Master Rory Phillips, Chair of the Temple Church Trust, writes …
Mark Hatcher assumed the role of Reader of the Temple in September 2015. He quickly became a superlative colleague and a dear friend. He initially remained at the Bar Council as Special Adviser to the Chair of the Bar. In 2019, he relocated to Chancery Lane to reside in the Temple Church full-time. He has thereby been able to transform the role of Reader. He has been a most welcome and welcoming presence, unfailingly generous in spirit and warm-hearted, a true representative of the Temple Church at its best. He also has an encyclopaedic mental rolodex: he knows everyone and remembers everything. He has to the full, then, that most sympathetic of gifts: he recognises judges, barristers, clerks, our annual visitors from round the world and our regular congregation from 30 yards away as they cross Church Court towards a service, a concert or a special event.
Mark’s preaching is utterly faithful to himself: kind and unjudgmental, capacious in his understanding and care of others. He has also remained true to his passion for justice, evident in his preaching and the organisation of visiting speakers and special discussions on socio-legal topics. It is a rare person who will say no to such an invitation from Mark to speak here.
After a full decade, Mark retired in July, with well-deserved acclaim and with the heartfelt thanks and best wishes of us all. He remains, of course, a Bencher of the Middle Temple and an Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple; he has good reason to be back here to see his many friends, and we all hope that he will be. We will all of us remember, for a long time to come, Mark’s smile and his greeting, his sensitivity and his good cheer. He has helped make the Church what it is, and what we all hope it will remain – thanks to the years of his presence and work here. We are indeed very grateful to him, and we send our very best wishes to both him and Clare for the future.
Master Mark Hatcher writes …
When I climbed, with a bit of trepidation, the steps of the Temple Church’s vertiginous pulpit to give my first sermon as Reader, I was conscious of the ‘Battle of the Pulpits’. My 16th Century predecessor, Walter Travers, regularly disagreed publicly with the Master of the Temple, Richard Hooker, on matters of worship and doctrine. It was, of course, a time of religious ferment, but their increasingly acrimonious disputes led to a prolonged gladiatorial contest. Their sermons were not for the faint-hearted; they could last an hour or more apiece. These disputes became famous, then scandalous. Eventually, Travers was banned from preaching in 1586. I am happy to say that relations between the Master and the Reader over the past ten years have been very harmonious. Under the distinguished leadership of Master Robin Griffith-Jones and with the dedicated support of the Temple Church Trust, the Church has gone from strength to strength.
During my tenure as Reader, there have been three Chairs of the Church Committee (Master Ian Mayes, Sir Stephen Tomlinson, and Master Andrew Spink) and a fourth, Bencher of Inner Temple, Rory Phillips KC, who became Chair of the Temple Church Trust. This was created in 2024 following essential changes in the governance arrangements between the Inns and the Church. The Benchers of the Inner and the Middle Temple who have served, and continue to serve, on these two bodies have been extremely generous with their time and expertise on behalf of the two Inns to oversee the work of the Church, supported by a small executive team in the Church Office led (since 2024)by Chief Executive Paul Cutts, and with input from the Inns’ staff (including Ian Garwood, Director of Estates and Surveyor of Middle Temple). Their contributions have increasingly focused on ensuring the Church’s sustainability for the future and that it remains ‘the beating heart of the Temple’.
I have been blessed to have participated in the life of the Temple community and to have shared ministry with Robin Griffith-Jones, working alongside the Church’s Music Department, led by Tom Allery and Matt Power, the Verger, Catherine de Satge, the Church Administrator, and the entire Church team. It has been an enormous privilege to have worked with such a dedicated and talented group of colleagues, inspiring our worship, sustaining the Church, and helping to promote its vitality. There is a great deal to thank Rory Phillips and his fellow trustees, as well as the Church team, for their considerable parts in safeguarding and promoting the Church’s future. The Temple Church is in excellent hands.
