The Times obituary, December 21st AD1999

THE RIGHT REV MICHAEL HOUGHTON, Bishop Suffragan of Ebbsfleet since 1998, died after a heart attack on December 18 aged 50. He was born on June 14, 1949.

he sudden death of Michael Houghton barely a year after his consecration as Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a great loss to the constituency within the Church of England which looks to the ministry of the Provincial Episcopal Visitors (or "Flying Bishops"). He was a much-loved pastor, and the warm welcome he received at October's Sacred Synod of traditionalist clergy underlined the impression he had made in a short time. It was perhaps significant that he suffered a massive heart attack on a train. Much of his episcopal ministry was spent travelling enormous distances between the parishes in his care in the western dioceses of England south of the Trent.

Michael Alan Houghton had his early education at King Edward's School, Birmingham. After Lancaster University and teacher training at Durham he taught, first in the Midlands and subsequently in Lesotho. However, the call to ordination persisted. Priestly formation at Chichester Theological College followed (which was to lead to a further degree from Southampton University) and he settled into parish life, serving his title at All Hallows, Wellingborough, in the final years of Douglas Feaver's time as Bishop of Peterborough. In many ways Houghton reflected the prevailing churchmanship of that diocese.

Passionately committed to the Catholic in faith in the Church of England, he was at home with Anglican liturgies and had a deep love of the traditional Anglican theologians. It pleased him greatly to be consecrated not far from the tomb of Lancelot Andrewes, the saintly 17th-century Anglican divine.

Although happy to do most things in church, he sat relatively light to the minutiae of the liturgical textbooks. His own spirituality was rooted in the Tractarian Prayer Book tradition.

After six further years abroad serving in the tiny missionary diocese of St Helena he returned to England in 1990 to be vicar of St Peter's, Folkestone. In part through the prosecution for ritualism of an earlier vicar, St Peter's is one of the most famous Anglo-Catholic churches, but soon the old church was to be ravaged by fire. Arson was suspected. For many months the church was enveloped in scaffolding, but through Houghton's unflagging hard work and enthusiasm, and that of his determined congregation, it was completely rebuilt.

His years overseas meant much to him and he frequently talked and preached about them. He chaired the Kent Committee for the Welfare of Migrants. On his return to England he was also a tutor at the College of the Ascension, Selly Oak. This showed the breadth of his sympathies. Selly Oak is a foundation with a broadly evangelical tradition to which people come from all over the world. Ecumenism was to remain important to him. As a bishop he was keen to meet his clergy's ecumenical partners.

The decision of the Church of England in 1992 to ordain women to the priesthood saddened him greatly. He believed it unproven from scripture and tradition, ecumenically insensitive and ecclesiologically damaging to Anglicanism's Catholic claims. The General Synod's Act of Synod of 1993 recognised that there was a perceived degree of impairment in communion between the opponents and those bishops who ordained women.

Under Houghton's leadership, St Peter's placed itself in the care of the "Flying Bishops". He was determined, however, that the church should remain as close as possible to the mainstream life of the Church of England. Such concerns were shared on all sides and in 1994 he was appointed an honorary canon of Canterbury Cathedral.

In 1998 there was general delight when the Archbishop of Canterbury asked him to be Bishop of Ebbsfleet. Houghton was under 50, with an expected twenty years to retirement. The traditionalist lobby took this as a major vote of confidence in them and their leadership by the Anglican establishment.

Houghton's predecessor, Bishop John Richards, had been appointed in his early sixties. Largely through Richards's tireless efforts it was seen that a young, energetic bishop who had a long tenure ahead of him would suit the job. Houghton was a tall, even slightly gaunt, figure with no obvious signs of ill-health and a passion for outdoor activities. He had been a county and university cross-country runner.

Following his consecration by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Southwark Cathedral, Houghton set about getting to know his parishes, their priests and people. In his region approximately a hundred have passed the resolutions under which the Bishop of Ebbsfleet has formal pastoral care, but many more priests and parishes welcomed his ministry and looked to him for support.

Relatively lightly encumbered by committee work and General Synod obligations, Houghton adopted a pastoral approach was that of the parish priest writ large. He was usually to be seen dressed in black rather than purple, discreetly wearing the pectoral cross presented by his brethren in the Society of the Holy Cross. He was as good at a parish reception after a confirmation as he was with individuals agonising over difficult situations.

Having moved to Bristol to be equidistant between the extremes of his area, which runs roughly from Stoke to Falmouth and Hereford to Coventry, he threw himself into the life of another famous parish church, All Saints', Clifton. The giant banner saying "Free to Evangelize" which dominated the platform at the Sacred Synod was made by the bishop himself on the hall floor at All Saints.

In 1970 Michael Houghton married Diana Knights. She survives him with their son and daughter.

© The Times, London, (December 21st AD1999)


Copyright notice
This obituary first appeared in The Times, London (www.timesonline.co.uk) on December 21st AD1999.
It is reproduced here with kind permission under a time-limited licence that expires on July 8th AD2008.
It may not be reproduced elsewhere without the explicit permission of Times Newspapers, to whom application for any such reproduction should be made.

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