THE next Dean of York is a former pupil of Chester’s Queen’s School.
The Very Rev Vivienne Faull, 57, currently Dean of Leicester, will take up her new position later this year. The appointment, approved by the Queen, makes her the most senior female in the Church of England.
The Rev Faull was educated at The Queen’s School until 1973 and St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She returned to Queen’s in 2010 to launch The Commemoration Bursary Appeal.
She said: “I am honoured and delighted to have been nominated by HM The Queen to be the next Dean of York and am excited about moving back north.
“It is of course daunting to move from one of the smallest to one of the largest cathedrals, but I know that there are many people who care deeply for York Minster, its mission and ministry, and I look forward to leading a large team on its continued development.”
The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, said: “I am delighted that Viv Faull has been appointed as the next Dean of York. Viv was the first woman to be appointed in charge of an English cathedral and she has ensured that she has developed the role to the fullest extent possible. ”
The Rev Faull trained for ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham, and Nottingham University. She served as a deaconess at St Matthew and St James, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, from 1982 to 1985, moving to become chaplain, later fellow, at Clare College, Cambridge. She was made deacon in the Diocese of Ely in 1987.
She began cathedral ministry in 1990 as chaplain at Gloucester Cathedral where she married Michael, a physician. In 1994 she became canon pastor, and later vice provost, at Coventry Cathedral. In 2000 she was appointed Provost of Leicester, becoming Dean of Leicester in 2002.
