well good afternoon everyone greetings to those here in the room greetings to the 80 or more gathered online members of the garden congregation it is my honor and Delight to welcome you to St Bart's St Bartholomew's Church in the city of New York where we are so pleased to have as our special guest Fletcher Banner uh thank you and tribute uh to the late uh very Robert Willis former dean of Canterbury uh Robert was meant to be here at St Barts today for the third consecutive year as our guest preacher before sadly and suddenly dying uh earlier this fall uh a great loss to uh us here at St Barts and a great many people from around the church so Fletcher welcome we are so honored by your presence thank you it's great to be here thank you just yes as my own spouse will tell you it takes a lot of work to make the magic happen and so to all the partners and special friends of of clergy across the world um we we do not uh we we take note so thank you Fletcher for um for supporting Robert for so many years in such a a brilliant and beautiful partnership in Ministry we thought it would be uh nice to begin our time together just by reading uh the eulogy uh written by Fletcher for Roberts a version of which was in the telegraph as well as in the funeral leaflet at Christ Church New Haven born in lilac season on the 17th of May 1947 T Vera and Thomas little brother to 8-year-old Pauline Robert Andrew Willis was a prodigious learner with a natural Fascination and of a shy and slightly awkward disposition which would remain with him through his life this shyness would be compounded when at a young age he became grievously ill and had to spend six months alone in a convalescent hospital to where his mother would come every day to visit him on the bus and where he discovered books and writing as to few of his great friends Upon returning home he then immersed himself in the other great love of his life music especially the cello and the piano and was encouraged by his kindly and loving mother who adored traditional folk songs and to sang in their church choir and his more traditional Father Who Loved hymns and taught robbert a respect for and observance of time and Duty although a devout Church of England family Robert and Pauline attended the local Baptist Sunday school as they gave out attractive colored stickers which suited their already developing aesthetic eye and the different Traditions appealed to their natural inquisitiveness the quality winch and Pauline would later make her such a powerful figure at the Guardian newspaper and for Robert such a good judge of character though with a natural failing of always expecting too much goodness in people something which others later exploited to cause him great harm it was the Baptists who Robert always credited with teaching him the scriptures which he could recite from memory an eager and conscientious student at Kingswood grammar Robert developed an excellent ability at tennis and cricket and horse riding and accept SP in Greek and Latin and at history politics music and English and his renowned ability as Wordsmith started finding form he approached words from the musicality of the language and enjoyed playing with and forming rhyme both amusing and of great meaning a gift which later when he teamed up with his lifelong friend Richard Shephard in Salsbury would bring forth the creation of musicals and skits and crucially for the church his hyns after thoughts of going into the Diplomatic Corp whilst at Warwick he then found his calling was to be a diplomat for another kingdom and went to cuddon and studied under Lord wiy an astounding communicator and orator who never required a script he was considered by many to be this Century's Wesley his ability to engage Inspire trust and to delegate but also make the tough decisions and always to protect and bear responsibility of those under him made him one of the most outstanding priests and leaders in each of the places he went from Sherburn Abby Harford Cathedral and eventually to the highest clergy role in the Anglican communion at Canterbury where he was universally loved trusted and respected across the political divides acting as an adviser to the crown Parliament and the communion Lord Williams believed that he did more for the communion than any other Dean in history and his careful and honest managing of the 2008 lambath conference avoided the schisms that loomed after his time he was awarded the medal of St Augustine for his work in each place he achieved The Impossible in terms of unprecedented growth and health for the communities the buildings and the church he strove always to break down barriers and to work towards Unity his ecumenical work earns him a gift of a relic of St Gregory from his Holiness however in his heart he never stopped being the naughty curate the one he had been in Shrewsberry or the mischievous minor C he had been in sawbury or crucially the Pastoral country Parson he so loved being in the parishes of that dasis even when Dean with no formal cure of souls he would often go out to minister to folk in trouble at all hours of the day or night and for him that never ceased being his true vocation he was always the simple Deacon Above All Else and would stand as a deacon at the crism mass each year his Joy came from seeing those around him be the best they could be and he saw his core responsibility which enveloped hundreds of Charities and numerous universities seminaries and schools including oversights of the daily running of the King School and before that Herford Cathedral School as being that of facilitator and encourager which came from his deep and profound faith and his observance of the rule of St Benedict where Body Mind and Spirit whatever one's Faith be exercised on a daily basis in a community given to hospitality and where kindness and love are the only two things that matter it was all of this and a lifetime of experience that fed into his and Fletcher's global virt ual Garden congregation Ministry which they started in Co and still ran on YouTube overd doubling their subscriptions since leaving Canterbury and their physical Ministry of encouragement which they started after leaving office and which was seeing them invited all over the world to lecture preach or just be with different communities they wanted each of these to be vehicles of connection in a broken world for the lonely a place of Love on this day a few days ago which marks the birthday of one of his favorite writers Robert Lewis Stevenson it seems fitting to quote from his travels with the donkey As We Lay this dear departed soul to rest who has so deeply touched the lives of millions worldwide and as we return him to the loving Embrace of his God his parents his sisters and his beloved cat monkey I blessed God that I was free to wonder free to Hope and free to love buter writes good night my darling polar bear I love you amen amen Fletcher thank you for those beautiful beautiful words so fitting for our beloved dean of cancer Berry Robert Willis and Dean really for the world is so many thousands and thousands if not Millions honestly uh tuned in uh throughout co uh you began your uh obituary with a little vignette about Robert being born in lilac season I wonder if you might say a word about the lilacs I did um uh and I will um the um lilacs were were really important to Robert um and um especially around his birthday time so Robert was born on the 17th of May um and um I've actually remembered that because I always forgot every year um um but uh and his sister was actually born uh seven eight years before him um on the 19th and so they growing up they would always have a sort of bridge of birthdays and his parents would always bring lilac into the house um and so for him it always became a birthday when he had lilac in