The Dean of Bradford, the Very Rev Jerry Lepine, has announced that he will retire from the role this summer.
Diocese of Leeds Dean Jerry retires from role at Bradford Cathedral after 8 years service
Telegraph & Argus Dean of Bradford Cathedral, Very Rev Jerry Lepine, to retire
I find it rather telling what gets lots of comments on TA and what gets very few – or none. So I want to wish Dean Jerry (who I don’t know personally) a happy and probably well deserved retirement. It sounds as though he has helped Bradford Cathedral and its ministry over a considerable number of years – probably to recover from the sticky patch I remember quite a while ago.
Is it time to consider whether there is sufficent reason to break the tradition of having one cathedral in a diocese?
It was a parish church for centuries before it became a cathedral in the early 20th C. I wonder if a solution would be to designate it a Minster. This ancient title would retain its designation as a ‘special’ church, but not the centre of a diocese.
Incidentally, I served my title at Bradford Cathedral and can confirm Clare Amos’ memories of a ‘sticky patch’.
I was ordained in Bradford Cathedral. It’s always seemed to me an odd place; still very much a West Riding low-church civic church rather than an inclusive cathedral. I hope (and expect) it’s become more inclusive since; but it’s difficult to know what to do with it in the new diocese of Leeds. None of the existing cathedrals is in the right place to be ‘the’ cathedral; so either the diocese continues with three, or with none (not without precedent especially in the USA), or with a new one in a new location. Probably the present compromise is the best.
Suggest it to Bishop Nick then!
I want to echo Clare’s comment. Jerry is a lovely warm man, and his ministry at the Cathedral has been very widely appreciated. He is a gifted preacher, intellectually adventurous, and personable, friendly without in any sense being a mere people-pleaser. Many of us shall miss him and his wife Christine greatly.
This is an odd time to retire . Retiring from stipendiary office will also entail a change of address as the Dean and his wife leave the Deanery. They are in my prayers as they make this transition, as is the Cathedral as it awaits its new Dean.
Not when you’re 65, retirement age, before the school holidays so choirs on holiday, and a Dean having seen a parish through a 15-month pandemic and very pastorally as well. Any priest as a Dean will be totally exhausted from the responsibilty and keeping everything safe as well as the prayer life of a parish. There are still two fine priests there, and retired at Bradford to help.