This Saturday the Archbishop of York, Rev David Hope will hold a farewell service before finally stepping down and fulfilling his new position as a parish priest. The second most senior clergyman in the Church of England announced his resignation last August in order to take up his position as St Margaret’s near Bradford.

A dramatic pay-cut of approximately £40,000 a year awaits the resigning Archbishop. Rev Hope has been the Archbishop of York since his appointment in 1995, but during recent times he has expressed his great desire to return to the humble position of parish priest.

Many thought that after he made his announcement to resign that he would relax and go through the motions in his position until the time came to step down. However, Hope has since made a number of bold and clear admissions.

The Archbishop stated in December that the Church no longer appealed to many large sections of the population. He said, "I’d be a bit hard pushed to say we were a Christian country."

He has also expressed his absolute dismay at the way the Church has been feuding constantly over the issue of homosexuality within the Church for the past year. He said that this issue was dragging the Church apart.

On a more passionate note, the Archbishop of York’s diocese announced just last week that it was currently making £100,000 available from Central Diocesan funds to aid devastated areas of south east Asia by the 26 December tsunami. This announcement was a great surprise to many given the well publicised hardships of the Church’s finances over the past year. Many have applauded the Archbishop for his lowering and self-emptying attitude in this issue.

On Saturday, Dr Hope will preside during a specially arranged service at York Minster, which will officially mark the end of his run as Archbishop of York.

More than 2,500 people are expected to make up the congregation for the service, say Church officials, and people are expected to come from all over Yorkshire as well as from his former diocese in London and Wakefield to give Hope a gracious farewell.

The service is planned to conclude with a presentation to Dr Hope, and then he will hand over his pastoral staff to the Bishop of Hull, Rev Richard Firth, who has agreed to take responsibility of the archdiocese until a new Archbishop of York is appointed later in the year.

Rev Firth said, "This will be a joyful, family occasion for the Diocese of York to give thanks to God for Archbishop David’s ministry here, tinged with sadness as we shall miss him very much. His years as Bishop and Archbishop have been an inspiration to many people of faith and of none, and his decision to return to the life of a parish priest is a wonderful affirmation of the life and work of local churches and their people."

In February, Rev Hope in his new post, will be preaching to a congregation of approximately 150, and he has reported that he is greatly looking forward to the new challenges that his new position will entail.