the house and so uh that meant for 23 years that was my responsibility of finding lilac um and um very often in this city it meant walking down in the middle of rainstorms to 28th Street to try and find some um uh and uh and and often times it would be the wrong season because it had broken early or it was breaking late and so um so that became a pivotal start to his his birthday year um so yeah wonderful and I think you saw some lilacs In Bloom just it's incredible thank you um yes um I mean almost miraculously um I was walking with a great friend who was the wife of the dean of Berkeley Divinity School where we were staying when Robert passed philistin mcgaan and um just a couple of days before Robert before Robert died and um uh and in one of the gardens just a couple of houses down from Berkeley um from the wonderful new Berkeley Center um the uh the lilacs in the garden were all flowering um months earlier than they should be um and so we were very excited and we cut a little bit of it and then took it back and and and it cheered him up so so it's nice to think that he had that smell with him and and on his last days um and uh and then we were able to go back and and um and borrow a little um from the garden again um uh for for his coffin um for his casket at the funeral so so that was a really lovely Divine gift I think for for that very difficult time wonderful beautiful if unseasonal and it strikes me the many ways in which really creation and the environment so played into your ministry together throughout the years at canterberry and then when the Church of England shut the churches down in Co Robert is story to have said well if we can't Worship in the cathedral we will bring the cathedral to the World by worshiping in the garden um with all the furry creatures and critters and Ducks walking by and birds chirping and singing and the occasional blooper with a cat you know crawling under his robe or whatnot but um I'd love to just uh hear a little bit about U both how creation played a role in Robert's spiritual sensibilities um but also just walk us through kind of your ministry together in canterburry and the different phases from the early days and the lambath conferences um then as Co came along into the garden and then really bringing the cathedral physically to the world as you traveled around the church sure if I could do that in two sections um so if I take the natural environment um and creation um first um I think that that um was something which was always really important to Robert um and he um as as you said I mean was always the country person and so um at heart um and so even when uh he was working in cities and and and sort of um quite distance at times especially when traveling from the countryside um he derived enormous pleasure um and strength from connecting with the natural environment so so with with with trees with walking in a park with um with the color of the sky what whatever it might be um and I think he was always acutely aware and intuitively aware of of the change of seasons um of of bird song of of of of of sort of the tiniest little details um and that I think um had always meant that he'd had pets at home so there'd always been um a rather fearsome story of of of a cat that he had once called um Boris um by Holly counts was was was much less tame and friendly than our cats um um but uh but there were dogs and and stories of other animals in his past um but I'm afraid that most of the managerie in the zoo veritable zoo that that happened in Canary was my fault um so um and and um as many of many of you will know I'm sure um the minute you start um sort of getting animals then it's very easy to then start getting more um and and and uh and it's sort of snowballs and especially when you've got a wonderful garden with the size of that um um although I don't think any of us really realized that we'd go from having a couple of cats to having pigs and having chickens and guinea F and and and God knows what else we had um and so um so it that and and every morning he would get enormous pleasure from going out and sort of spending time with those and and and relating to them um and seeing them as an absolute integral part of God's creation um and um and and the sort of spirituality around that and the and the diversity of creation um but I think that in terms of our um Ministry together um that came about um really by chance um and so we um Met originally when I was working at the school in Canterbury as a graduate job um and uh was heading up the uh the the administration sort of oversight of of the administration of the school um and so Robert at that time was the chairman of Governors and we met because we were working alongside each other at many of the events and functions um and became good friends and really it started with a really wonderful friendship and then and and his terrific ability as sort of helping me through some very difficult personal problems at the time um and uh and and really our relationship grew out of that um and I then went on to London and was working in London but always home was in Canter by that stage um and was working in Parliament and then had been head hunted to sort of run up a property Investment Company um and the difficulty was it came to and I think most clergy um spouses were relates to this um that the the time constraints on clergy matched with the time constraints of people that are busy in a secular life are impossible to manage at sometimes and so um so the that was on the calendar and so I think that um that we we became ships that passed in the night I mean we found it extremely difficult to um to sustain the relationship um and to still sort of see one another and so I think one of us needed to make a sacrifice it wasn't going to be robit and so it meant that um when uh the company that I was working with um was going through some changes it allowed me to sort of step back slightly um spend more time at home and when you're a clergy spouse and you're at home and people think you have time on your hands you then suddenly become very busy because people ask you to get involved with different things and we we'd started the capital campaign at that stage um which meant much much more traveling over to this wonderfully generous country who who paid a substantial amount of the money for the major restoration on Canterbury um for which we we were always eternally grateful um and um but also the expansion of many of the projects and the things that Canby was doing um and and our school as well so um so that meant that um almost by accident I fell into a full-time volunteer position with him um and and uh our ministry really started developing from that from that point um that was incredibly difficult at times um and so uh when we go back to before that stage um and we had the 2008 uh lambath conference for instance you mentioned the conferences um with wonderful Rowan Williams um who was was just terrific um and managed to really keep everybody together um with uh an amazing ability of of of trust authenticity and sort of honesty um I think that the um the the people forget so quickly but the the sism that was looming at that stage um with very polarized views um of on the side rallying around people like Gene Robinson um on the other side Archbishop AR canola um and it was a very difficult and and and spiteful time um but I think that having two people of of of great uh Integrity um like Robert and Rowan in the middle of that meant that it managed to hold firm um and I think that people just trusted them although they may think differently they they understood that they could they could trust those people so um so um but in the midst of this Robert was living with the same-sex partner when it was still illegal in the Church of England