‘I have come to serve’

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by Simon Hart

 

On his return to London after the announcement of his appointment as the new Archbishop of Liverpool, Archbishop elect John Sherrington did one of the things he likes to do best: he went out for a long stroll. On that day, it was to Kew Gardens that he headed but down the years there have been other places that this keen walker has enjoyed exploring – from the Dublin mountains to the Derbyshire Dales.

 

‘I enjoy walking with others and on my own,’ he reflected in an article he wrote on the 25th anniversary of his ordination for the Diocese of Westminster website. ‘The rhythm clears my head, restores perspective and re-energises me.’

 

That article, fittingly titled ‘The journey travelled’, sheds a fascinating light on the steps he took to the priesthood, first at Cambridge University where he studied Mathematics at Queens’ College, where Saint John Fisher was once president. There he read books on theology and creation, and he found inspiration in the vision of St Oscar Romero, as well as the 1980 National Pastoral Congress held here in Liverpool. That was also the year that the then 22-year-old made his first pilgrimage to Lourdes with a Jumbulance group which included a small group from the Wigan area.

 

‘I travelled there very sceptically, more concerned about attending to others’ needs than my own,’ he recalled, ‘but in some mysterious way I returned home sure that God was calling me to be a priest.’ Since his ordination as a priest in Nottingham Diocese in 1987, Archbishop-elect Sherrington has accumulated many varied experiences. He studied for a licence in Moral Theology at the Gregorian University, Rome, and then spent 14 years lecturing at All Hallows College, Dublin, and then St John’s seminary, Wonersh (which mainly serves southern dioceses), where he became director of studies. Then, from 2004, he was as a parish priest – at Our Lady of Lourdes, Derby, and Good Shepherd, Nottingham – before his ordination as an Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Hilta on 14 September 2011.

 

During the ensuing years in Westminster Diocese, he was Moderator of the Curia and – with a responsibility for pastoral care – served the parishes of Hertfordshire for five years and then those in North London. A highlight of the year, he said, was ‘the rhythm of confirmations in the Easter season’ while he found that ‘parish and school visits were always joyful occasions and provided the opportunity to meet committed priests and leaders who served their diverse parishes.’

 

Within the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Archbishop-elect has been a member of the Department for Social Justice with responsibility for Life Issues since 2014 and a member of the Education Department since 2022. On the former, his dedication to defend the gift of human life is not unrelated to his experiences on the Jumbulance to Lourdes and two years ago, on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference, he submitted written evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry into Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide.

 

In addition, Archbishop-elect Sherrington has held leadership roles in Catholic education and healthcare, and in ecumenical outreach, serving on the Methodist Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC) for 10 years.

 

Beyond these shores, meanwhile, he is a member of the Overseas Seminary Committee as well as a trustee of the Pontifical Beda College and Venerable English College in Rome, and a trustee of the Royal English College in Valladolid, Spain.

 

As for his new home, the Leicester-born 67-year-old has connections to this part of the world through his grandfather, who hailed from Brindle in Lancashire, in the north of our archdiocese, while his father retired to Preston.

 

‘I have come to serve and not to be served,’ he said to the congregation at the Metropolitan Cathedral on 5 April and the man standing beside him that day, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, has every confidence he will serve us well. ‘I’m very pleased that they’ve selected a very good man to follow me,’ he said. ‘I’ve known him for some years as he was a priest of Nottingham Diocese and that is where I was a bishop so I know he will be a very good archbishop.