becoming vicar of Smethwick and area dean in the Black Country deanery of Warley in the Diocese of Birmingham. Twelve years followed as vicar of Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, where Martin enjoyed being chaplain to the Royal Shakespeare Company and helped to raise several million pounds to keep a roof over Shakespeare’s grave as well as to develop mission and ministry in Britain’s most visited parish church.
Martin’s experience of growing new congregations well placed him to lead this work as Archdeacon of Oxford in the Diocese of Oxford, where he has also been Diocesan Interfaith Adviser, and where he has served parishes, Christ Church Cathedral, and the many chaplains across the Diocese. Committed to a diverse and inclusive church, he has enabled to develop in Oxford a BAME clergy network.
Martin is married to Katharine, who is County Lead for Visual Impairment in Oxfordshire, and they have three adult children.
Bishop Martin was ordained as the sixth Bishop of Dudley in January 2020.