to do so um and so that was incredibly difficult again Archbishop Rowan made that much easier as far as he could go by legalizing cohabitation um so it didn't go quite far enough but it was as far as he could push the agenda at that time and we were immensely grateful to him for for the work that he did in that um and um because it really did change our life before that we had um photographers from major newspapers in our front garden you know and so it meant at times I'd have to be smuggled out of the house and you know I mean it was it was a difficult it was a difficult period um and so um and um but I think that what doesn't what doesn't break you makes you stronger um and so I think that the we ended up being so symbiotic in our relationship um because uh the closer we were the less chance there was of other parties getting in between us um and sort of causing trouble um and uh and of course that's um something very difficult to sort of come to terms with now that he's not there um because it did mean wonderfully um that for for many many years um that the two of us um became one person almost um you know we worked together socialized together we you know had a wonderful life together um but it did mean that um that you know we would finish each other's sentences and and you know we sometimes never even needed words because we had such a close uh close relationship that that we would just be able to sort of sense what each other was thinking um and of course that came into compositions and and the work that he was doing for for for writings and youve touched on his hymns already um but also and it's it's actually wonderful timing today um but he was he was um helping to write a book on ethical wealth um and ethical giving um and of course um on this very intentional Sunday here um with um with the crucial message of of supporting uh the community and and the work of this church um that that uh was uh just as as as as as uh Bishop wolf mentioned this morning uh really sort of um addressing the fact that Christ never had an issue with wealth he had a massive issue with the hoarding of wealth um and the fact that if you are um given wonderful advantages in life then those advantages must be shared with other people um for the benefit of humanity and so um so I now have to try and find and I'm conscious that they'll probably be watching this and I am going to do it um but um but I need to find his scribbling so that those can now be sent through for for the completion of the book um but wonderful um you know it I did not know uh until really reading his obituary about his time uh being ill as a child and to see someone who had so many uh amazing gifts and talents and blessings to share with the world um it was so really moving for me to learn that he had had some significant challenges and struggles on along the way and when I read that his mother would daily visit him uh there in the hospital it all made sense because I thought wow that's what Robert did for each of us when we were in the isolation of Co he would daily visit the Millions on screen with them that word hope and touch and connection uh so how tell us how that all came about um he um cuz you're really reaching thousands with we did I mean to to actually to the point um I think that the um he was a composite of his two parents and and um to his dying day would would think um always of his parents and who he absolutely adored and loved um and um as as You' mentioned that um that his mother was extremely loving I I never met them they they both died before we were together but um but Robert would tell so many stories um and his mother was extremely loving and kindly um and his father was quite Victorian and authoritarian um and um but but loving in his own way um and I think that um that Robert was was a mixture of both of those things he was innately kind and extremely generous um but actually absolutely observed the offices of the day um the PSAL of the day and then of course there was a mention at his funeral about the humor from a great friend Jess Jeffrey Tristan um who um relayed the fact that he had a conversation with him Robert say oh it's this particular day of the month that means it's Psalm sus and such and and Jeffrey said how on Earth would you know that and and but the incredible thing with Robert that he could actually from from memory have recited that Psalm too um so he had this extraordinary um mind um this this extraordinary ability um but but I think that um it was the composite of those two two things the sort of regularity and Duty and sense of responsibility coupled with a loving heart um that actually fed into his lifetime of ministry and then actually communicated through his virtual Ministry and one of the things that we were extremely uh nervous about um because how it came about originally I mean many many of you will know and the garden congregation know this and and Robert's spoken about this on many occasions but um but the um the initially quite wisely and quite understandably um the congregations were asked not to go into their places of worship um and um unlike elsewhere um and unlike the other denominations in the country the decision was then made that um the clergy would not although caretakers could go in the clergy also would not be allowed to go in um and so the broadcasting from within the building couldn't happen and so when uh he came back we we actually still went in Daily and and said a daily mass um because we felt that it wasn't going to stop on our watch um and that you know by reputation whether this is true I don't know I somehow doubt it but but the the tradition is that there's always been a daily office said in Canterbury from the time of Augustine and so we felt that it's gone through world wars and pillaging by Vikings and um and uh you know and plague and black death um and we thought well it's it's not going to die while we're there so um so so we we said the daily office um but out of respect for um the our brothers and sisters who couldn't go into their churches it felt a little bit vain glorious to sort of be broadcasting still from in there so we didn't want to do that um and so we um we decided I said you know if you if you want to go out into the garden I'll bring a camera never having picked one up before I think if I if I'd known a little bit more about it I probably wouldn't have been quite so brave um and um and said uh you know and I'll film you and so there might be one or two people in our congregation who might like to sort of you know have a little bit of of prayer time and and and to still connect and so and of course it started from there um and then became you know wildly popular and and I can remember in the first week there was a a lady from Australia who wrote in and um and I said hey Robert there's this lady from Australia how does she know about us and of course you know stupidly you of course it's the internet so anybody in theory can know um and I was thinking you know it would be somebody around the sort of you know a mile within Canterbury um and suddenly this this lady from a who's still in touch now um and um um but then of course you know people started speaking and and the surprising thing for us was the fact that the message from Robert which we would work on quite heavily beforehand and and do research and things especially when it became more complicated we would talk about historical facts and different sort of people that we could find inspiring um to help us get into the scriptures and to unpack some of the sort of complicated writings of of of of of the of the Bible um that um uh that the uh I think that the surprising thing was that that was a message which communicated across denominations and across faiths and to people of no faith um and to many people