Bishop Damien Mead
Our Bishop, Damien Mead, was born in 1968 in Chatham, Kent and raised and educated in Canterbury. He began his Christian Ministry in 1990, serving congregations in London and Whitstable before joining the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) in January 1999. After he received ordination, sub-conditione, in the ACC in June 1999, he served as Parish Priest of Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis of Assisi, Rochester, Kent and then, in May 2005 he established the parish of St Augustine of Canterbury, in the City of Canterbury. In November 2001 he was appointed as Diocesan Dean, this was followed in April 2004 by his appointment as Diocesan Vicar General.
In March 2008 the Electoral Synod of the Diocese of the United Kingdom elected, the then, Father Damien, to become the next Bishop of our Diocese. This election was ratified by the Metropolitan Archbishop and the College of Bishops of the Original Province around the world, and he was duly consecrated as a Bishop and appointed and enthroned as the Second Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the United Kingdom, on 20th September 2008.
The Right Revd Rommie Michael Starks, Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Midwest, USA, Episcopal Visitor to the DUK (Chief Consecrator representing the Archbishop) was assisted by The Right Revd Roger Dawson, Retired Bishop in the Patrimony of the Metropolitan, and The Right Revd Dennis Hodge, Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.
Bishop Mead, as with all ACC Clergy in our Diocese is bi-vocational and non-stipendiary. In his secular career he has, since August 2000, worked as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credo Care Limited, an Independent Fostering Agency specialising in the care of children and young people with disabilities and complex medical needs. Prior to that he worked in retail and residential social work. In November 2022, Bishop Damien and ACC layman, Mr Roy Hipkiss, who co-founded Credo Care, were awarded The Cross of Merit from the Internationale Pestalozzi Gesellschaft (International Pestalozzi Society) in Switzerland, for services to children with disabilities.
Bishop Mead holds a Diploma in Theology and a Fellowship in Theology from Victoria College, London. In October 2020 he had conferred upon him an Honorary Doctor of Divinity (Hon.DD) by the Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Christian University, in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a long-standing member of the British Institute of Directors.
He is a Life member of the Royal Society of St George, A Life Member of The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and a Life Member of the Guild of All Souls. For 25 years, until May 2024, he served as Chairman of the Kent Group of the Constitutional Monarchy Association. Â He is also a Member of the Royal British legion and a supporter of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.
In August 2021 he was appointed an Officer in the Order of St George and in January 2022 was informed by the Grand Prior that he was to be elevated to Knight of the Order. The investiture was duly held in May 2022 in Rochester Cathedral.
On 23rd February 2022, Bishop Mead was recognised by Andy Beshear, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, USA, for his philanthropic work, especially in the provision of foster care for disabled children, and commissioned him, Honourable Damien Mead, Kentucky Colonel and aide-de-camp to the Governor.
In August 2022 he became the 25th Lord of the Manor of Eastbourne Medsey (formerly Meades), Sussex and is a member of the Manorial Society of Great Britain.
On 8th September 2022, in the morning before the announcement of the late Queen’s death, the Court of Common Council of the City of London, issued an order confirming Bishop Damien’s nomination of admittance as a Free Man of the City of London. This honourable and ancient privilege of the Freedom of the City of London was bestowed in the Court of the Chamberlain at the Guild Hall in London on Monday 9th January 2023.
Bishop Damien lives on the Romney Marsh in Kent and in addition to his Church work and work for Credo Care Ltd is kept busy with his two Miniature Jack Russell dogs, Daisy and Minnie, and also keeps chickens.