Archdeacon of Bolton to retire at end of July 2026

Reverend Dr Rachel Mann will be taking a step back from her ministry at the end of July to focus instead on writing, speaking and taking opportunities with the media after a period of ill-health to do with ongoing Crohn’s disease.

Archdeacon Mann served her entire ordained ministry within the Diocese of Manchester, beginning her curacy at St Matthew’s, Stretford, in 2005, before becoming Priest‑in‑Charge and later Rector of St Nicholas, Burnage.

Archdeacon Mann said: “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.

“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. … 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.”

Christ Church Walmsley, Egerton

Archdeacon Mann has had five major and around twenty minor operations and procedures for Crohn’s disease since 1999.

She spent around two months of 2025 in hospital, part of which was recovery from major surgery, the rest was ‘coming to terms with the implications of living with a new diagnosis: organ failure’.

Archdeacon Mann says that the kind of organ failure she has – intestine failure – does not have a cure, and there is ‘no prospect’ of a transplant.

The Archdeacon said: “I have found full-time ministry very challenging.

“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.

“The workload has become just too much for my flagging body – to quote Indiana Jones: ‘It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.’”