who had for one reason or another and probably everybody in this room could write the list um um had been damaged by Church you know and corporate church I'm not talking about individual denominations because actually there's culpability and and wonderful blessings with each one of those um but um but they had detached them themselves and then felt very reticent about going back in and actually what we hadn't appreciated was the fact that actually in the intimacy and safety of their own homes they could then connect with the spiritual self not of ours but within themselves um and so we were just a sort of conduit really for them to reawaken that spark within themselves um and then to sort of um after covid and increasingly before the end of the pandemic they then felt that need growing to rec commmunication was or in their places of worship um and I think that to know that we had a little part in that was really that was the most special part about the whole thing um to to sort of think that we given that that ability for people to trust again and to be able to come back into a community where they'd felt so lonely Dean Randy holth of the Washington National Cathedral uh gave a brilliant uh sermon at the funeral mass uh Randy considers Robert to be a great mentor of his and he said you know uh you all it it it the National Cathedral was equipped with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of technological equipment as soon as Co began and you and Robert were able to manage with an iPhone and a stick I I have to I I have to say it was it was a borrowed cam so um so it wasn't actually a phone but um but um but but yeah I think that um it was it was sort of Innocence at large honestly um because I think that there was an enormous amount of editing and things that then took place later um and so um the and that was a wonderful thing and and Robert spoke very often about the fact that that the creative gifts lie inside each one of us and for us from the Benedictine tradition that comes from one's um spiritual side um and and that's where all of the wonderful creativity and and Ingenuity comes from and for me that was editing films and so each day that would maybe take seven eight hours of editing sometimes so um but it was but it was um you know a great thing to discover Within Myself so yeah and resourcefulness too Robert was known to have a fondness for uh St Gregory's advice to Augustine to use what you find use what you have um and so that that Spirit of resourcefulness and Hospitality was always so evident in your and Robert's Ministry uh together Dean holth also talked about how so many people uh came to find healing and a love for the church again or in some cases for the first time because the garden belongs to all of us just as creation belongs to all of us but it's that same Spirit of hospitality and generosity that characterized the whole of Robert's Ministry every time Pilgrims from across the Anglican communion and Beyond came to Canterbury he would say simply welcome home this is your Cathedral this is our Cathedral uh together and I remember personally um being invited with the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale pilgrims to canterberry and as he did with so many groups you know he would take pilgrims into the high alter area at midnight yep yep pitch black around the sight of the Tomb light St augustin's Thomas Beck yeah and share just the most um d i mystical uh time of prayer and reflection uh where you could just feel the Saints gathering around you um it's been said that a Dean has an almost unreasonable love for his Cathedral and that came out so evidently in Robert's life and Ministry uh would you reflect just a bit on his I would I if I might step back um and and and me but I might step back just once to again talk about the virtual Ministry just slightly and then I'll come back on to that um that um that actually for us there was a natural progression from what we've done for um 20 uh are we sort of 19 years I suppose um uh in the real world um with with opening the house up um and having I I think towards the end sort of 25 30,000 people through the house and Gardens every year um and um we believe that that house only came alive when you had people in it um and it was you know it was a very deliberate house um in the fact that it was very large it was very palatial um but actually it was one of the most important embassies of the whole Anglican communion and so the work that was done there not only for the cathedral itself and the commun The Wider Community but for the city the county the Church of England and then the communion and also into Faith work um was enormous um and the fact that you had a house of status um put the postolder um who of course was sort of you know appointed to be a check and balance for the Archbishop um and that tradition goes all the way back to pre-reformation times back to the pope and and so um so of course it's a uh now a crown position but before that was a Papal a Papal position um and even when Robert went there was extremely contentious as to you know whether where the authority and the choice comes from um and um but I think that that gave that person The credibility to be able to host papal representatives to host host the Pope in in 1982 um to um it it it mattered that that actually and it and and in a real world way um and I think that there's an a misunderstanding that you know that that must be inherently bad but of course what that meant was that you could then get politicians you could get heads of state to sit up and take notice and so the work for God the work for the community for those that aren't recognized actually then it's much easier because they realize they're dealing with somebody of of an equal level and I think that um that in that way we have become very used to using that house um a wonderful home um uh for those that greater good um and we were very used to sharing our lives completely with anyone that came because you know we would have six seven eight functions a week and you know and countless people through and there's no living a private life and there's just the two of you and you've got all of those people around you um so so there was this for for us it was it just seemed natural why would we not talk about everything about our lives and about everything else it was the biggest self-indulgence going honestly and so you know just going out to the garden with a couple of mugs of tea and our pets and just talking about rubbish you know and and and people tuned in um and um but but but I can remember friends who are who are um well known and celebrities in in England sort of saying you're very brave talking about all these things we would never talk about all these things you know with with with the public um but for us it just seemed perfectly ordinary and you know the incredible thing is is that it was Brave looking back um because being in a same-sex relationship at a time when that's extremely volatile um and times that we have known personally that have been extremely painful um that that it could have gone horribly wrong um what and and in you know one or two ways it did go horribly wrong but um but um but the um but actually as far as the people were concerned they didn't care and so actually I think that there were a lot of people that sort of looked to us and maybe if even if they come to um that situation and the re realization that Robert was in a in a same seex relationship um that um if they'd had problems the more they spent time with us virtually each day the the smaller the problems they had became um and so it sort of works them through and we have many lessons of people s of saying you know we weren't sure that we understood this or could get on board with it and then we thought