Donald Allister

Donald Spargo Allister (born 27 August 1952) is a retired Church of England bishop.

Allister was born in Liverpool, Lancashire (before Merseyside was created) in 1952, the son of a manager in the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and a nursing sister.

The family soon moved across the Mersey to Birkenhead on the Wirral peninsula.

Later they moved to Bromley, Kent, before returning to the Wirral when they settled in Heswall, before finally returning to Birkenhead where he attended Birkenhead School.

In his childhood he was a choirboy at several churches and also an altar server for his uncle from whom comes his middle name of Spargo.

Allister then went up to Peterhouse, Cambridge to study medicine, later changing to theology.

After graduation, he undertook further theological studies at Trinity College, Bristol.

After ordination Allister served as a curate at St George's Church, Hyde from 1976 to 1979 and at St Nicholas' Church, Sevenoaks from 1979 to 1983.

During this period he was also a consultant editor of the Church of England Newspaper.

He was made a deacon at Petertide 1976 (27 June) and ordained a priest the next Petertide (26 June 1977), both times by Victor Whitsey, Bishop of Chester, at Chester Cathedral.

He was then appointed vicar of Christ Church, Birkenhead in 1983, also working as a part-time hospital chaplain.

In 1989 Allister became rector of St Mary's Church, Cheadle.

In 1993, in an essay in which he identified as a conservative evangelical, he wrote "Liberalism is one of Satan's greatest weapons against the church."

He was also chairman of the Church Society, a conservative evangelical Anglican charity, from 1995 to 2000.

In addition to his parish role, he became rural dean of the Cheadle deanery in 1999.

In 2001 Allister attracted media attention after it was reported that he had refused to allow a couple to have the hymns "Jerusalem" and "I Vow to Thee, My Country" at their wedding.

He has also spoken out about baptising the children of unmarried couples and also on sex outside of marriage more generally.

In 2001 he received media coverage when it was reported that he had refused to allow a couple to have the hymns "Jerusalem" and "I Vow to Thee, My Country" sung at their wedding.

He later said:

"I never banned the hymn. But most people who come to be married ask for it so I do encourage them to choose something else. In this case the bride-to-be phoned the church while I was on holiday and spoke to the organist who mistakenly said the hymn was not permitted. It was blown out of all proportion."

In 2002 Allister was appointed as the Archdeacon of Chester.

In this position he has also chaired the diocesan committees on education, houses and glebe.

He also acted as the bishop's adviser on healthcare chaplaincy.

He has been a member of the General Synod of the Church of England since 2005 and was on the committee which drafted proposed legislation regarding the consecration of women as bishops.

He is also a member of the Council for Christian Unity.

He became a member of General Synod in 2005 and was appointed to the commission drafting legislation relating to the possible consecration of women as bishops in 2006, serving until it delivered its proposals in 2008.

He was the Archdeacon of Chester from 2002 to 2010 and on 5 November 2009 was nominated as the next Bishop of Peterborough.

On 5 November 2009 it was announced from 10 Downing Street that Allister had been nominated as the next Bishop of Peterborough.

The see had become vacant with the death of Ian Cundy in May 2009.

The announcement was followed by a press conference in Peterborough.

The Congé d'Elire officially authorising his election as bishop was issued by Elizabeth II on 1 December 2009.

He was installed on 17 April 2010 and retired in January 2023.

Allister served in parish positions in Hyde, Greater Manchester; Sevenoaks, Kent; Birkenhead, Merseyside and Cheadle, Greater Manchester.

While at Sevenoaks he also served as a consultant editor of the Church of England Newspaper and in Birkenhead he was also a part-time hospital chaplain.

He was consecrated as a bishop in St Paul's Cathedral on 25 March 2010 and was enthroned as Bishop of Peterborough in Peterborough Cathedral on 17 April 2010.

On 4 November 2011, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology by the University of Chester "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Christian education".

On 3 July 2022, Allister announced his intention to retire (resigning his see) in January 2023.

He officially retired on 8 January 2023.

Allister had previously refused to baptise the children of unmarried parents and condemned sex outside marriage.

On 4 February 2014, Allister was admitted to the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual.