St Mary’s Cathedral, Middlesbrough

14th December 2007

Mass of Thanksgiving and Farewell

Dear sisters, dear brothers

How I’ve always enjoyed addressing you in such a way, because that’s what we are within the household of faith, sisters and brothers together. And how much that means at the very deepest level about our relations with each other, sisters and brothers together in the family of God. Right at the start of this Mass my greeting was ‘Peace be with you’. And you replied ‘And also with you’. For us to be able to do that, to share with each other the peace of Christ, is something very special. Later on in this Mass, just before Holy Communion, we’ll get another chance to do the same thing when we come to the sign of peace. It’s such a lovely moment on every level, isn’t it? It’s warmly human as we turn to greet all those around us with a smile, a handshake, or even a hug. And it’s deeply spiritual as well, entrusting into each other’s keeping that gift of true peace which Christ alone is able to give.

Is there any one of us who doesn’t yearn for such a peace, that deep inner peace which only He can give. And never do we cry out more for such peace than when life has got on top of us, or when we’ve hit the buffers for whatever reason.

That was certainly my experience in the early part of this year when my health began to give way and, with it, the realisation that, totally unexpectedly, I would not be able to go on as your bishop. What made it even harder to cope with given my fragile health at the time, was the impossibility of saying a proper goodbye before leaving. There was a really poignant sense within me of unfinished business, of no proper closure to our years together, and I found it not just a painful but very bewildering time of my life. And, of course, as you can readily understand, it was also a desperately difficult time for all those closest to me.

Mercifully, and how grateful I was and am for this, it wasn’t very long before my general health began to pick up once the immediate strain was over. But far more important than that even was the growing sense of inner peace that I was given quite early in that period, the sense that within all of this Christ was truly present and that all would be well, and therefore at the very deepest level all was already well. That was such a precious gift to be given, it was like seeing the light again after a time of real darkness, and it chased away any sense of desolation I had been feeling.

And ever since that turning point I began to look forward to what’s happening tonight, the chance to return here to say a proper thank you and a proper farewell. To be back in this Cathedral which I love, to be back among a people who mean so much to me, is a very deep joy. And the cream of it all, if I may put it that way, is to see so many of yourselves who have made the effort to come, brother priests, our permanent deacons, our religious and our lay people – all of us gathered together around the altar for Mass – that touches me profoundly. And the other great thing is this; having this celebration together ensures that afterwards all of us can then move on; you into your new future with a new bishop, and me into my own new future wherever God will now guide me.

We’ve called this Mass a Mass of thanksgiving and farewell, and that’s exactly what it is because it has to be both. It’s a moment to say such a heartfelt thank you – to God in the first place, but then in the same breath to all of you. I have to express publicly something of the gratitude which is within me for all the joy and happiness, the rich fulfilment that came my way as your bishop. It was a golden period of my life. Oh yes, like everyone else here in this Cathedral I experienced some tough times down the years when it was a question of hanging on in there. We’ve all been there, and by the grace of God have come safely through again and again. Over my years with you I made plenty of mistakes, I surely fulfilled some expectations, just as surely as I will have disappointed others. I brought to you my gifts and I brought to you my limitations, that was the package deal right from the word go.

But, looking back, I have to say that by far and away my abiding memories are of so many good things, so many blessings to bring to our Mass tonight to celebrate with you. I want to thank you for accepting me as I was, warts and all, and for being endlessly willing to share with me in the service of the Gospel which is the sacred mission we all share. For me being bishop was such lifegiving work, working alongside you in building up God’s kingdom here in the North East.

‘Choose Life’ was, as you know, the motto I gave to our diocese for my years as bishop, and it was a motto which never failed to inspire me. It was a marvellous unifying principle for all the things we tried together, big things and small things, over the nineties and then into a new millennium. Choose Life. When I think of all the things which give me most life and most joy over the years, I would have to single out in a quite special way the happy community life we experienced in Cambridge Road. We were without any shadow of doubt a little family united together within the bigger family of the diocese. We were three human beings who truly cared for each other and supported each other all the way through. I cannot express too highly my personal debt to Srs Kitty and Sheila for their importance not just in my personal life, but also in my apostolate, spiritually speaking, humanly speaking. And I know too that the whole diocese gained immensely from their presence amongst us. What a joy that they’re with us this evening, together with members of my own family.

So a night then for deep thanksgiving for the blessings of these years, every single one of them, but a night as well to say farewell. How important too is that aspect of the Mass we’re celebrating. My time as bishop of Middlesbrough diocese has come to an end, I’ve given all that I can, and now you have a new bishop with new gifts and new energy to lead you into the future. You can count on my prayers and affectionate interest in whatever yourselves and your bishop elect, Mgr Terry Drainey, set out to do together in the years ahead. For my own part I look forward eagerly, once my health is fully restored, to exercising my ministry again in some appropriate context. In the meanwhile – and until that new future starts to unfold – I’m very happy to go on making my home base with my sister Mary, and her husband Les and son John, at St Albans in Hertfordshire. It’s a good place to be when you’re waiting upon the Spirit.

Dear sisters, dear brothers, at several big moments in my life, in times of big transition and big change – and this is surely one of them – I’ve found myself returning to some words once written 50 years ago by the then Secretary General of the UN. In a private spiritual journal he wrote down the words which became a kind of guiding star for his whole life, and for me too they mean a lot. He wrote “For everything so far thank you, for everything still to come, yes”. That describes exactly how I feel as we make our thank yous and say our farewells tonight.

I am so grateful to God for the gift of my life right up until this present moment, and that includes all its twists and turns. It’s good to be alive, and I find myself full of thanksgiving for all that life has brought my way thus far. And, in particular, I’m deeply grateful for the years we’ve shared together in this lovely warmhearted diocese. These years have been intensely satisfying for me on every level, and I’ve learnt so much, gained so much, and enjoyed so much sharing the journey with you.

But now, like you please God, I’m beginning to look forward to the next stage of my life, to a future which is totally unknown but which, for all of us, is utterly safe in God’s hands. I will always follow with deeply affectionate interest the ongoing story of this diocese under its 7th bishop now, and I will follow that story with great expectations. Why? Because I’ve come to know from the inside over my years with you something very precious about the giftedness, the goodness, and the generosity of spirit which is deeply embedded within this Catholic community, deeply embedded within its lay people, its religious, its deacons and its priests. So allow me to say one last time, but now on behalf of everyone here

“For everything so far, dear faithful God, thank you,
for everything still to come, yes”