Marriage breakdowns can be complex for clergy and their families. Although it can be a necessary step, a right decision, or a way out of an unhealthy situation, it can often come with practical challenges alongside the personal pain of a relationship breaking down. This can be around housing, finances, practical matters, and the expectations of church life.
For clergy spouses and partners, the impact can be sudden and deeply disruptive, particularly where couples live in tied housing. In these situations, practical and confidential support can be crucial, and the Church provides support for clergy and their spouses at a time of marital breakdown through a network of Bishops Visitors for Divorced Clergy.
Andy Ponting is the Bishop’s Visitor for the Diocese of Gloucester in a voluntary role offering practical help and support at a difficult time.
The role of the Bishops Visitor is to support clergy spouse/partners in the event of a clergy marriage facing difficulties or coming to an end for any reason.
The role is to support, help identify needs and provide signposting to ensure those needs are met. The role is not to provide advice. It must be recognised that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that clergy spouses or partners will have very different needs according to their own situation, and these needs may change during the course of the engagement.
If appropriate, the Bishops Visitor should encourage any spouse or partner who has not advised the bishop or their circumstances of their marriage situation, to do so, but they must not themselves disclose this to the bishop unless agreed in writing.
The service is strictly confidential.
Andy’s involvement is shaped by personal experience, himself divorcing in 1984 and becoming a Christian as a direct result.
Contact details for Andy can be found in the who’s who’ section of the Diocese of Gloucester website, under Bishop’s Advisors and Visitors.
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