School Chaplain

Welcome, Archbishop of York

Last week, we were fortunate to welcome the Archbishop of York, the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell, to the school. As the second-most senior bishop in the Church of England, he serves as the Primate of England, Archbishop of the Province of York, and a member of the House of Lords. He also holds considerable influence in the worldwide church. He was greeted by our new School and Chapel Captains, one of their first official responsibilities.

Archbishop Stephen spoke to our Year 10 and 11 students before taking part in a Q&A. He was, as is perhaps appropriate, the salt of the earth. Despite his titles and responsibilities, he wanted to be heard not as a distant authority, but as a fellow traveller and brother in Christ. It was particularly affecting to see him set aside the formality of his office and approach the students with such friendliness, charm and good humour.

He came bearing a simple message: God loves you, no matter what, and, because of that love, is drawing you towards becoming the person you were made to be. He shared words spoken to him as a child: that if his father could choose from all the children in the world, he would choose Stephen. God does not, of course, choose between us in this way; nevertheless, it was a lovely illustration of the particularity of divine love, and of the conviction that each of us is loved as though we were the one.

Our students asked some wonderful questions about faith, the Church and the Premier League (including which football teams were the greatest of all time, which came from the days before the Premier League existed, he contended). Archbishop Stephen spoke about Christianity's distinctive emphasis on God coming to dwell among us. 

One of his most striking points was that Christianity is about a whole life given to love and service, not simply about attending church on a Sunday. He suggested that we may, in some ways, have made Christianity too easy, asking too little of people and thereby risking making faith feel weightless. As he spoke, the weight of his conviction was palpable. I suspect our students felt it, too.

Archbishop Stephen's visit was an encouraging occasion, offering plenty of food for thought to everyone who had the opportunity to hear him speak. We are grateful for his time, his generosity of spirit, and the opportunity for our students to encounter a Christian leader whose warmth and humility were matched by the seriousness of his message.

Fr Rhys Roberts-Brown

School Chaplain