Leadership

The Diocese is led by the Bishop of Wangaratta, who is supported by senior clergy and other senior staff.

The Right Reverend Clarence E Bester

Bishop of Wangaratta

Bishop Clarence came to the Diocese during March 2015 to take up a position as Associate Priest within the Parish of Shepparton. Before that he served within the Diocese of False Bay South Africa as Rector of St Andrew’s Church in Strand for 12 years, while also holding the positions of Archdeacon of Helderberg (Territorial) (2006 – 2010) and Archdeacon to the Ordinary (Bishop) (2010 – 2014). Clarence also served as Diocesan Link Officer between the Diocese of False Bay and the Diocese of York’s Cleveland Archdeaconry in the United Kingdom. During 2007 and 2013 Clarence served as locum tenens at the Chaplaincy of Bonn and Cologne and Strasbourg within the Diocese of Europe where he still holds a Permission to Officiate.

Following 20 months in Shepparton, Clarence was appointed as Rector of the Parish of Wangaratta West and the Warbys and Archdeacon of Wangaratta responsible for Ministry Development within the Diocese. After a period of 14 months, Clarence was appointed as full-time Diocesan Archdeacon and Bishop’s Commissary. This was followed by his appointment as Vicar General on 1 November 2018 and, following the former Bishop’s retirement, as Administrator of the Diocese.

Clarence was elected as Bishop of the Diocese and consecrated on 22 February 2020 at St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne and enthroned as the 11^th Bishop of Wangaratta on 23 February 2020 at Holy Trinity Cathedral Wangaratta.

Bishop Clarence is married to Michelle and they have two sons, Kian and Kyle.

Bishop’s Registry

Julie Torpey

Registrar 

Julie Torpey is the current Registrar and Finance Manager of the Diocese of Wangaratta. Julie commenced her roles on 1^st August 2021. Julie has been a long standing member of the Diocesan office, commencing in 2006 when her family moved to the area. Prior to joining the Diocesan Team, her career was in debt management and the banking sector. Throughout her career there has been a strong emphasis on finance and administration management. Julie hopes to build strong relationships with the Diocesan Team and the Parish community to serve and assist Parishes with their needs.

The Very Reverend Neil Hicks

Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral and Vicar General

The Venerable Neil Hicks was inducted to the Parish of Yarrawonga 11/11/2017. Neil joined us from the Diocese of Melbourne and the Parish of St Paul’s Geelong where Neil served as Vicar for 12 years and as Archdeacon of Geelong for 8 years. Born in Kyabram and raised in Tongala, Neil felt a call to Ministry in his early twenties and pursued his Theological studies at St. Barnabas Theological College, Belair, South Australia. Now being ordained for 30 years, Neil started his ministry as a Curate in the Parishes of Maryborough, then Mildura and then as Rector of the Parish of Robinvale/Manangatang, all in the Bendigo Diocese. He then served at the Parish of Point Lonsdale (Melbourne), followed by an appointment as Dean of Sale in Gippsland before returning to the Diocese of Melbourne to take up the position as Vicar of Balwyn North for 4 years before moving to St Paul’s Geelong. During his time in Melbourne, Neil served on Archbishop in Council as well as Provincial Council. Minutes of the last Provincial Council attended by Neil referred to Archbishop Freier expressing his great appreciation for Neil’s invaluable contribution to the Diocese of Melbourne and Provincial Council. One of Neil’s great passions is music, mostly classical, pipe organ, brass and Abba. Good Liturgy is deeply important to Neil and he enjoys devising services for the Church’s various celebrations.

The Venerable Canon Scott Jessup

Archdeacon: The Hume

Scott Jessup was born and completed his primary and secondary schooling in Beechworth. He was unchurched yet his first sense of a vocation to the priesthood came to him in Primary School when he was 10 years old.

Scott graduated from university in 1995 with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) Degree specialising in ornithology. After graduating he took up a part-time position as Assistant Curator at the Burke Memorial Museum in Beechworth. He also worked part-time as the Environmental Officer for the Rural City of Wangaratta and later for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment as a flora and fauna planner. During this time he also studied for a Post Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Deakin University. He then became the Manager/Curator of the Burke Museum.

Scott moved to Sydney in 2001 to take up the position of Manager/Curator of Mary MacKillop Place Museum in North Sydney. Scott was baptised in 2002 and confirmed in 2003. In 2002, he commenced studying theology part-time through St Mark’s National Theological Centre in Canberra. In 2006, he approached his home diocese, the Diocese of Wangaratta, to be considered as an Ordination Candidate and was accepted. He then joined the ministry formation program at St Mark’s and completed his BTh in 2007.