well this exactly the same as every other relationship we know and so we then realized that that we you know didn't have an issue with it any longer um and that we didn't believe that Christ would either and so so so actually there was a sort of dovetailing of the real world Ministry into the virtual um which was sort of seamless for us um and you're going to have to remind me about the second part sorry the spaghetti brain me too but you know let's just go with the train of thought um thank you thank you for that reflection I I cuz I feel like you did sort of gloss over oh yes we were a same-sex couple uh living at Canterbury during the lambath conference um that's actually a really big deal um and I'm wondering if you could speak more just to the your evolving understanding of the real influence and impact your and Robert's relationship has made and is really continuing to make with ripple waves um in the church of England as well as the broader Anglican communion and the broader uh Church Catholic um whether here in the Episcopal church or in other places around the globe I think that the one of the great advantages of being in canterbary is the fact that you are um and and this was touched on by some of the speakers at the funeral on Wednesday um that you are in a almost a completely unique position because it's not a political role um and Robert never wanted a political role he was off with Bishop rcky that you know there were people I don't think it could have happened in reality but there were many people that wanted to push him into the Archbishop brick in the past um and in many ways his gifts would have been phenomenal um but I think it would have destroyed him um and um and I think that actually he um wouldn't have been able to have the relationship that he had um with with me um and um and I think it would have been a very lonely role for him um and um but I think that um to the to the point um that we just got on with being ourselves um and I think that we knew you know each of us have work through our own personal demons nobody chooses to be gay um and so because it's a very difficult life um but um but uh and especially if you're in the church um but but I think that the we just decided to um to be ourselves as much as we could when time and circumstances allowed and he always left it to me to choose so if we had visiting groups coming um because of the geopolitical Norms of parts of the world um which um we felt primarily the only thing that mattered was the sanctity of Canterbury and the fact that any Comer to Canterbury felt at home there and so nothing that we said or did should ever put them in any kind of way um um to to feel uncomfortable or to feel that there was a sort of distance and so um they we were a conduit and we were there to serve their and as with the wider Community not just the two of us but many many many other people I mean in terms of sort of Staffing and the school included and volunteers there's about a sort of 1500 number you know for for sort of staff and volunteers across the whole Community um and um but you know Robert's main primary purpose was to make sure that every person that came whether they were of of of the Episcopal Anglican tradition or Christian or non-Christian um could communicate with the the power that is canterbary um and um our grand standing and political messaging would have been very hurtful for many people and and and you know really disorientating and so so it was a case-by casee basis and and if we were hosting people in the house um that meant that some sometimes we would have people from certain parts of the world um where that would have been inappropriate so I would not have been present um other parts of the world I would have been so so um we would just judge it um as to whe and and that was never um uh complicated for us it just seemed it just seemed a natural thing to do but I think that over time um you know when we Society in England has changed enormously over the last 20 years Society in this country has changed enormously over the last 23 years um and so I think that um that what we've seen is that the church in many counts um actually is almost sort of um behind the curve um and that the the society in across the board no longer has an issue and is actually quite bored I know I certainly am with all of these internal wranglings about sexuality when actually people just want to get on with the business in Hand of serving the poor and getting out onto the streets and doing the work that that the church should be doing and not lots of Naval gazing and sorry getting on a hobby horse it um but I think that by being a quiet example in the middle of that storm um and um always you know um you know we we used to borrow the Queen's adage of of sort of never explain and never complain um and and I think so much better than don't ask don't tell it's so much better and so um and it's a lot more positive I think and and so which was her to a te um but um but I think that um you know that you don't win hearts and Minds by Smashing them over the head and sort of you know forcing them into a corner um and and so being in that very unique position in the middle we would know and we'd seen that in this country as well we did enormous amounts of work with the Episcopal Church at the time of the sism and and and sort of following um and um that that sometimes people just need space and time that if they're encountering something which is very alien to them and that might be on sexuality grounds it might be on gender issues it might be on many other different things um that um that they just need to be able to come on board with it and to be able to understand what the issues are and to be more familiar with it and and most right thinking people do find themselves sort of going towards a more liberal liberal side if they're allowed to um and if they're not wrestled into a sort of a cabal um and and sort of told that you know that something's you know inherently evil when it's clearly not um and so so I think that you know that that um meant that we could be um at times much more forgiving is not the right word but perhaps a little bit more open-minded um um to um to people that were of an extremely conservative and sometimes quite hateful and offensive sort of stance towards us um but then the the irony is it always laugh I always laugh it was eff not in your year I I I had but but somebody from from from um your Seminary um who um was sitting at our dinner table and I'd said that we we need to be patient because people just need time and they need they need courtesy that you know you don't and we're seeing this in a political field in both our countries right now um that you don't um you don't solve the solution by sort of Smashing the other person over the head and so you've got to find a peaceful way of of finding a cord in the middle um and sometimes that's incredibly difficult um and I'd said this and she turned around and said well you're just homophobic and and say and I thought you're sitting here at my the table with my partner at the other end of the table and I thought that's a very strange s those y those yeles and so um so I think that um that you know that sometimes the most illiberal people are liberals um and I think we need to remember that at this time and so I think that um it's really important that we we find a way of sort of moving forward together always um and and to try and Bridge any gaps that we have and so that's what we'd always tried to be in the middle of all of that well on behalf of the church thank you uh for your witness uh it is it is powerful um speaking you know even as someone who has long been on board with lgbtq plus inclusion and I'm sure many in the room uh resonates uh it is powerful to see um a same-sex