General Synod Election Candidates 2026

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Meet Michael Dormandy...

a priest with PTO at Christ Church, Vienna

a professional academic theologian

41 years old

resident in Innsbruck, west Austria

a dual national Anglo-Hungarian

keen for you to watch this video | made: hGps://youtu.be/SDiHhghsx98
a husband, son, brother and friend

a lover of cake, coffee and all books or films involving spies

a beloved child of God

Theological Expertise

Me dressed for church

| have a PhD in Theology from Cambridge, working on the earliest Greek manuscripts
containing the whole Bible. | was for several years Lecturer in New Testament, at Ripon
College, Cuddesdon, during which time | was also an Associate Member of the Oxford
University Theology Faculty. Since then, | have been Senior Scientist at the University of
Innsbruck, working mostly on theology in the first five hundred years of church history. | love
learning and teaching more about the wonderful Christian faith we share and want to
thoughtfully and critically follow our ancient heritage. | have used my academic work to

argue against antisemitism and deconstruct racist readings of the Bible.

Diversity of Tradition

| went through discernment in an evangelical parish, but after training taught at one of the
leading liberal catholic theological colleges, Ripon College, Cuddesdon. At Cuddesdon, |
gained the respect of ordinands ranging from traditional anglo-catholics, to liberal catholics
and conservative evangelicals. The beauty of us living, learning and growing together was

formative for me and | want to grow this approach both at synod and
through synod in the wider church, however we formally resolve our
differences.

Diversity of Ministry

As a priest | have served in a benefice of five semi-rural villages in south
Oxfordshire and in a large church in a culturally vibrant European capital.
On synod, | want to build bridges between traditional Anglican parish
ministry and our unique diocese. Family circumstances have taken me to
Innsbruck, where there is as yet no Anglican congregation, so | am, at
least for now, teaching in a Roman Catholic faculty and developing
ecumenical links by worshipping regularly outside the C of E.

Diversity of Life

Me at work

| have lived in urban and rural areas, in the UK and Austria and also spent significant time in
Germany. | speak German to a professional level and have the basics of French. Outside the
church and academia, | have worked as a secondary school teacher, an English-as-foreign-
language teacher and for a marketing consultancy firm. My diverse experience shows me the
variety of people the church needs to reach and how distant many feel from the church.

| will speak up for...

¢ Action for Youth
Prior to ordination | worked as a lay assistant involved in youth work. My job as a university
lecturer brings me daily into contact with twenty-somethings. It is clear to me that young
people don’t want empty, pious clichés, nor do they want a church that simply repeats the
slogans of a political party (whether right or left). They want to know the love of God
revealed in Jesus and set forth in the Gospel. | will do all | can to help the church keep that
central and so win the next generation.

¢@ Action for Learning
| believe deepening our faith enriches our pastoral care and mission. | will maximise
opportunities for everyone to broaden their theological and spiritual understanding. | believe
our Diocese’s Ministry Experience Scheme and Lay Learning Course are models of excellence
for the wider C of E and | will encourage relevant aspects of them to be implemented more
broadly. | have taught ordinands in both full-time, residential and part-time training
pathways and believe both can positively shape a vocation for a life-time. | shall push for
both to be available to those who need them.

¢ Action for Europe
Sometimes in our Diocese, it feels like structures designed for
an area you can drive across in a couple of hours are imposed
ona continent! | will speak up on synod, so people know our
Diocese is different.

¢ Action for Self-Supporting Clergy
| was ordained on an entirely self-supporting basis at an early 3
and vulnerable stage in my career outside the church. With Where | live
increasing pressures on stipendiary clergy, | believe SSMs can
play a vital role. | will call the church to support SSMs, so SSMs can support the church.

¢@ Action on Safeguarding
| have known personally a number of people named in the Makin report and know the shock
and pain when people you respected turn out to have abused or enabled abuse. | cannot
even imagine what it must be like for survivors themselves. | will do all | can to promote a
church where everyone can be safe, because no-one is above questioning. | know we still
have a long way to go!

¢@ Action for Neurodiversity
lam dyspraxic. The support | received as a dyspraxic ordinand impacted my studies
significantly and made all my academic achievements possible. | will do all | can to allow
God’s neuro-diverse children to thrive in our churches.

¢ Action for Inclusion
We are still too far from being a church where anyone can come, receive the love of God in
Jesus and learn what it means to follow him. My academic work includes articles challenging
Christian antisemitism and undermining racist readings of Scripture. | will do all | can to help
us become a church that welcomes everyone.

Do contact me on [email protected] with any questions.
If you connect with my priorities, please do give your first preference to me, Michael Dormandy!

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