Church of England could ditch mitres over claims ‘they look silly’

A senior Church of England figure is calling for bishops to ditch their mitres because they symbolise a “culture of deference”.

Revd Ian Paul, a member of the Archbishops’ Council, said the traditional hats were part of a “world of the past” and meant the bishops appeared elevated above the rest of the church.

“The mitre has become a sign that ‘this person is a bishop’. It’s not a very good one because it looks daft and it doesn’t signify anything in the Church of England.

“It makes them distant and it makes them look silly,” he told the Telegraph, adding that the hats were “Roman Catholicism by the back door”.

Mitres were not generally worn by bishops in the Church until the late 19th century and there is no rule which compels them to be worn.

Mr Paul linked the mitres to a “culture of deference”, one of the ideas criticised by Dame Moira Gibb in her report following an inquiry into the Church’s handling of the sexual abuse committed by Peter Ball, the disgraced former bishop of Lewes.

Read here