couple not just doing Ministry but doing Ministry together at the literal heart of the angan communion Where it All Began not on the periphery but at at the center of the tradition ition uh your and Robert's Ministry has transformed more hearts and minds and lives than you can possibly know through your quiet hospitality and dare I say prophetic Hospitality uh just just you being you and Robert being Robert together um has been a transformative gift to the whole church uh that will continue making an impact for many years to come thank you um there there are many many people doing amazing work and so I mean we we you know just served the dinner and so you know we we did very little um compared to many other people out there but but thank you for sure well we want to uh take any questions that you may have in the room uh you can get your questions to Peter if you're online you can drop your questions in the YouTube comments or email Peter Thompson P Thompson at St bart.org and do we have any yet we do we have a few questions um I'm going to sneak in one of my own though before I get to the submitted questions um as you know Fletcher Robert and I connected a lot on his um fascination with hymns his uh scholarly interest in hymns and as a hym writer and I'm wondering if you can talk a little more about Robert Willis the HW writer indeed um um I I think that it was something which I Zach mentioned it that that I think that he um had an amazing um intuitive um ability with words he He Loved Words um and and he loved music and for him they were completely synonymous um and um and into wo um and that he uh kept a Daily Journal from I think from the age of 16 um and um so when I go back I've got to try and make something of those there had always been an intention that he was going to publish those um and those uh eventually will go to Yale so they're going to Berkeley deity school um and um the um uh and I I think that the um the the WR the process of writing actually for him was really always really important the actual physicality of writing and so he was completely it illiterate which made my life quite busy at times especially if he was working as he had been in recent years on on different commissions um and um because I was the one that sort of transposed which actually um wonderfully allowed us to sort of work in in in connection with one another so he would sort of even with the hymns but but especially with with his writing and ghost writing of different books um that he would he would dictate something and say oh no you don't you don't want that you don't want that and say what what you want is this and and so it opened wonderful conversations for both of us in in different ways um but um but the um really he he had started from a young age sort of writing ditties and and writing sort of comic verse mostly um he was hugely inspired by um uh you know a whole range of of of of of different musicians um and different composers um and um particularly um ones which were amusing and witty um and so um I think that the um it was the it was one of the Bishops of sby who sort of said to him at one stage that I think that actually you should put this to some good use um and you should actually start writing some sensible things and I want you to write a himym so he commissioned his first hymn um and then since then the himm writing then started and I'm scrambling for the name of the bishop and and you was one of those moments where I'm going to have to get used to because Robert's no longer here to sort of consult with um but um um but he um uh he he just really enjoyed it and and the sadness of him passing too soon um was the fact that the next 10 years really was the time when he was going to be writing many books um and and writing many many more hymns um I think that within his journals there are possibly many verses um and sort of uh different um even sort of you know different hymns possibly um that that might be extracted and so there may still be some other pieces that could come out which will be terrific but um but yeah no he he just really loved him writing so great um and as uh we mentioned if you're joining us online you can submit your um questions into the live chat on YouTube the comments on Facebook or you can email me P Thompson at St bart.org if you're here in the room there are question cards on your table so just raise your hand uh Stephanie or I will come around and collect them uh we have a few questions about the garden congregation that were submitted online and I think the garden congregation is in full force today we have 200 watching now um people from several different countries all over the US uh the UK Spain France Canada um one person um wonders how the garden congregation grew how did you get the word out there early on in the pandemic completely organically um pun intended uh exactly yeah thank you yes intended absolutely intended um there had been I need to be careful with this but there had been a resistance to promoting it um from the normal Avenues um and so um so but it despite that um uh it it meant that really word of mouth and so um and I think that there was a really wonderful um notion in the fact that um that this really inclusive and aggressive sort of voice was coming out from the heart of canterbary um and um that uh the um uh the fact that that people almost told one another about this thing that they could tune into um and and so many people discovered it aresh just by Google search or by YouTube search or or whichever platforms they were looking on because it was going on on different platforms originally um that um actually sort of gave us a real Buzz because there hadn't been the sort of you know Fortune spent on advertising or or sort of you know or getting people sort of mention it at opportune moments um that um that instead um it really was people that were finding it for themselves um and and actually interpreting it in their own way instead of being told what this is as a product um and and and being able to sort of receive it in that way um and so yeah it was it was and pun intended it was a complete organic growth um we have another question about how you and Robert decided to expand your ministry after he retired as Dean um Robert had never had any intention of retiring and it was quite a shock um and without much warning of the fact that we were leaving Canterbury um and so um the um Robert was um when he started his ministry there was no retirement age and then came in after after he' started being a priest um and so uh he was very much of the old school where you do that much like the queen um you know that you do that till the day you die um and so um so I think in terms of the ministry um it was natural that there would always be a form of ministry um and that you know he had committed his life to the church and to God um and that meant that um that until his dying day which he managed to do um he was still sort of working for that that that larger um cause um and um initially um there was a sort of period of of of great pain and confusion um following Canterbury um and um and we somehow sort of picked ourselves up and and sort of you know mended ourselves um and sort of move forward um and honestly it was this country um I think when the invit came through um and in the same way that when we were first together um for years before ever we could be public about being together in England um because of risk of being and and very real threats um of Robert being sacked and never working again and having his pension taken away um that um that here it meant in one of these bizarre transatlantic situations that the English or the Americans have always benefited from what happened in America stayed in America and what happened in England stay in England and