Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

"Pilgrimage is on the increase. More and more people make pilgrimages; perhaps they walk to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain, or travel to Walsingham in Norfolk or Lourdes in France or one of a host of other holy sites. There are many holy places in our border country, like Patricio just north of Abergavenny."
(posted 25 January 2012) Click here to read

Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

"What will this New Year bring? Who of course can tell? Some will answer, "Que sera, sera", "Whatever will be, will be." While that is undeniably true, at one level, it can be remarkably fatalistic. Do we really just want to acquiesce, let events take their course and do to us what they will? "
(posted 21 December 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"Christmas will soon be upon us and with it all the usual rush of presents, parties and family gatherings. In among the frenzy it is good to reflect again of what we are celebrating. " (posted 28 November 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"One of the benefits of having to drive regularly as part of my Episcopal ministry is that I get the opportunity to listen to the radio. Sometimes the journey and the hour coincide affording me the pleasure of listening to the Today programme and catching up on current affairs. " (posted 25 October 2011) Click here to read

Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

"Most congregations will have had Harvest Thanksgiving services by now, though I can recall Nick Read daring us, a few years ago, to consider what is the best time of year to celebrate harvest when many in the diocese live surrounded by potatoes and cider apples which are harvested so much later than winter barley or the wool from our sheep. The rich diversity of the land and our farms may make a perfect date for a Harvest service impossible, but that same diversity is itself a cause for celebration and wonder."
(posted 22 September 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"This month sees the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. The term 9.11 is now a part of the global vocabulary. Most of us can remember where we were and what we were doing on that fateful day. " (posted 22 August 2011) Click here to read

Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

"The drought and resulting famine in north-eastern Africa are already horrendous and threaten still more lives. The pictures are harrowing, the reality worse. There is little we can do so many miles away, but there are some things."
(posted 20 July 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"The King's Speech has proven to be one of the most imaginative and widely acclaimed films of recent times. Among the many themes the film explores is that of true friendship. There is a memorable line where Lionel Logue says to the Duke of York, later to be King George IV: 'What are friends for.' And to which comes back the reply; 'I wouldn't know.' What is so telling is the heart felt cry of the Duke. He had money, position wealth, servants, a plethora of advisors and attendees. What he lacked was a friend." (posted 30 June 2011) Click here to read

Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

"Royal wedding fever may have subsided but wasn't it a brilliant wedding? William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, did magnificently. They were both so obviously extraordinarily happy and in love. What more can you ask?"
(posted 29 May 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"May is a glorious month as the daylight continues to increase. Hopefully the last vestiges of winter and the potentially chilly winds of spring are past and everywhere abundant life is breaking out. Of course we can never be completely sure given the vagaries of our weather. However we want 'April showers to give way to May flowers.'...." (posted 30 April 2011) Click here to read

Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

"A few weeks ago, the Church Army (an Anglican organisation which trains lay evangelists to work in the UK) organized a day in Sheffield focussing on the place of young people in the life of our Church. Both our Archbishops were there, together with twenty or so other bishops and 150 young people, mostly in their early twenties."
(posted 16 March 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"This year is the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the Bible in English in what we now call the King James Version. It was translated into prose and was intentionally memorable, rhythmic and easy to read. Although not the first English translation scholars recognise that it united Christians of different persuasions and indeed became the uniting text of English speakers the world over...." (posted 12 February 2011) Click here to read

Letter from The Bishop of Hereford

Prayer is central to both. That is why I have begun with a few quotations to encourage us in our emphasis on prayer and to remind us how absolutely fundamental it is to who we are, as well as to what we do. As Martin Luther put it, "As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray."
(posted 21 January 2011) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"Someone once said to me that they always found January a slow month. I know what they meant. The days are still at their darkest and the weather can be difficult. Last year was a marked example when the snows came and stayed. Having to slow down is not necessarily all bad. It can provide space to reflect. ..." (posted 3 January 2011) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

""Fear not". "Do not be afraid". This was part of what the angel said to Mary when he told her that she was going to become the Mother of Jesus."
(posted 25 November 2010) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

"Twenty years ago, there was an Archbishop's Commission on Rural Areas which produced a report "Faith in the Countryside". The issues that were raised then remain key ones now, though the urgency for some of the recommendations to be acted upon has become even greater."
(posted 22 October 2010) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"Once again the media have opened up the science versus faith debate. Both television and newspapers ran headlines following Prof. Stephen Hawkins latest thinking. The Times had a front page headline; Hawkin: God did not create the universe. ..." (posted 21 September 2010) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

"School term is about to begin again and with it a new academic year. In many ways, it can feel like a new beginning at church as well, not least after holidays for many people. This is why we support a "Back to Church Sunday" later in this month, especially to welcome those who want to make a new beginning. ".
(posted 23 August 2010) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

"Those who love football will have been having a feast, with quarter-finals, semis and the final of the World Cup still to come. Others will already be longing for everything to return to normal!".
(posted 29 June 2010) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"Now the election is over Britain is coming to terms with what it means to have a parliament where there is no over all majority. For this generation it is a new experience and we need to look back to 1974 to discover the last time this happened. ..." (posted 19 May 2010) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

"No news is good news", or maybe, "Good news is no news". It can certainly seem like that at times. But why? Perhaps it is in part because good actions are normal, everyday occurrences. We are used to them. They are not, in that sense, "news".
(posted 21 April 2010) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"In the summer of 1863 over three days in early July the small town of Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania changed forever. History simply overtook it. What took place was the decisive battle of the American Civil War between the Confederate forces of the South and the Union army of the North. ..." (posted 20 March 2010) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

The strawberry season and the taste of them seems a long way off! (Strawberries from overseas never seem to me to have quite the same flavour.) It is not just a longing for spring and summer that makes me mention this: it is also my thinking about prayer and Lent.
(posted 23 February 2010) Click here to read

The Bishop of Hereford

Pastoral Letter to the Congregations of the Diocese. Bishop Alistair and Archdeacon Malcolm join me in calling for this coming Ash Wednesday (17th February) to be a Day of Prayer across the whole Diocese
(posted 5 February 2010) Click here to read

Letter from the Bishop of Ludlow

"On New Years Eve in the afternoon I slipped on ice in a car park and broke my wrist. In a moment my plans and expectations for the coming weeks changed. Hopefully all will be well but in a small way it brought home to me the unpredictability and fragility of things. ..." (posted 29 January 2010) Click here

The Bishop of Hereford

"The shops may think that Christmas is over for another year, but we know better! Our Christmas celebrations continue and then merge into Epiphany, the celebration of the coming of the wise men. That journey was all about living out the consequences of the birth of Jesus."
(posted 5 January 2010)

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