St Albans Cathedral’s Sub Dean to be Dean of Gloucester
Canon Stephen Lake
The Queen has approved the appointment of the Sub Dean of St Albans Cathedral, Canon Stephen Lake, as the 37th Dean of Gloucester, 10 Downing Street has announced. He succeeds The Very Revd Nicholas Bury, who retired from Gloucester Cathedral in October 2010.
Canon Lake has been Sub-Dean of St Albans Cathedral since 2001. While in St Albans he has also chaired the Diocese of St Albans Liturgical Committee and its Board for Christian Development.
He is also Vice-Chair of Governors at Abbey CE Primary School which has close connections with St Albans Cathedral.
He has been an elected member of the Church of England’s national governing body, the General Synod for seven years and a Trustee of the Scout Association.
Canon Lake has had a distinguished ministry in St Albans, responsible for the life of the ‘parish church’ role of St Albans Cathedral which has grown and seen the number of families attending the cathedral burgeon. The Sunday morning family service at the Cathedral is the destination for more than 800 worshippers with over 200 children.
Canon Lake said; ‘It’s going to be very hard to leave St Albans. This has been home for nearly ten years and we have been very happy. There is so much to thank God for; the quite amazing, exhausting, exhilarating life of the Abbey, Bishop Alan’s great vision and energy and Britain’s premier place of pilgrimage. But now God wants us in Gloucester and we shall go there with happy memories and renewed vision.”
The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Dr Alan Smith said:
‘For the past ten years Stephen Lake has been an outstanding Sub Dean of the Cathedral. He is a priest with many gifts and with boundless energy. He will bring to Gloucester Cathedral his considerable experience in liturgy and his commitment to outreach, along with his hands-on involvement with families and young people. We wish Stephen, Carol and the family well as they move to Gloucester.
The Dean of St Albans, The Very Revd Dr Jeffrey John said:
“Stephen has been an invaluable colleague as Sub Dean of St Albans. We shall very much miss his gifts and ministry as well as his friendship and support. He goes with our thanks and prayers, and our confidence that he will be an excellent Dean of Gloucester. We wish him and Carol, Katie Sam and Joe every happiness for the future”.
Ends
Biography
The Reverend Canon Stephen Lake (aged 47) studied for the ministry at Chichester Theological College, being awarded his degree through Southampton University. He served his title at Sherborne with Castleton and Lillington in the diocese of Salisbury from 1988 to 1992. From 1992 to 2001 he was a parish priest of Branksome St Aldhelm in the same diocese. From 2000 to 2001 he was Rural Dean of Poole, having served a number of years as Assistant Rural Dean. Since 2001 he has been Canon Residentiary and Sub-Dean of St Albans Cathedral. He chairs the St Albans Diocesan Liturgical Committee, the Diocesan Board for Christian Development and has been a member of the General Synod for seven years.
Stephen is married to Carol and they have three children, Katharine, Samuel and Joseph.