[1] Following the first ordinations of women in 1993 to the priesthood in the Church of England, Bishops suffragan of Ebbsfleet and of Richborough were appointed "provincial episcopal visitors" — known as "flying bishops" — to provide episcopal oversight for parishes throughout the province of Canterbury which reject the ministry of bishops who have participated in the ordination of women.
[2] The Bishop of Oswestry was to serve the western 13 dioceses of the southern province (Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Oxford, Salisbury, Truro, and Worcester).
[3] On 2 December 2022, Paul Thomas, Vicar of St James's Church, Paddington, was announced to be the first Bishop of Oswestry; he was consecrated in Canterbury Cathedral on 2 February 2023 (the Feast of Candlemas) by Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester, on behalf of Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was present during the service.
The people of Oswestry feel deeply unhappy that our town's name is being used by the Anglican church as a tool of appeasing the opponents of gender equality and modern interpretation of the scripture."
He reported St Oswald's Parish Church had declared it supported female clergy or clergy from the LGBT community working with it, and that, apart from St Oswald's and the other parish church in the town, ordained women were serving the remainder of the area's rural parishes as vicars.