so um so it meant that we could be here um doing Ministry together um and making wonderful friends and making a life for our years before we could in England um and so um for us I think that within our the context of our relationship together this has always been our sort of spiritual home um and the same happened that um I think it was you guys actually I wonder if this is a planted question um and so now I now I come to think of it and so um St Barts New York Park Avenue um um so um they they'd been in touch um to um to to ask if Robert would come over and preach um and so and I think that that was the first trip back over again um and and I think you had a dialogue and and and and and Robert just really enjoyed it um and it started to mend his very broken Soul um and and heart um and to allow him to sort of start trusting in the church again um but but once again it had been the Episcopal Church um and I would say underline as well the the Church of Canada um that really sort of helped us um through through that really difficult time um and that then grew and grew um into what we sort of nicknamed um a sort of Ministry of encouragement where we were doing broadcasts still um typically longer films highlighting the work of different charities and and different organizations um not just in this country but in Monaco in France in Spain and elsewhere um and and you many of you would have just come back from the pilgrimage um on on on the Camino um and of course we've opened the the Episcopal Anglican Center in Santiago de pasella um and worked with the Spanish reformed Episcopal Church over there um and um and that again has meant working with the state of of of the city of salaman and and sort of Elsewhere um and being conduits really for for using our platform to really shine a light on on people that otherwise wouldn't get much much highlight so um so that was really energizing and um and next year I mean each year I don't know how we would have found enough hours in the day but but um we had a a swe tour through the Midwest this year which was actually um was was was Bishop Wolf's suggestion um because he said look I know that you always come over and you go on the seaboards um but I think that you'd enjoy um going up through the Midwest um and I think that people would benefit from your visit um unbeknown to us that would mean amazing accolades of being given the freedom of the City of Oklahoma um you know D wonderful David H um the the mayor there um and um and really sort of working effectively with so many indigenous tribes and and with representatives of the of of of Greenwood rising in Tulsa and and a whole a whole um broad spectrum of of different schools and and institutions um and then next year the the work had had been ramped up so we had three different tours across the states planed and into Canada to go up and the Anu in in the Yukon um and um and really just um again speak about our view of the inclusive nature of Canterbury um and the ideal really of of of of proper Christianity well um that's all a good segue into the next few questions and I promise none of these were planted um uh someone did wonder about your connections to the US and the home it seemed that you all found here especially in post-retirement Ministry and there was another question specifically about your connection with with Yale and with Berkeley mhm um well I think I've covered a lot of the first question um already um really it just came and and increasingly through invitations so home is I'm a Kent boy I'm a Canterbury boy so I was first in the cathedral when I was just a few days old and so um and I I went to a Canterbury School canbury the the Anglican University um and so for me um the cathedral was hardwired all the way through um and um and I'm I'm very much a sort of you know a boy from Kent so um so um we did move away ini um and um and then we thought well actually all of our friends um either had no attachment to the cathedral or to we we wanted to give clear space for the for the person that came after us um and and then we realized that most of our friends didn't go to the cathedral so so actually there was not much point in being away for the sake of it and constantly coming back to Kent to visit them um and so um so it meant it was easier to then come back and so we so home is very much Kent and we we didn't have any plans for where to live and so we moved in with great friends of ours um some of whom were over this week for the funeral um and um and it's just been great we've got this sort of little community and commune um um which which we've really enjoyed um and the cats have a wonderful house um to sort of live in um where one of our housemates is actually their vet so they've known him and like him better than they do us so um so actually the cats are very happy um but um uh but but I think we only spent something like six and a half weeks in the UK last last year so not much more than that and so because of the traveling overseas um and so through Europe to China to to the States to Canada and elsewhere um and so it was that was the notional home um and it always will be for me um for for Kent um and um and and then I think that that America is out is is is has become our sort of spiritual home and where our hearts really lay so and anything to say about Yale and Berkeley um I think the I'm trying to think how far it goes back I think there there was an there was an annual pilgrimage at the senior year um where um the senior students who were brought over each year to spend um a week and actually I think it might be even slightly longer than that now um uh in in Canary in the mother Church um to and and they would go around and sort of spend time and both of you have done this and and spend time going around to to different sites so to uh to Coventry with the cross of nails Ministry um and to um often to meet um you know with Archbishop R Williams um and and to sort of have time with inspirational figures in the English church um and that um the tradition was so well entrenched that by the time that the current Dean came um and I think that at that point maybe it was only four or five days I forget um but the current Dean um wonderful Professor um Andrew mcgau um he um came with Felicity um to and this might have been one of your years I'm I'm trying trying to trying to remember um quite quite when that was um to assess whether or not this would continue and and the community of canab just loved Berkeley coming because it was always such fun and and it was just terrific and when we benefited from the learning and and the shared time together um and then um we I remember a lunch sitting in our morning room at home and um and and uh Professor MCG saying oh well I I've looked at this and and and I don't know that um that actually I I feel that it it's carrying it's worth carrying on in in the current sort of state and and Robert's and my heart sank because well this is really sad I mean there's a new Dean and and naturally he wants us to change things and he said because um I just feel that you know that we don't spend long enough in Canterbury and we need to spend longer here and so and of course we you know sort of you know we were jubilant we were so happy um and uh and he said but also I want to bring the board over every year as well because he said they need to understand what what is really crucial and what's so important about this wonderful place that is Canterbury and the vision of Canterbury and sharing in Roberts and my vision for what that place is and can be um and um so I think that then off naturally off the back of that we were then invited to come over for various commencement suppers or to convocation and to different things um graduate and sort of different things through the years and