The new Bishop of St Albans has urged the diocese to navigate modern challenges by drawing inspiration from both the region’s past and imagination for new ideas.
Rt Rev Dr Andrew Rumsey was installed as the 11th Bishop of St Albans on Saturday, in a ceremony marking the first public milestone in his ministry across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Luton, and Barnet.
The service combined ancient legal tradition, including the ceremonial knocking on the Cathedral’s West End doors and the presentation of the pastoral staff, with a festival atmosphere of live music and food stalls.
Bishop Andrew described the day as “both a return home and a new beginning”, having grown up in Luton. He showed the 1,500 worshippers and civic guests an Easter Monday pilgrims badge he received at the Cathedral in 1979, bearing the words “we’re on our way”.
He said: “The faith, hope and love I found as a child in the Diocese of St Albans are very much alive today — and needed more than ever in our country and communities. Our cathedral marks the origins of the Christian story in England, and I am humbled to serve and lead you in its next chapter.”
Reflecting on its history, Bishop Andrew said early pilgrims to St Albans planted “a Christianity that was alive”. In Roman times, local citizen Alban gave refuge to fleeing priest Amphibalus; the region also helped to unify the early English kingdoms through the Council of Hertford in 673 AD.
Bishop Andrew described the present-day as “stony and thin-soiled times”, relating the dry and scorched earth as a parable for modern challenges. He urged the Church to “imagine your bit of the world differently” and to build a future grounded in both “fresh planting and tenacious old roots.”
“We don’t have to be any better or holier, any more or less religious than we are. But the hour is at hand in our land and in our lives, and we must get going,” he added.
Ahead of his installation, the Bishop walked the Amphibalus Way. He stopped at St Mary’s Church in Redbourn and St Michael’s Church in St Albans for prayer before finishing at the Cathedral.