Hind was
ordained at
Southwark Cathedral in 1972. After parish ministry in the
Diocese of Southwark; St John's Catford as a curate (1972–76) and Christ Church, Forest Hill as vicar (1976–82), Hind was appointed the principal of
Chichester Theological College in 1982. In 2011 the
Archbishop of Canterbury appointed an enquiry into the long running child protection issues in the diocese. The interim enquiry report found that there had been "an appalling history" over two decades of child protection problems, and many children had suffered hurt and damage. Because of concerns that safeguarding still remained dysfunctional,
Lambeth Palace took over the oversight of clergy appointments and the protection of children and vulnerable adults in the diocese. On 7 July 2011, Hind announced his intention to retire in April 2012. He duly retired effective 30 April 2012 – his suffragan
Mark Sowerby became Acting Bishop of Chichester (since the senior suffragan in the diocese,
Wallace Benn, was involved with an ongoing investigation into diocesan safeguarding procedures) and his successor (
Martin Warner,
Bishop of Whitby) was announced three days later. On 28 May 2012 Hind was licensed as an
honorary assistant bishop in the
Diocese of Portsmouth.
Views Hind belongs to the traditionalist
Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England. Although the Diocese of Chichester includes the city of Brighton and Hove, which has a disproportionately high percentage gay population, Hind has a history of opposition to initiatives such as (and including) civil partnership. He signed a petition organised by the
Coalition for Marriage, opposing
same-sex marriage. Hind was also one of the bishops who signed a letter against
Rowan Williams' decision not to block the appointment of
Jeffrey John as
Bishop of Reading in 2003, due to John being a self-identified homosexual. The other diocesan bishop signatories (referred to by their opponents, since there were nine, as the
Nazgûl) were
Michael Scott-Joynt (
Bishop of Winchester),
Michael Langrish (
Exeter),
Michael Nazir-Ali (
Rochester),
Peter Forster (
Chester),
James Jones (
Liverpool),
George Cassidy (
Southwell & Nottingham),
Graham Dow (
Carlisle) and
David James (
Bradford). In October 2009, the
Sunday Telegraph claimed that Hind had said that he would be happy to be reordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church and that divisions in Anglicanism could make it impossible for him to stay in the Church of England. In a statement published in response to the article, Hind stated that this "is not the case" and "that I would not be willing to deny the priesthood I have exercised hitherto". ==Family==