Posted on: 27th March 2025

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.”

Read the full article here.