The Right Revd Dr Richard Henderson has announced that he is to leave his position as Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry at the end of January 2011 in order to take up the position of Honorary Assistant Bishop in Carlisle Diocese and Team Vicar in the Heart of Eden Team Ministry in the Diocese from 5th March 2011.
Bishop Henderson will continue his duties as Bishop of Tuam until just after Christmas this year.
In accepting Bishop Henderson’s resignation during the past week, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Alan Harper, said, ‘The departure of Bishop Richard Henderson to take up a post in the Heart of Eden Team Ministry in the Diocese of Carlisle will be a very considerable loss to the Church of Ireland and especially to the people of his diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry where he has served for the past twelve years. Bishop Richard brought many admirable gifts to his ministry as bishop. His scientific training, linked to a formidable intellect and deeply devotional engagement with Holy Scripture made him a most persuasive teacher of the faith. Furthermore, his quiet, thoughtful and deeply attractive spirituality saw him much in demand as a giver of retreats. In a part of Ireland where the Church of Ireland community is but a tiny minority Bishop Richard fostered and nourished warm and positive relationships across the whole community to the great benefit of all. Sad as we all are to see him go, Bishop Richard is assured of the continuing affection, gratitude and respect for all he has achieved and all he has been to us since he came to minister among us in 1989.’
Bishop Henderson informed his Episcopal colleagues last week and across the parishes of the dioceses on Sunday 21st November in a pastoral letter.
In it, he thanked all the clergy and laity of the diocese profoundly for their support and he assured them of his continuing deep affection for the West of Ireland and the Church of Ireland, writing, ‘It has been an immense privilege to be among you all.’
Bishop Henderson will be based in Appleby-in-Westmoreland, Cumbria, an area with which he has been familiar since childhood, having, in fact, been baptised in Brough Parish Church.
He says, ‘Having been Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry for over twelve years, with our children now grown up, and having reflected deeply on the gifts I can best offer, I have felt led increasingly to return to parish life and substantially to non-episcopal ministry. Drawing on my parochial experience in both Ireland and England, and on my time as bishop in the rural West, I look forward to translating this to a part of England where I have deep roots; I also look forward to contributing to the life of the Diocese of Carlisle in the role of Hon. Assistant Bishop. My time within the various facets of the life of the Church of Ireland has been rich and rewarding on many levels, so this is not a move made lightly, but equally I move forward with faith to a new chapter in ministry within the team in the Heart of Eden.’
SIC: COI/IE
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