John Habgood
Former Archbishop of York
LORD HABGOOD, who has died at 91, was Archbishop of York for 12 years until 1995, and the most outspoken and effective ecclesiastical figure of his age.
It was his “liberal” tendencies, combined with a prickly intellect, which probably saw the denial to him of the highest office available, that of Archbishop of Canterbury. Margaret Thatcher, who regarded him as too politically “wet”, declined to recommend him.
Yet Mrs Thatcher had recommended him for the York Archbishopric and made the unprecedented gesture of attending his enthronement in York Minster.
The assessment of him by Lord Hailsham, the Lord Chancellor, was that he was “the only bishop with an intellectual background of the highest class”. It was seen as a well-deserved accolade for a man too modest ever to complain that he had been passed over.
Habgood’s practical achievements were notable. His sensitive handling of the situation created by the ordination of women – in which he believed – won him the admiration of former critics. But his supreme contribution was as an exponent of Christian faith and morals in a secular age.
Habgood had a scientific background and clearly regarded many of the stories on which Christian doctrines are based as being true allegorically rather than literally.
John Stapylton Habgood was born on June 23, 1927. He was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, where he obtained a double-first in natural sciences, and at Cuddesdon Theological College, Oxford.
He was Demonstrator in Pharmacology, at Cambridge University from 1950 to 1953, after which his ecclesiastical career began in earnest, as curate at St Mary Abbots, Kensington. Arriving at Durham in 1973, he annoyed traditionalists by leading the working party that brought about the modernisation of the liturgy.
It was as Archbishop of York, from 1983, that his liberal credentials became clear. He backed moves to allow the remarriage of divorcees in church and supported the idea that a guaranteed number of General Synod places should be reserved for black members. In the House of Lords he voted against the controversial Clause 28 banning local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”.
On one occasion a disgruntled traditionalist, Dr Gareth Bennett, wrote an anonymous article in Crockford’s Clerical Directory, attacking the Church’s liberal establishment.
Dr Habgood publicly attacked this article as “scurrilous”, “sour” and “vindictive”. Dr Bennett then took his own life and Habgood’s detractors accused him of having gone too far.
Habgood was elevated to the peerage after his retirement as Archbishop of York in 1995.
His recreation was painting, both in water-colours and in oils.
He was married with four children. His wife, Rosalie, died in March 2016.