David Silk (priest)

{{Short description|English Anglican bishop turned Catholic priest (1936–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}{{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = | honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]] [[Monsignor]] | name = David Silk | honorific_suffix = | title = | image = Bishops at Walsingham (4666974401) (David Silk cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Silk in 2009 | church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] | archdiocese = | province = | metropolis = | diocese = | see = [[Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham]] | elected =  | term =  | quashed =  | predecessor = | successor = | opposed = | other_post = [[Anglican]] [[Anglican Diocese of Ballarat|Bishop of Ballarat]] (1994–2003)  | ordination = 1960 (Anglican priest) <br /> 2011 (Catholic priest) | ordained_by = | consecration = 23 February 1994 (Anglican bishop) | consecrated_by = [[Robert Runcie]] | laicized =  | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1936|08|23}} | birth_place =  | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2023|09|20|1936|08|23}} | death_place =  | buried =  | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality =  | religion = [[Roman Catholicism]] | residence = | parents =  | spouse = {{marriage|Joyce|1957}} | children = 2 | occupation = | profession =  | education = | alma_mater = [[St Stephen's House, Oxford]] }}

'''Robert David Silk ''' (23 August 1936 – 20 September 2023) was an English priest of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. He was formerly an [[Anglican]] [[bishop]] and was the [[Anglican Diocese of Ballarat|Bishop of Ballarat]] in the [[Anglican Church of Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ekk.org/members |title=Ekklesia |access-date=25 July 2010 |archive-date=30 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130011812/http://www.ekk.org/members |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Early life and education== Silk was born on 23 August 1936.<ref>[[Who's Who]] 2008: London, [[A & C Black]], 2008 {{ISBN|978-0-7136-8555-8}}</ref> He was educated at [[The Howard School, Kent|Gillingham Grammar School]], [[Exeter University]] and [[St Stephen's House, Oxford]].<ref name="Who's Who 2016">{{cite web|title=SILK, Rev. Mgr (Robert) David|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U6337|website=Who's Who 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=22 September 2016|date=November 2015}}</ref>

==Ordained ministry== ===Anglican ministry=== Silk was ordained in the [[Church of England]]: made a deacon during [[Advent]] 1959 (20 December) by [[Robert Stannard (bishop)|Robert Stannard]], [[Dean of Rochester]] (and [[assistant bishop]]), at [[Rochester Cathedral]],<ref>{{Church Times | title = Advent Ordinations | archive = 1959_12_24_014 | issue = 5054 | date = 24 December 1959 | page = 14 | accessed = 24 May 2019 }}</ref> and ordained a priest the following Advent (18 December 1960), by [[Russell White (bishop)|Russell White]], [[Bishop of Tonbridge]], at [[Bexley]] (St Mary's) Parish Church.<ref>{{Church Times | title = Advent Ordinations | archive = 1960_12_23_011 | issue = 5106 | date = 23 December 1960 | page = 11 | accessed = 24 May 2019 }}</ref> His first positions were [[curate|curacies]] at St Barnabas' [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]] and Holy Redeemer, [[Lamorbey]]. He then became the [[priest in charge]] of the Church of the Good Shepherd, [[Blackfen]] followed by [[Vicar|incumbencies]] at [[Swanscombe]]<ref>[https://archive.today/20121223131617/http://archives.bexley.gov.uk/Dserve/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=(RefNo=='PA23E/1/J/5') Bexley archives]</ref> and [[St George's Church, Beckenham]] (1975 to 1980).<ref name="Who's Who 2016" /> He was then appointed the [[Archdeacon of Leicester]].<ref>[http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/CocksvolumeLXVII-5sm.pdf Archdeacons of Leicester]</ref>

Silk was consecrated a bishop on 23 February 1994, by [[George Carey]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], at [[Westminster Abbey]],<ref>{{Church Times | title = New bishops and a new dean | archive = 1994_03_04_003 | issue = 6838 | date = 4 March 1994 | page = 3 | accessed = 24 May 2019 }}</ref> and moved to Australia where he became the eighth bishop of the rural Diocese of Ballarat. On his return to England from Australia in 2003 he served for eighteen months as full-time parish priest of St Michael's, [[Amberley, West Sussex|Amberley]] (with North Stoke, Parham, Wiggonholt, and Greatham) in Sussex, before retiring to Devon where he was an honorary assistant bishop in the [[Diocese of Exeter]].

===Roman Catholic ministry=== Silk was received into the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in 2011.<ref name="Who's Who 2016" /> He was ordained to the diaconate in that church on 15 February 2011 and the priesthood on 18 February 2011. In June 2012, he was elevated to the rank of [[monsignor]] as a [[Chaplain of His Holiness]].

==Personal life and death == In 1957, Silk married Joyce Silk.<ref name="Who's Who 2016" /><ref>[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/misc/angcommuniondirectory.html Anglican Communion Directory, March 2000]</ref> She predeceased her husband.<ref name="ordinariate death">{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=Keith |author1-link=Keith Newton (prelate) |title=Latest News - Death of Monsignor David Silk |url=https://www.ordinariate.org.uk/news/OrdinariateNews.php?Dearth-of-Monsignor-David-Silk-589 |website=www.ordinariate.org.uk |publisher=Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham |access-date=21 September 2023 |language=en |date=20 September 2023}}</ref> They had two children; a son and a daughter.<ref name="Who's Who 2016" />

Silk died at a Torquay hospital on 20 September 2023, following a fall the previous day. He was 87.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Rev. David Silk |url=https://blackfenpastandpresent.com/2023/10/04/the-rev-david-silk/ |website=Blackfen Past and Present |access-date=2 February 2025 |date=4 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Silk, Rev. Mgr (Robert) David |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-6337?rskey=tF60s9&result=1 |website=WHO WAS WHO 2025 |access-date=2 February 2025}}</ref>

==References== {{Portal|Christianity}} {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silk, David}} [[Category:1936 births]] [[Category:2023 deaths]] [[Category:Anglican bishop converts to Roman Catholicism]] [[Category:People educated at Gillingham Grammar School, Kent]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter]] [[Category:Alumni of St Stephen's House]] [[Category:Archdeacons of Leicester]] [[Category:Anglican bishops of Ballarat]] [[Category:20th-century Anglican bishops in Australia]] [[Category:21st-century Anglican bishops in Australia]] [[Category:Married Roman Catholic clergy]]