I was finishing up my 49th birthday celebrations one Sunday in November 2008 when I received a call from the Diocesan Registrar, advising I’d been elected as the 10th Bishop of the Anglican Church, Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, including Braidwood. There’s a scene in Star Wars where Han Solo’s craft, the Millennium Falcon, suddenly leaps into ‘hyperspace’. Well, that’s how it felt from that moment on: a leap into episcopal hyperspace!
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This past decade has been filled with much joy as my wife Jane and I have clocked up three-quarters of a million kilometres travelling the length and breadth of this vast and great diocese. Noting the challenges of rural ministry and increasing secularism, our congregations are, in the main, in good heart. We have made a great many friends and have been moved by stories of faith and great courage.
One highlight for us was the 2013 ‘Walk With The Cross’, where we carried a wooden cross from town to town in rural NSW. We continue to hear reports of how the ‘Walk’ connected with individuals and communities who may not have heard or grasped the full import of Jesus’ death and resurrection. That remains a great encouragement to us.
In that period we’ve all had to come to terms with the pain associated with abuse and miscreant behaviour within our churches and communities of faith. As a diocese we have responded quickly and fairly towards those who have (bravely) approached us. There is more to be done, of course. There are no quick fix solutions, though our processes and protocols are designed to manage and facilitate enquiry, investigation and redress.
I have been upheld and blessed by outstanding colleagues throughout this time. Indeed, I am indebted to them for their professionalism, love, kindness and commitment to the words and work of Jesus.
From the outset, Jane and I had determined that a decade or so was about right for a role such as this. We are so grateful for the support and friendship of parishioners, local communities and interested ‘fellow travellers’.
Immediately after the St Saviour’s Cathedral ‘Laying Up Of The Staff’ service on March 31 (11am), Jane and I fly to the UK for a month’s holiday with all our children and grandchildren. We return in May and I start work as the Parish Priest at St Michael’s, Vaucluse. Retiring and ‘refiring’, I believe it is called!
– BISHOP STUART ROBINSON
