[1] Bates received his ecclesiastical education at Kelham Theological College, being ordained deacon in 1958 and priest in 1959.
He served briefly as a parish priest at Huyton in Liverpool, before returning to the cathedral again as a Canon Residentiary and Precentor from 1973 to 1983.
Whilst serving as cathedral Precentor, Bates was concurrently the Diocesan Director of Ordinands for Liverpool Diocese.
[citation needed] Towards the end of his episcopate he stated: The Church has got to realise its missionary responsibilities.
We live in a society, whether that be urban or rural, which is now basically second- or even third-generation pagan once again; and we cannot simply work on the premise that all we have to do to bring people to Christ is to ask them to remember their long-held, but dormant faith … in so many instances we have to go back to basics; we are in a critical missionary situation.On 11 February 2017, fourteen retired bishops signed an open letter to the then-serving bishops of the Church of England.