Church of England suspends Bishop of Salisbury Stephen Lake as two disciplinary complaints advance

The Rt. Rev. Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury, has been suspended from ministry by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace said in a statement on Thursday, Oct. 1. Two complaints against him under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003, the Church of England's disciplinary process for clergy, will now proceed to the next stage, and he has been asked to respond. "Suspension is a neutral act while the allegations are progressed," the statement said.

According to the statement, the complaints followed allegations of financial misconduct and concerns about his conduct raised with the church's National Safeguarding Team. The BBC reported that Lake voluntarily stepped back from his duties in April. A diocesan spokesperson said then that two audited funds related to the bishop's office were separate from parish and diocesan board funds. The BBC said it understood that Wiltshire Police were not taking action on the safeguarding concerns that emerged in July and that they did not involve children.

Lake has said he has been cooperating "fully with the investigations" and looks forward to responding to the allegations under the Clergy Discipline Measure, the BBC reported. He became Bishop of Salisbury in 2022 after serving as Dean of Gloucester Cathedral. The Rt. Rev. Karen Gorham, Bishop of Sherborne, remains acting Bishop of Salisbury, the diocese said. The diocese covers most of Wiltshire and Dorset and the Channel Islands.