Archdeacon Rachel Writes to the Diocese

As the news of her retirement is announced, The Ven Dr Rachel Mann shares this letter with the diocese:

Dear friends,

This is a letter I never expected or planned to write.

As many of you will know, in the past eighteen months I have faced huge personal health challenges. While I am pleased that my condition has now stabilised, the fact is (to quote a famous line) ‘the body keeps a score.’ Since 1999, I’ve had five major and the best part of twenty minor operations and procedures for Crohn’s Disease. At times, it has felt like death by a thousand cuts.

In 2025 I spent about two months in hospital, on and off. Part of that was recovery time after major surgery, the rest spent coming to terms with the implications of living with a new diagnosis: organ failure. The kind I have, Intestinal Failure, is rare, misunderstood, and often life-limiting. In my case there is no prospect of transplant or cure. Since August 2025, I’ve undergone further surgery and rigorous training to live with this condition, and I can now mostly manage it at home. However, the regime is at times intense and presents a daily challenge. I have so much equipment in my house it sometimes resembles a medical ward, and I have had to acquire nursing-level skills.

Since my return to work, I have tried my best to fulfil my duties as Archdeacon. I’ve given it my all, not least because being Archdeacon is, in my view, a truly extraordinary role. However, despite colleagues being kind and supportive, I have found full-time ministry very challenging. At best, I undertake my duties well but end up exhausted. At worst, I do a pretty substandard job. I can still do one-off pieces of work to a high standard, but I struggle with consistency. Despite some holding a contrary view about me, I care too much for the flourishing of colleagues and parishes to be happy with this decay in the quality and consistency of my work. The workload has become just too much for my flagging body. To quote Indiana Jones, ‘It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.’

As a result, after a lot of prayer, counselling, and soul searching I have applied for and been granted early retirement from full-time ministry on medical grounds.

With the support of +David, I plan to retire on July 31st 2026. By staying until then I shall be able — somewhat sentimentally — to complete twenty-one years in full-time ordained ministry. I am also delighted to say that Canon Simon Cook has consented, with +David’s support, to take on the role of Assistant Archdeacon to help during this time of transition and farewell. Please pray for him.

The prospect of retirement at 56 has stirred up big emotions within me. This is not how I imagined my full-time ministry would finish. I anticipated at least another decade of going at things full tilt. At the same time, this is not the end, just an end. I would like to believe I have much still to contribute to this diocese, the Church more broadly, and indeed to wider public life and culture.

For months I have been praying with this question: what space is God calling me into next? It is a good question for all of us to ask of ourselves. I have come to realise that medical retirement is not the end but a reorientation. I anticipate having a lot more space, not only for self-care and for time with my family and friends, but also to continue to make contributions as a writer, poet, scholar, and broadcaster. I shall also be living in Manchester so I shall be applying to +David for PTO. I hope he will grant this and I shall receive at least some invitations to preach and preside.

When I am asked to provide a mini-biog for something I always begin by saying I am a priest. It is pretty much the most important thing about me. It has been the privilege of my life to serve as a priest in this diocese. St John famously said, God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. In my ministry in Manchester, I have been blessed with that most awesome gift of grace: Love. Thank you. It has been all the more precious because I find it hard to believe I have deserved it. I have messed up in ministry as much as I’ve got it right. I ask your forgiveness for the many ways I’ve failed to serve as Christ calls us to serve. Please pray for me as I shall pray for you, and may Manchester Diocese be ever more marked and transformed by the love of Jesus Christ who is the heart of all good and hopeful things.

Rachel x