Rt Revd Mark Santer

The College was extremely saddened to learn of the passing of former Principal, the Rt Revd Mark Santer, on 14 August 2024. We were immensely blessed by Mark’s friendship and the loyal support he demonstrated towards our work in so many ways. He will be deeply missed. Photograph kindly shared by Diederick, Hendrika and Miriam Santer (Mark’s children) and the obituary (abridged version below) was written by the Rt Revd Christopher Hill and published in the Church Times.

Mark Santer was born in 1936, son of Canon Eric Santer and Phyllis Barlow. At school, Marlborough College, where he had received a clergy scholarship, he displayed a passion for the classics and languages, studying Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew, and he arrived in Queen’s College Cambridge in 1957 to read Classics, and later Theology.

During his time in National Service (before university) he received his calling to be ordained. He studied at Westcott House in Cambridge and was ordained priest in 1964, the same year he married Henriette Weststrate, a psychologist from Amsterdam.

His first job was as both curate and tutor at Cuddesdon College, under the principalship of Robert Runcie, later Archbishop.

In 1967 he became Fellow and Dean of Clare College, Cambridge and in 1973 Principal of Westcott House. At his licensing Professor Charlie Moule spoke of him as ‘a Principal at the height of his powers, outstanding in learning and pastoral ability.’

Westcott had already begun to change under his predecessor, Peter Walker, eventually bishop of Ely. Mark’s vision developed its ‘re-set’. He appointed the first woman member of staff, Mary Tanner and invited two Mirfield trained theologians to Westcott. John Armson and Rowan Williams were not an obvious choice, the latter describes his appointment as ‘a risky invitation to a spectacularly inexperienced candidate.’ This was all part of Mark’s vision of discipline and liturgical prayer infusing theological seriousness within a firmly but untheatrically catholic environment centred on the Daily Office and the Eucharist. A developing relationship with the sisters at Fairacres and Hengrave Hall and with the English College, Rome also became distinctive features of Westcott. To Westcott he also brought his wife and three young children. One Rowan Williams was an occasional ‘baby-sitter’. His family life with Henriette and their children helped others to bring their families into the life of the community.

While Mark steered Westcott in a new direction this did not deflect an iota from a deep commitment to the Cambridge Ecumenical Federation with Wesley House, Ridley Hall and Westminster College. Peter Sedgwick, another significant Santer appointment, speaks of some people being unable ‘to work him out’: ecumenical yet catholic. His wide ecumenical vision was based on a real knowledge of Reformed systematics and history as well as his commitment to a renewed Catholicism. He also thought profoundly about the theology of the ordained ministry. At Rowan Williams’ ordination to the diaconate he gave a moving reflection on the diaconate based on St Ignatius of Antioch which is still recalled by both Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

In 1981, Mark became Bishop of Kensington, consecrated in St Paul’s Cathedral. He had made no secret of his left-of-centre politics, his lack of enthusiasm for the establishment of the Church of England, and his anti-nuclear convictions.

In Kensington, Mark established a collegiate relationship with his area deans and archdeacon. He established a pioneering ministry-development review programme.

In 1983, he was appointed as the Anglican co-chairman of the second Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC II), an appointment made by Archbishop Runcie and the Anglican Consultative Council. ARCIC was to occupy him for 15 years.

He became Bishop of Birmingham in 1987, amid speculation that Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, had chosen him in preference to his close friend Jim Thompson, Bishop of Stepney. Thompson was said to be “too left-wing” for some Conservative MPs, but, in Mark, Birmingham certainly did not get a Conservative. In retrospect, the diplomatic skills of Archbishop Runcie can be detected in the two names offered to the Crown; Thompson went to Bath & Wells in 1991.

In Birmingham, Mark spoke of the city’s inheritance of faith in both its Congregational history and that of John Henry Newman. He also attacked selfishness turned into acceptable social principle, and preached to the West Midlands Judiciary, challenging them to press for a reform of sentencing policy and the issue of overcrowded prisons. The following day, Douglas Hurd, Home Secretary, asked for a private meeting to discuss the issues that Mark had rightly raised. When the Gulf War started, he invited Muslim leaders to his house.

He is remembered — not just at staff meetings but also at dinner parties — for dashing to his study for a folio volume (usually Augustine) and rattling out a Latin quotation to illustrate a theological point.

In retirement from 2002, Mark also enjoyed caring for the parish of Kings Heath during an interregnum, becoming a parish priest at the end of his ministry rather than its beginning. His beloved Henriette died in 1994. Mark later, in 1997, married a close friend of hers and of the family for 30 years, Sabine Bird. She died in 2021.

He moved to Poole in 2022 to be closer to his family. He died peacefully at home on 14 August, aged 87, was able to speak with his family up until his last hours, receiving communion shortly before he died. He is survived by a sister and brother, three children, three stepchildren, and 15 grandchildren. His funeral and requiem eucharist took place at St Aldhelm’s, Branksome, on Wednesday 4 September. He chose words he had translated from Augustine for his funeral:

‘There we shall rest and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love and we shall praise.

‘That is what shall be in the end without end. For what is our end but to arrive at the kingdom which has no end?’