Parish of Llandudno North Wales, Rector's letter August 2008

August 2008

It has been my privilege for several years now to be one of the chaplains at St David’s Hospice. I say ‘privilege’ because I’m sure that I get as much or more from the experience of visiting the Hospice than any of those I minister to can possibly get from speaking to me! Week by week I witness the most amazing loving care given by staff and volunteers alike. I also experience the way in which so many of the patients deal with their illness, often in very down to earth ways with cheerfulness and humour. Yes, they have their moments of tearfulness anxiety and stress, but often the most awful symptoms and distressing treatments are met with courage and resolution.

If your idea of a hospice is a sad bleak place, think again! There’s a great deal of laughter and fun at St David’s and I almost always come away from a visit feeling happier than when I went in. I am inspired, humbled and enriched by the experience of friendship with people who are coping with so much in their lives.

In a similar way our Bishop, Anthony, has been a source of so much inspiration to us in the way he has coped with his illness whilst continuing to care for his diocese as a true father-in-God. Suffering sometimes makes us turn in on ourselves, we simply want to curl up and keep the outside world away. But Bishop Anthony simply refused to do this. Despite the fact that he was coping with pain and often very tired he continued to be concerned with the people of his diocese and the life of the church, to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and that ‘God is good all the time’. Even at the end he was determined to send a last message of encouragement to his people.

I suppose that this determination to look to God and to others even in the midst of personal suffering helped Bishop Anthony to cope and, at least for a time, to forget his pain. But this way of doing things is surely also the way of the Christ who in the midst of his passion had time to forgive those who were crucifying him, to assure the penitent thief that he would be in paradise that very day, and to care for his mother and St John standing at the foot of the cross.

Bishop Anthony was a gifted pastor and teacher and it is sad to think that we have all been deprived of so much by his untimely death. But I think that he has given us much to ponder on by the way in which he died. The old spiritual teachers used to talk about the importance of making a ‘good death’. Bishop Anthony has indeed made a ‘good death’ in which we glimpse in the midst of vulnerability and weakness true hope in God and a continuing pastoral care until the very end.

It’s good to know that in his last days he had the joy of knowing that the Diocesan Pilgrimage was such a success and that so many people responded to his invitation by braving the weather and turning up on that day.

Bishop Anthony’s Requiem Mass and his Funeral were dignified and inspiring services. One of the most moving elements in both was the reading of extracts from the journal he kept on his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. I do hope that this journal will be published so that we can continue to be inspired by the faith and teachings of this servant of God.

We send our prayers and love to Caroline and all Bishop Anthony’s family and pray that he may rest in peace and be raised with Christ in glory!

Fr John.

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Previous letters:

January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007