Bishop Kenneth

Ad Clerum

Dear Colleagues

Life is full of surprises, and here I am in the Queen Alexandra Hospital (a Danish-born patron is a bonus!) awaiting chemotherapy.  The story is quite simple.  In the late summer, I was beginning to feel a sense of lassitude, and, because I had put on a bit of weight, in anticipation of the Ghana trip, lost some.  But the lassitude only increased - and the hot weather made me sweat even more than usual.  Blood tests immediately alerted people to the problem, and I was brought in here last Thursday, and am in excellent care.  I have given up playing back the video of my life over the past year to see how things could have been different – that’s an initial coping mechanism.  Bishops have regular health checks because of the lives we lead, public as well as private.  No indications in the past revealed any hint of my present condition.

So here I am – much buoyed up by your prayers.  And Bishops Trevor of Basingstoke (who has power to sign legal documents if I can’t) and Bishop Michael of Winchester have stepped in with characteristic generosity to cover confirmations for the next six months.  My diary has obviously been cancelled for the time being.

It is going to be a struggle, I know that.  But I have a lot going for me – a robust body, exercised by dog-walks and swimming, and an active life-style.  For now, it’s a lovely monastic cell, for a strange kind of retreat, and a view of Hayling Island!  I had always planned to write a book on the Transfiguration in memory of my mother, hence those KAIROS prayer-day talks.  I have now got much time to think and pray about it.

Sarah and the family have already got into a routine as has the household at Bishopsgrove and my wonderful colleagues on Bishop’s Staff.

My parting advice is to get on with the diocese on a ‘business-as-usual’ basis – with the added dimension that you and I are thinking about each other in a particular way.

With affection and prayers.

+ Kenneth