THE Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, has announced that he’s to retire on 30 November.
In an ad clerum on Monday morning, Bishop Baines, who’s 67, said that serving as the primary Bishop of Leeds had been “an immense privilege”, and it had been “an honour to work alongside clergy and lay leaders who display joy, vision, courage, and resilience”.
In 2014, the three dioceses of Bradford, Ripon & Leeds, and Wakefield were dissolved and the diocese of Leeds created, referred to as the diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales until July 2016. It was the primary latest diocese since 1929; Bishop Baines was translated from the see of Bradford.
Marking its first decade, last yr, he said that the creation was “the appropriate thing to do. And we’d like to do it again. . . But no learning has been done.”
One of the results of a “complete neglect of evaluation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning” was, he suggested, that the Church wouldn’t learn from the pain endured by those that lived through the Leeds process — and learn how to avoid it in future. “You know, there are individuals who bear the scars, which can never be known.”
Referring to this journey in his ad clerum, he writes: “I’ll for ever be pleased about your support, prayers and encouragements — even when people strongly disagreed with me or my colleagues. I cannot put into words my respect and gratitude for all of the colleagues with whom I even have worked closely in constructing this diocese: diocesan secretaries, registrars, bishops, archdeacons, deans, and lots of, many more.
“However, the time is correct for me to go and for the diocese to hunt a latest diocesan bishop who can bring latest vision and construct a stronger future.”
Bishop Baines trained for ministry at Trinity College, Bristol, and was ordained priest in 1988, serving his title at St Thomas’s, Kendal, in Carlisle diocese. He served in Leicester diocese from 1991 to 1996, before being appointed Archdeacon of Lambeth, in Southwark diocese, in 2003. He was consecrated bishop, to function Area Bishop of Croydon, in 2003. In 2011, he was translated to Bradford.
As certainly one of the Lords Spiritual, he has spoken on a variety of issues — most recently on the place of bishops within the Upper House, and on Sudan, Ukraine, and the longer term of the media. He has been a daily contributor to Radio 2’s Pause for Thought. He can be the creator of several books, including Hungry for Hope (1991, 2007) and Scandal of Grace: The danger of following Jesus (2008).
Bishop Baines plans to “proceed to work as hard as ever until mid-September”, when he’ll delegate to the Bishop of Bradford, Dr Toby Howarth. He will officiate for the last time at Bradford Cathedral on Sunday 19 October, and Wakefield Cathedral on Sunday 26 October. A farewell service might be held in Ripon Cathedral on Sunday 23 November.
He and his wife, Linda, will retire to Liverpool.
