Admin Hub: Bishops’ Medals
What is a Bishops’ Medal?
A Bishop’s Medal is awarded for a lay person’s long-standing, faithful service to a Parish, Mission Unit or to the Diocese at large. It is a way of honouring outstanding commitment to Christ and His Church.
A Bishops’ Medal consists of:
an enamel pin of the Diocesan crest, and
a citation, with the Bishops’ seal, detailing the recipients’ service.
As a Bishops’ award, with Diocesan seal, Bishops’ Medals are recorded in the Diocesan Yearbook.
What’s the process for requesting one?
Requests for Bishops’ Medals are made by the Parish, to the Bishops Office. The recipient is nominated through Vestry. If the person nominated is a member of Vestry and discretion is required, nomination can take place by the Priest in Charge and Wardens.
A request to award a Bishops’ Medal is forwarded to the Bishop’s Office, along with proof of the agreed Parish decision to request nomination (e.g. email from Vestry Secretary confirming Vestry minute, Wardens’ agreement etc. as relevant).
Completing the citation
The citation is written by the Parish. It usually includes 4-5 paragraphs detailing the recipient’s history of involvement within the parish and local community, and the qualities they have demonstrated during this time. Examples of previous citations can be requested from the Bishops’ Office to help the writer draft.
The Bishops’ Office receives the text, makes any editorial changes as necessary (grammar, spelling etc.) and formats it into the citation certificate itself. It should be received at least two weeks before the presentation date in order to allow adequate time to process. The medal and citation are then sent to the Parish prior to the service, or collected by a Parish representative.
Presenting a Bishops’ medal
The Bishops’ Medal is usually awarded within a service of worship, with the citation read out to the congregation so that they can all share in acknowledging the recipients’ witness to the Parish. Some parishes, where appropriate and possible, invite the extended family of the recipient to the service.
Best practice is that Medals are awarded in tandem with a Bishop’s visit to the Parish (during which time baptisms and confirmations are also sometimes done), although medals can also be presented by an Archdeacon or the local Priest in Charge.
On occasion, medals have been awarded for people who are unwell; in which case they have been presented outside of the worship service.
