The long-serving former Bishop of Chichester, the Right Rev Eric Kemp, has died, aged 94.
Dr Kemp, whose diocese included Brighton and Hove, was a controversial figure for many, in part because of his opposition to women priests.
He believed that the ordination of women would make it less likely that the Church of England would reunite with the Roman Catholic Church.
He helped to reform canon law so that Church of England bishops had to retire at 70. But he was exempt from the reform having been appointed in 1974 – a year before the retirement age became compulsory. As a result, he was able to remain in office until 2001, when he was 85.
His tenure was one of the longest in recent Church history.
In an interview before his retirement, Dr Kemp said that he would not like to be remembered only as the bishop who opposed the ordination of women.
And in a farewell address at Worth Abbey, Dr Kemp told the congregation that different outlooks and strongly held convictions should not interfere with caring for Sussex and the presentation of the gospel.
Yet it is likely to be for his opposition to women priests that many will remember Dr Kemp.
As one of the most senior bishops, he sat in the House of Lords from 1979 to 2001. He was chaplain to the Queen from 1967 to 1969. He was also the author of a number of ecclesiastical books.
Dr Kemp was regarded as a leading figure on the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church, although he worked to bring about a merger with the Methodist Church in the 1960s and ’70s.
He later worked closely with his Roman Catholic counterpart, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. For most of his tenure, that was the Right Rev Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who was bishop from 1977 to 2000 when he became the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.
According to the Diocese of Chichester website, Dr Kemp had a special concern for homeless people and those suffering with HIV and Aids.
According to Wikipedia, though, he was one of only four bishops in the United Kingdom who declined to sign the Cambridge Accord, affirming the human rights of homosexuals.
He was also a supporter of the campaign to save the French Convalescent Home in Brighton.
Obituaries, following his death on Saturday, have appeared in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.
Dr Kemp is survived by his wife Patricia and their son and four daughters.
His funeral is due to take place at Chichester Cathedral on Friday 18 December at 11.30am.
