Archdeacon of Stow and Lindsey appointed Canon of Westminster

She will be installed as Canon Steward on Sunday 7th September. The role of Canon Steward involves overseeing the welcome of over one and a quarter million visitors and pilgrims each year and the Abbey’s ministry of hospitality and pastoral care.

Jane Sinclair was educated at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She was a Deaconess at St Paul’s, Herne Hill from 1983 to 1986; then a Lecturer in Liturgy at St John's College, Nottingham. In 1993 she was appointed a Canon Residentiary and Precentor at Sheffield Cathedral; then Vicar of Rotherham in 2003. Four years later she became Archdeacon of Stow and Lindsey.

She said this week:

I am delighted and honoured to have been given the opportunity to serve as Canon Steward of Westminster Abbey. The Abbey’s ministry is far-reaching and influential. It is not only a symbolic focus for the nation on state occasions, but also a centre for prayer, learning and hospitality for the many thousands of people who enter the Abbey’s doors as tourists and pilgrims. I very much look forward to building on the excellent work already undertaken by Canon Jane Hedges, and to engaging with visitors, worshippers and Abbey staff alike.

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said:

We greatly look forward to welcoming Jane Sinclair as a Canon of Westminster and to her taking on the role of Canon Steward, for which she is ideally suited. She joins the Dean and Chapter at a time of significant change, with the opportunity to contribute to further development in some crucial aspects of the mission and ministry of the Abbey, building on the fine achievements since 2006 of Canon Jane Hedges. She will bring to a confident and hopeful community of prayer and faith her own particular gifts.

The Right Reverend Christopher Lowson, Bishop of Lincoln, said:

I know both Westminster Abbey and Jane Sinclair very well, and I am certain that each will complement the other superbly. It has been my privilege to count Jane among my close colleagues and friends for the last two-and-a-half years. During that time I have come to know her as a person of great warmth, wisdom, integrity and spiritual depth; profound qualities that have supported the Diocese of Lincoln hugely during her tenure as Archdeacon of Stow and Lindsey, and will support the ministry of Westminster Abbey well as Jane takes up the post of Canon Steward.