THE Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, has announced that he is to retire on 30 November.
In an ad clerum on Monday morning, Bishop Baines, who is 67, said that serving as the first Bishop of Leeds had been “an immense privilege”, and it had been “an honour to work alongside clergy and lay leaders who demonstrate joy, vision, courage, and resilience”.
In 2014, the three dioceses of Bradford, Ripon & Leeds, and Wakefield were dissolved and the diocese of Leeds created, known as the diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales until July 2016. It was the first new diocese since 1929; Bishop Baines was translated from the see of Bradford.
Marking its first decade, last year, he said that the creation was “the right thing to do. And we need to do it again. . . But no learning has been done.”
One of the consequences of a “complete neglect of evaluation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning” was, he suggested, that the Church would not learn from the pain endured by those who lived through the Leeds process — and how to avoid it in future. “You know, there are people who bear the scars, which will never be known.”
Referring to this journey in his ad clerum, he writes: “I will for ever be grateful for 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 the colleagues with whom I have worked closely in building this diocese: diocesan secretaries, registrars, bishops, archdeacons, deans, and many, many more.
“However, the time is right for me to go and for the diocese to seek a new diocesan bishop who can bring new vision and build 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 serve as Area Bishop of Croydon, in 2003. In 2011, he was translated to Bradford.
As one of the Lords Spiritual, he has spoken on a range of issues — most recently on the place of bishops in the Upper House, and on Sudan, Ukraine, and the future of the media. He has been a regular contributor to Radio 2’s Pause for Thought. He is also the author of several books, including Hungry for Hope (1991, 2007) and Scandal of Grace: The danger of following Jesus (2008).
Bishop Baines plans to “continue to work as hard as ever until mid-September”, when he will 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 will be held in Ripon Cathedral on Sunday 23 November.
He and his wife, Linda, will retire to Liverpool.
