Wallace Benn

Wallace Parke Benn (born 6 August 1947) is a bishop of the Church of England. He was the area Bishop of Lewes in the Diocese of Chichester from May 1997 until his retirement in October 2012.

Early life and education Benn was born in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland on 6 August 1947. He was educated at St. Andrew's College, Dublin, then an all-boys school in Dublin. In 1969, he entered Trinity College, Bristol, an Evangelical Anglican theological college, to train for ordained ministry.

Career Ordained ministry Benn was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1972 and as a priest in 1973. His ordained ministry began with curacies at St Mark's New Ferry, Wirral and St Mary's Cheadle, after which he was Vicar of St James the Great, Audley, Staffordshire and finally (before his consecration to the episcopate) St Peter's Harold Wood.

On 1 May 1997, Benn was consecrated a bishop at Southwark Cathedral, by George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury. He then served as the Bishop of Lewes, an area and suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Chichester. Since 2013, he has held Permission to Officiate in the Diocese of Peterborough. , Jesus Our Joy: Learning about True Spirituality. and a commentary on Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther in Crossway's 'Preach the Word' series.

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, undertaken between 2014 and 2022, criticised Benn for his handling of allegations of child sexual abuse during his tenure as Bishop of Lewes.

Benn's actions had previously been criticised during several inquiries into sexual abuse scandals in the Diocese of Chichester, relating to child abuse by the Rev Roy Cotton and the Rev Colin Pritchard.

Views Benn has been described as a complementarian evangelical. He is a council member of Reform, a conservative evangelical grouping in the Church of England opposed to women priests and to the consecration of women as bishops. In 2008, he attended the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) held in Jerusalem.

He has held leadership roles in a number of conservative evangelical organisations. He was president of Fellowship of Word and Spirit from 1998 to 2018, president of the Church of England Evangelical Council from 2000 to 2014, and president from 2016 to 2018 then vice-president from 2018 to 2020 of the Church Society.

Personal life In 1978, Benn married Lindsay Develing.

Styles Wallace Benn Esq (to 1973) The Revd Wallace Benn (1973–1997) The Rt Revd Wallace Benn (1997—present)