Saturday, 28 February 2026
Members of Synod, I begin these remarks by formally offering a sincere welcome to Alan Smith, the First Church Estates Commissioner, who is spending the weekend with us. Alan, you are very welcome here, to the Church of England’s most northerly diocese, and we hope this visit will be the first of many.
Since our last gathering, a lot has happened. We have a new Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Sarah, and the Dean and I look forward very much to being at her installation in Canterbury Cathedral representing our diocese next month, on the feast of the Annunciation. Mary’s searching response to the angel in that narrative, ‘how can this be? is one that resounds down the ages and generations and faces into a world that continues to be deeply challended by fear, anxiety, injustice, and many other persistent themes of concern: the climate crisis, community identity and cohesion and the worrying rise of Christian nationalism being two very present examples. The angel’s response to Mary however, firmly puts God in the frame of agency. This gives us a continued myriad of opportunities to offer our communities, region, and indeed world (why not?) to offer a vision of hope that is realistic in as much as it is grounded in what is real and actual whilst holding out the possibility of how we think the world could be. This is where confidence comes in: capacity to articulate not just who we are but whose we are.
Along with a new Archbishop, nearer to us we welcome the appointment of a new Bishop of Durham. We offer Rick our prayers and good wishes as he prepares to move into this role and I look forward to working collegially with him on issues affecting our wider region where it would be beneficial to speak and act together. When news of this appointment was made, I was reminded that, as far as the Tyne Bridge goes, I needed to remember that Newcastle has two thirds of it! Whilst the line of diocesan boundary might be less clear at least to the eye at that point, come with me further north, where it is clear. During the recent half-term, Myles and I hiked part of the Pennine Way. We started just over the border in Kirk Yetholm, following the Pennine Way’s low route ascending until we picked up the high route to return to where we started. (It's tempting, although I don't think you'd thank me, to burst into a rendition of that classic tune, O ye’ll take the high road and I'll take the low… I won't, and in any case, we did both roads, together!). On that path, when you take the high route, you travel along the literal border between Scotland and England, and thus part of our own diocesan boundary (and we acknowledge too with assurance of our prayers, the appointment of Bishop Dagmar, well known to our diocese to be Bishop of Edinburgh, in the Scottish Episcopal Church). The Pennine Way path places you in Scotland, as you walk northwards with the border fence on your left. As I looked over the fence into our diocese, as it were, I reflected on the purpose of such borders. Whilst they mark place and territory and, in many ways, too, identity, all of which can be contested (and a cause of much pain and suffering), they can also I think make us mindful of partnership and what might be held in common.
We have a full agenda before us today but woven throughout are reminders of the work we share together and the fresh opportunities that we have to partner with others. This is at heart of the theme of sharing, which is a key dynamic to our diocesan vision, to be confident Christians enabling more and different people to experience life in all its fullness. As we move through the items before us today, I encourage us to think about sharing and partnership. I want to take this opportunity to offer a profound thanks to all who have taken part in the work of the three Bishop’s groups across the last year. I am delighted with the outcomes of this work and am pleased that Bishop’s Council has affirmed the work and approved the direction of travel that the outcomes indicate.
The Legacy group paper (the group that I convened) sets out the purpose, rationale, and intended operation of the fund — outlining both what it seeks to achieve and how it is to be used. Its central aim is to unlock and enable mission: supporting larger, strategically significant projects that require substantial investment, as well as fostering smaller-scale initiatives through the establishment of a Bishop of Newcastle Foundation in perpetuity, for which parishes will be encouraged to apply.
The working group will now move to the next phase, developing and operationalising a clear application, discernment, and governance process. It is proposed that larger projects, given their strategic and financial significance, will be brought to the Bishop’s Council for approval, while smaller grants will be administered through the Community Foundation Northeast following our agreed funding criteria. This approach seeks to ensure both proper oversight and accountability at the strategic level, and an accessible, proportionate process for parish-level initiatives. Conversations are underway with the Community Foundation Northeast to finalise the application process and agree a launch date.
At the recent AGM of the Community Foundation Northeast (I am an honorary president of the Foundation), I listened to a talk by Alan Milburn who opened his remarks but saying he wanted to talk about hope. There is so much in all of this that resonates with the God-given desires we have for the people and communities we serve. I was reminded of this only a few days ago when I visited The People’s Kitchen in Newcastle to present a cheque from my Christmas Appeal (and which I want to express my profound gratitude to all those who donated, raising nearly £3000), followed on the same day by a visit to Smart Works North East which enables women into the workplace with interview coaching and clothing. This wasn't my first visit to Smart Works but was my first to their new premises opposite our Cathedral. It is my belief and hope that the Legacy left so generously to us by the 10th bishop, Bishop Alec Graham, will foster new partnerships offering us ways of revealing God’s Kingdom and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Mary’s ‘how can this be?’ is held in the responsive and lived certainty of God’s faithfulness and grace. We must always remember that God goes before us. God is already there, where we want to be, places of welcome and genuine inclusion for all people for we are all one in Christ Jesus. With that, I commend our work today and look forward to hearing from our First Church Estates Commissioner following my Address, assuring him again of our welcome and our prayers for his work. As always, there is much more I could say in the opportunity afforded to me by having space for an Address, but I will leave my remarks here with as always a final note of deep gratitude for all that you do in this forum as I have entered this month my fourth year of translation and 13th year of my own consecration.
Thank you.