Glyn Webster
I retired in January this year with two farewell masses in Manchester and York. It was wonderful to see so many people at those services, in spite of the weather and distances. Although I have to admit the Archbishop of York’s words about me at the end were so warm I didn’t recognise who he was talking about! The very next day after finishing as Bishop of Beverley I was granted Permission to Officiate which was a real boost as I’m the type who likes to keep going. A few funerals quickly came in, including the late, great Dr Francis Jackson, the former Master of Music at York Minster, who had died at the age of 104.
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But a few wheels turned to make sure my hands weren’t idle. On June 7th I was licensed by the Bishop of Selby as priest-in-charge of the parish of All Saints, North Street, York – a bastion of Anglo-Catholicism and with a fine collection of windows, the oldest one dating back to 1330. Another city-centre parish soon followed for my ‘retirement portfolio’ – St Mary, Bishophill Junior, the oldest church building within the old walls in York and with a very fine medieval tower. It feels very much like going back to the beginning of my ministry. There’s nothing more important than being a parish priest, although Archbishop Stephen also appointed me an honorary assistant bishop so episcopal duties remain for me here and there.
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Parish ministry has changed phenomenally. A lot felt easier 50 years ago because there wasn’t so much secularisation, and people now have a different idea about leisure time and activities. We do have fewer weddings and funerals, but pastoral ministry is still so important. It’s not all about initiatives and church plants but ordinary parishes where everyday folk are living out their lives in faith. Wherever I minister I find my family. My life is my priesthood, and priesthood is my life. It never feels like work to me.
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It’s taken some adjustment to being in one place now most of the time. Previously I would be out four or five nights across the Northern Province in different parishes and for various events. I came to York in 1977 to be ordained deacon on the basis I would return after curacy to my sponsoring diocese, Blackburn. But it didn’t happen. 45 years on I am still in York, though, where I have certainly taken root. It’s a city and people I know and love well. Sometimes I’ve even been called ‘the Vicar of York’!
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I do still get out and about, often to London. Recently I was there for the wonderful service at Sussex Gardens with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Lots of friends help me take time out to relax and life is never dull. I keep on the go all the same. Pandemic curbed so much travel but one country I love especially is Italy, and I hope to go more often.
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Being at York Minister for the consecration of Fr Stephen Race was a very special and multidimensional occasion for me. There were so many strands, not least as I’d been part of the Dean & Chapter there for 19 years. And what a day! It was terrific to see so many familiar faces from Beverley parishes, all adding to such a positive and joyful event. I was touched to be one of the co-consecrators. This doesn’t often happen with your successor, but it’s very Catholic and underlined very much the continuity of what we’re about. Now it is time for Bishop Stephen to take the See forward with his energy and many talents. And it feels a little like when St John the Baptist said ‘I must decrease so that he may increase’.
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Coming up I have been invited to preach at the mass celebrating the Bishop of Wakefield’s 20th anniversary of consecration. I was on the Crown Nominations Commission for eight years and we would ‘compare and contrast’ the different candidates for each post, so maybe I’ll take my cue from the feast and on the day compare Bishop Tony with St Nicholas!
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Christmas will of course be different this year, because I’m fully back in parish life and on that very special liturgical journey as we travel together through the weeks and days of Advent. It’s a wonderful season and I’m really looking forward to it. My parishes are central and all sorts of people come to our services. After all, that’s what it’s about – hope and expectation in the Incarnation. I’m thankful to be functioning still and living out my vocation. Despite many frustrations with the CofE (and who among us doesn’t have those?) I know that if I had my time over again I’d do it all exactly the same!