Scott was ordained to the Diaconate in Wangaratta Cathedral in 2008 and was Priested in 2009. He served a two year curacy at St Matthew’s, Albury where he met his wife Kate. In 2010, he was appointed as Priest-in-Charge of the Parish of Alpine which includes the towns of Bright, Myrtleford, Harrietville and Whorouly and in 2016 Scott was appointed Area Dean of the North East Deanery.

After 8 years of ministry in the Alpine Parish, Scott was appointed as Priest-In-Charge of the Parish of Rutherglen & Chiltern with effect February 2018 and was later appointed as Area Dean of the North West Deanery. Scott was also elected as Canon of Holy Trinity Cathedral during the 2018 Diocesan Synod. Scott and Kate have three beautiful girls, Ruby, Maggie and Clare.

Scott loves the outdoors, especially box-ironbark forests and woodlands and is a keen birdwatcher. He also likes gardening and is currently enjoying creating and renovating the Rectory Garden at Rutherglen using hardy perennials.

The Venerable Melissa Clark

Archdeacon: The Goulburn

The Venerable Melissa (Mel) Clark was born and raised in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Prior to ordination she worked in several finance and management positions in the transport and manufacturing industries.  During these years she completed a BA/Psychology degree by correspondence at Macquarie University. A cradle Anglican, she held many parish administrative and liturgical positions, including choir director and children’s minister.  It was during her time as children’s minister in the Sunshine parish  that she began to discern a vocation to the priesthood so she began her theological studies at Trinity college in 2012, completing a Bachelor of Theology in 2015 and a Masters of Theology in 2021.

Mel was ordained in Bendigo in 2015 and served in the parish of Woodend for seven years, before moving to the diocese of Wangaratta in 2022 where she has served in Mansfield and Benalla parishes.With her experiences of growing up in a low socio-economic, high immigrant and refugee area, Mel has a strong passion for social justice and the importance of listening to diverse voices, and she brings that to her parish ministry work.  She is a registered foster carer and has welcomed dozens of children into her home for short and long stays over the years.

A classically trained singer, and self-confessed literature and history nerd, Mel loves to travel, especially within the UK, where she can indulge her love of English cathedrals, music, and all things Jane Austen. Mel and her Border Collie Oscar love going for long walks and playing fetch…although fetch is really more Oscar’s thing.

The Reverend Canon Moira Evers

Area Dean: The Hume

The Reverend Jerome Francis

Area Dean: The Goulburn

Jerome Francis joined the Diocese of Wangaratta in December 2019 as the Priest in Charge of the Anglican Parish of Shepparton. Before that, he was ordained as a deacon on March 3, 1996, and ordained a priest on December 15, 1996. He has faithfully served in a variety of parishes over the years, including Assistant Priest at Christ the Redeemer Westridge from December 1995 and at Good Shepherd Kensington from December 1997. He became Rector of All Saints Atlantis in June 2000, St Margaret’s Parow in July 2004, St Oswald’s Milnerton in October 2009 (where he was rector to the late Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Mphilo Tutu), and St Saviour’s Claremont in December 2017.

Jerome’s additional ministerial responsibilities have included roles such as Domestic Chaplain to Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, Chief of Staff to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba (appointed in May 2015), Canon in both the Diocese of Saldanha Bay (2012) and Diocese of Cape Town (2018), and Honorary Provincial Canon of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (2019). He has been a placement rector for Mrs. Monica Wedlock, a seminarian from Columbia Seminary in 2006, Chaplain to the Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape (2012–2017), Diocesan Representative to Provincial Synod (2013), Chaplain to Provincial Synod, and the elected representative to the Anglican Consultative Council in 2013.

His international ministry journey includes being an exchange student at St George’s Anglican College Jerusalem in 1994, sabbatical in the Diocese of the Indian Ocean (Mauritius) in 2003, visiting priest at St Paul’s Church in Corinth, Mississippi in 2007, and pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 2013 (supported by the Maccabee Trust). He preached at St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem, in 2014, attended the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka in 2016 and Hong Kong in 2019, and participated in the Community of the Cross of Nails International Gathering in Coventry in 2018.

Between 2019 and 2025 in Australia, Jerome was elected Representative for the Northwest Deanery within Anglicare Parish Partnerships (2023), spoke at the Shepparton Rotary Club on the theme “From Africa to Australia (2023),” addressed Year 12 students at Notre Dame Catholic College on Vocations (2023 and 2024), and preached on Christian unity at St Brendan’s Catholic Church (2023). He was elected as a member of Bishop in Council (2023), an alternate member of the Diocesan Board of Nominators (2023), and appointed Area Dean of the Northwest Deanery in 2023 and of the Goulburn region in 2025. He also joined the council of All Saints Anglican School, Shepparton in 2023.

Jerome is married to Amanda Letasha Francis, and they have two children, Caleb and Connor