so so it just became a twofold exchange if you like with the two of us coming over and then with the wonderful students and and the team coming over and then more laterally with members of the trust as well the trustees of of the center uh this is final question and then I'll hand it back to to Zach um it's a it's a difficult time in the US for many um what do you think Robert would have to say to this moment be patient and be kind and so I I think that it's and and it really is a difficult time for everyone and so it doesn't matter whether you're um red blue or purple you know I mean I think that actually um everybody's is very uncertain it's a very scary time in the world the political C uncertainty in not just the Middle East and the Ukraine and Russia um but but actually right the way through Europe um and um and in in this country and in the UK um it's it's really difficult I mean you know we've got a stable Parliament at the moment but actually not much confidence in the in the government um and um and I think that that you know that people just don't know what the answers are to this sort of existential crisis of the fact that all of the models that we've been using for the world that have ordered the world and given us such relative peace um are crumbling and and so you know the financial status and the and the you know the the sort of social status if you like and and the sort of political status have all changed over the last 100 years um and and nobody quite knows what the answers are nobody knows you know I think there are wonderful people working in parties um trying to find Solutions and answers for the betterment of people there are some scarless individuals as well but they are in every party um and and in every country um and so I think that that yeah just be patient and be kind um thank you so much Fletcher well Fletcher thank you so much for spending this time with us I don't know if you remember but I was part of a transitional year at Berkeley whereby the administration as they were changing over actually forgot to book our rooms at the caner B Cathedral Lodge so my class instead of going to Canterbury for spring break was meant to go to the Anglican Center in Rome which we did go to Rome for the first week of spring break but you and Robert called absolutely distr at the notion that we would not also spend a week in Canterbury and somehow managed to find rooms all across the Deery I felt like Harry Potter sleeping under a staircase um for the second week of spring break which happened to be Holy Week a a gift to spend Holy Week of my final year at Seminary at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale uh with you at Canterbury and I had just been um ordained a deacon and so I actually got to renew my vows with uh Robert and the Gang Archbishop of Canterbury in the cathedral but uh a few moments stand out so clearly from that week um of course the the candlelit visual uh but then at the crism mass this was mentioned in his obituary where Robert as the celebrant would literally take off his chass take off his priest chass and turn his stole diagonally to take the form of a deacon the form of a servant um modeling Christ who took the form of a human uh to serve us as he would kneel down to to wash the others feet I've never seen another Anglican liturgy where the presider actually turns their sto back towards a deacon and it speaks to that heart of a servant and just the kindness and generosity and gentleness that exuded from Robert's heart uh mind and soul uh he really shaped and you together really shaped a generation of Berkeley seminarians and the Mantra that continues ringing in our souls that Robert would say again and again is show them Jesus show them Jesus which he did and his life his ministry his quiet witness uh to the God of all creation well I I should say as well that actually the the the la his last crism Mass ever um was actually here with the the absolute B raising sort of um um sort of service by by a very very new I think it was his first service um um Bishop Hy um and um who we big fans of um and so um so his last crism mass as Deacon um was actually here in St John the Divine um so which was very special that is so special well Fletcher um what's next how do you Invision Robert's Legacy continuing and that's a very good question um and and I think that that um it would be very easy um with a certain number of scars um and um and an awful lot of sleepless nights over the last 23 3 years to sort of lock that door and think okay me time I'm going to go off and have a sort of you know my own life now and sort of do something very different um it feels a bit of a cheat to do so um and I think that having spent 23 years with him I don't know quite what that's going to look like but I think that um I've had a wonderful life as well um and you know and alongside um you know everything is always ying and yang it's always sort of good and bad and and um and um and I think that you know the friends that we've made and the life that we've had has been so extraordinary and I feel so lucky um having had that um and so um I think that life obviously will be different without him um and the ministry will be different because he's not at the absolute root of it um but um but I feel that whatever happens that I owe it to him to try and keep that message alive um and to do what I can to try and you know do a little bit of good in the world so so yeah so I'm not quite sure what that will look like yet but but you know I want to carry on at least in part doing some more I could say well all our love all our prayers our deepest sympathies and your loss and know that here at St Barts you always have a home I know that thank you thank you thank you why don't we end with one of Robert's hymns the one that we sang today at the 11:00 Coral Eucharist here at St Barts Earth's fragile Beauties we possess as Pilgrim gifts from God and walk the slow and dangerous way his wounded feet have trod though Faith by tragedy is rocked and love with pain is scored we sing the Pilgrim's song of hope your Kingdom Come O Lord Earth's human longings we possess Earth's love or grief compelled to take and bear the heavy cross Christ's wounded hands have held by cloud and fire he leads us on through famine plague or sword singing with faith the Pilgrim's song Your Kingdom Come O Lord God's Own True Image we possess God's innocence first known now tainted by the hate and spite to Christ's own body shown by that same Wounded Heart of Love God's image is restored to sing again the pilgrim song your kingdom come oh Lord amen amen I should I no I was just going to say that always amuses me because Robert wrote that he was he was doing it for a commission um and um he actually finished that off whil keeping my parents waiting for lunch um in a laby on the side of the road and so and I ended up having to walk to the pub because he was going to be too late and um my mother getting very cross and then he came in and and I thought this was quite early on in our relationship um and um and I thought this is going to be an interesting sort of of time you know but you know this is going to be Jolly Jolly difficult and um and of course Robert came in and said I'm so sorry late I was writing a hymn and of course my mother instantly forgave him and so and somehow it was my fault that I'd inconvenienced him so um but and that that was the dynamic really for the rest of Robert's life so um you could never be cross with him she thought the kingdom might come before he returned I well Fletcher what a true and absolute gift thank you thank you thank you all our love thank you thank you and don't be stranger you've got to come back I I I will thank you very much next time thank you cheers thanks everyone cheers thank you you e