The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham

The Rt. Rev'd George Cassidy was enthroned as the 10th Bishop of Southwell at Southwell Minster on Saturday, September 11th 1999.

George Cassidy was born in Belfast and is married to Jane who is a trained nurse. They have two daughters, Sarah married to Pierre with two young sons, Felix and Elliot and Gael who lives in London and teaches Irish folk music.

After church posts in Bristol and London area, Bishop George served as the Archdeacon of London and Residentiary Canon at St. Paul's Cathedral for 12 years, before his move to Nottinghamshire.

Bishop George's Easter Message:

“The Reverend still had uneasiness that they have who are deep in worldly business. Taxes, losses, crosses, bad mortgages, bad tenants, and the hardness of the times, are frequent subjects of his conversation.”

This could be a note about one of our clergy in the present situation.  In fact these words were written by William Law the mystical writer in his book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.. in 1728! So should an Easter message point us to the realities of the economic and financial situation? Or should it ignore these troubles as passing difficulties? Instead should we focus on the signs of new life around us as the gardens and fields, the trees and hedgerows spring into life?

When Jesus died most of the world continued as though nothing had happened. It is true that in St Matthew’s Gospel there is a great earthquake and many other signs as Jesus died; in St Mark’s Gospel everything went dark; St Luke has the sun’s light failing. All of them were trying to show the universal consequences of Jesus’ death. But most people in the world would have been unaware, just as today most people, if we are honest, will be unaware what Christians are remembering on Good Friday and Easter Day.

It was as the Holy Spirit filled the lives of the disciples in the resurrection days that more and more people realised the joy of God’s love in their lives. Jesus loves us through the ‘hardness of the times’; Jesus loves us as we celebrate signs of new life. It is the lives of those living as ‘the forgiven’ and ‘forgiving people’ Jesus calls us to be, which make people stop and realise something did happen on the cross. As the mystic Teresa of Avila wrote:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
     no hands but yours,
     no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
     Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
     doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now.

It is such lives which show the truth of the Easter proclamation “Alleluia, Christ is risen,” and which bring the response:
“He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

A very special and holy Easter to all who are finding the present situation the most difficult of times, and to those whose hearts are cheered by the signs of new life all around. Jesus died and lives for all.

+George, Southwell and Nottingham

Bishop George writes in the Spring 2009 issue of C The Magazine:

In January Jane and I were privileged to visit Natal, our link diocese, with a group from Southwell and Nottingham. We stayed with Bishop Rubin and his wife Rose, and attended the installation of Ndabazinhle Sibisi as the first black Dean of Pietermaritzburg Cathedral. Our link officer, the Reverend Barbara Holbrook came on the visit and will keep you all informed through Nifty Notes.

When we left, Jane and I then flew to Kenya where we had lived and worked earlier in our lives. It was the day when Barack Obama was being inaugurated as the new president of the United States of America. The country was in Obama mania! The new President’s father, as you will know, came from the Nyanza Province in Kenya.

Yet these celebrations in Kenya were taking place in a country whose people are suffering at the moment, from a terrible drought, from the on-going effects of the violence last year, huge poverty and the effects of HIV/AIDS, and corruption at many levels. We pray for the church there and the wonderful work it is doing.

Barack Obama made such an impression on the election campaign because he brought hope to so many people. In reality he will probably disappoint many of those who voted for him, many of those celebrating in Kenya, and many throughout the world, for he is not in himself the solution to the world’s problems, however much we may want him to succeed.

Timothy Radcliff has written about hope in his book ‘Why go to Church’, which is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book this year. He says, “The first act of hope is to pray, and the greatest prayer is the cross when Christ entrusted everything into God’s hands.” *

Some of you will have joined in the Hope 08 campaign which was set up to encourage and inspire churches to do mission in word and action. Christian hope is about prayer, which means practical living not empty words. This hope and prayer does not ignore what life is like at the moment, and pretend everything is alright. This hope is the resurrection which does not do away with Good Friday, the terrible torture and death of Jesus. Easter day shows up Good Friday, shows up our good God, shows up his changing and restoring love.

This hope is what commits people to support the people of Gaza and all affected by war, hatred and violence in the Holy Land. This hope will be what will prompt many to support the Lent and Confirmation appeal for St George’s Church in Baghdad. This hope is what enables the younger members of our churches to share their faith with friends at school and at home.

This real hope, is Jesus Christ, not Barack Obama, not Gordon Brown, not Billy Davies (Forest fans) not Jade (Eurovision music fans), not the new bishop. The only person in whom we can ultimately invest our future, is Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, praying he will use all these people and ourselves to do his will of love.
Any mania in any person or any thing gives way to Jesus joy!

+George Southwell and Nottingham

Recent Communications from the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham