Patience Rewarded

So, I found myself a few weeks ago asking the Archbishop Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, whether he minded if I asked him if he ever got mistaken for Dumbledore (from Harry Potter) in front of a full Exeter Cathedral. The answer, no problem but more often it's Gandalf...

It was a big youth event at the Cathedral as part of the diocese's 1100 birthday celebrations, and I can't say I was too keen at the idea of sitting on a sofa with the AB of C (yes I asked him and he said I could call him whatever I felt comfortable with) amongst a load of kids playing guitar hero, enjoying the bouncy castles and sumo wrestling and waiting for us to get out of the way so the next rock band could perform. I wondered if he might be a little... out of place.

But any nerves were quickly dispatched after this, the senior bishop of the worldwide Anglican Communion, having heard we were running behind after some youngsters wanted prayer quipped 'gosh prayer does get in the way sometimes doesn't it'. The Archbish and me? Yeah we got on.


He's a humble man, no big presence unless he is in full swing doing his bishopy thing. Totally approachable. I'm a bit smitten with him to be honest...
On stage I asked him all sorts, why he was wearing a dress, why the church spent so much money on buildings, where he stands on gay marriage, denominations and world religions, his favourite parts of his job, what keeps him up at night... we covered a lot of ground and fair play to him - he gave clear, intelligent but audience appropriate answers. I wanted to press him for more depth but I was all too aware of the bunch of kids sitting on the cold cathedral floor so I kept it light. I wanted him to give more on the questions of why someone should be a Christian, why the church is in decline and why young people aren't engaging in the faith. But that would have been my agenda, and that wouldn't have been appropriate.

My final question: 'Now that Michael Jackson has passed away, are YOU the new king of pop?'

I think David Dimbleby is safe for now.



p.s. His answer 'Probably not, but then God is full of surprises!' So, watch this space...