I am really thrilled that someone who I have known for many years has been appointed as the next Bishop of Kirkstall in the Diocese of Leeds. I knew Arun when he was working at the Church of England and I was working for Churches Together in Sussex and he then moved to the role of the Director of Communications for the Archbishop of York from 2006 to 2009 when I was coordinating the Hope08 project. A few years ago in 2017 he was appointed as the Vicar of St Nicholas’ Church, Durham. He wrote in his twitter

Overwhelmed at the kindness of the response to the news yesterday. Going to miss Durham enormously, not least the wonderful people of @stnicsdurham. Thank you to all at @LeedsCofE for their warm welcome yesterday and for the messages of support for the journey ahead.

As exciting as it is that he has taken on this important role, I was very sad that another of my friends, Paul Bayes reached retirement from his role as Bishop of Liverpool earlier this year. I knew Paul over the same period and indeed he played a very important role for Hope08. His retirement came just before a 50 year anniversary of an important activity in Liverpool, where I was born and grew up in.

It is always great when new people emerge as Bishops and although Kirkstall is not very close to Liverpool I am nevertheless delighted that a friend of mine has been appointed for that role.