{"id":1520,"date":"2020-12-02T14:44:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T14:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=1520"},"modified":"2020-12-02T14:44:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T14:44:28","slug":"archbishop-york-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/archbishop-york-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ve always been a bit of a revolutionary\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before choosing a life in the priesthood, the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, studied Media Communications at the University of Westminster (then the Polytechnic of Central London). Following his enthronement this summer, we got in touch with Archbishop Stephen to find out about his first months in the role and how his time at Westminster prepared him for the job.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I began at PCL, I didn\u2019t know quite where my career would go,\u201d he says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t brought up going to church. Back then, I was most interested in writing, film and media, and gave no thought to becoming a priest, let alone a Bishop or an Archbishop! But actually, as I look back now, I feel I\u2019ve been in the communications business my whole life, because a major part of my work is communication \u2013 in all kinds of ways. So some of the things I studied all those years ago have, in roundabout ways, really helped me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of highlights from my time at Westminster\u2026 well, there aren\u2019t many that are repeatable! I was in the Bolsover Street halls of residence, just around the corner from Riding House Street. I was in a band; we played in the Mowbray Street buildings. I had great fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurprisingly, something which I really got interested in during my time at PCL was radio documentaries and drama. We had to do a piece of work in final year and I wrote a radio play, which others helped perform and that was a wonderful thing to be part of.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharles Parker, a ground-breaking figure in radio documentary in the 1950s and 60s, was a visiting lecturer. His documentaries were told through song and speech which I found very inspiring. I even wrote one myself as an amateur musician \u2013 although it was probably terrible and very embarrassing! One of my lecturers at PCL, Tony Schooling, was very encouraging of my writing when he saw the script of the radio show I\u2019d written, and told me to carry on writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis passion for writing never went away, and happily, the writer bit of me has also found expression; I\u2019ve written an embarrassingly large number of books over the years. I can\u2019t quite believe it, but they keep churning out. Mostly of a spiritual or theological flavour, but I\u2019ve also recently written a book of poems and two children\u2019s stories too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his interest in the media, Stephen\u2019s career in the film industry was short-lived, and soon after graduating in 1981, he had a call to follow a different path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a bit of a revolutionary,\u201d he explains. \u201cI was during my time at PCL and I still am. I want to change the world and I\u2019ve come to learn that the best way of changing the world is changing the human heart. I believe that God can change hearts, and so I found myself becoming a priest.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I got a \u2018call\u2019 to live life differently and take a different direction, it all happened rather quickly. I went back to college and studied Theology in Oxford, got ordained, and then I thought my life would be as a priest. I didn\u2019t imagine much else, but to my surprise I was invited to be a Bishop, and later an Archbishop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enthronement, or ceremony in which Stephen was promoted to Archbishop, took place in the summer. However, with all the restrictions in place this year, neither the service nor the months succeeding have been business as usual for the Church. So what\u2019s it been like as Archbishop in 2020?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s been weird,\u201d Stephen says. \u201cOne thing the Church is usually very good at is a grand do, and none of the big events have happened this year. But compared with what\u2019s happening in the world, it\u2019s a small thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, the Church like every other organisation is facing huge challenges \u2013 financial challenges \u2013 as many of our income streams have dried up. But what has been wonderful is the Church being on the front line of offering care, and everywhere I turn I bump into incredible stories of wonderfully heroic things that ordinary people are doing in their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also a strong political side to my role, and as a Bishop in the Church of England I\u2019m a member of the House of Lords, which means I can be a voice, particularly for the poor and vulnerable, on a number of issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, when the Government advice came out about the groups of six and who in terms of childcare could be additional to the group \u2013 the additional childcare only referred to paid child carers. I and other church leaders were quick to point out that in poorer communities childcare is always provided, not by a nanny, but by a neighbour, or in most cases, another family member. So this legislation discriminates against the poor. Thankfully on something as blindingly obvious as that, the Government changed its mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Church has a really important role, and one thing I\u2019ve noticed in the House of Lords, and in other spheres, is when the church speaks on those kinds of issues, we do usually get listened to. Because I think people can see that this is beyond party politics; it\u2019s about what kind of a moral universe we want to inhabit and to build.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the work with local communities that for me is the most enjoyable. The opportunity to write and speak, and the doors that open \u2013 really interesting doors open when you\u2019re a Bishop and an Archbishop. And if you can use that, and be a voice for those who don\u2019t have a voice, then that\u2019s a great privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to keep in touch with the community, the Church, as with many organisations this year, has been forced to adapt and embrace new digital opportunities. Luckily for Stephen, exploring new platforms and media is something his degree equipped him with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I first explored a vocation to the priesthood, the Bishop who I then went to see was extremely troubled by my CV. Because after I graduated, I worked for a short amount of time in the film industry, and most clergy didn\u2019t come through that kind of world. The Bishop asked, \u2018are you going to be showing films from the pulpit?\u2019 I assured him that I wasn\u2019t, but of course I am! Because just this summer the whole world has moved online.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, the pandemic has been a huge challenge for the Church, because we\u2019ve had to close our doors this year. And it\u2019s been irritating for us that the Government has treated us as though we were the same as McDonald\u2019s or a gym \u2013 as part of the leisure industry really. But on the other hand, the really positive impact has been our huge digital acceleration. For an organisation that doesn\u2019t do change well \u2013 we think in terms of centuries \u2013 we\u2019ve moved online really quickly, and it\u2019s been incredibly fruitful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could tell you story after story of churches who, say their Sunday congregation is 20 or 30 people, since moving online, they have 140 or more. So the congregation \u2013 the virtual congregation has grown massively. And that says something very interesting I think, that we are still learning from.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve never been to church in your life, to cross the threshold into the physical space is a big step to make. As somebody who wasn\u2019t brought up going to church, I still remember what that\u2019s like. Whereas the online space is much easier space to step into. So actually, I think the Church online is here to stay. To our surprise, we\u2019ve stumbled upon a very good way in today\u2019s world of building some community with people who are not ready to come to church, or are not sure if they believe in God, and a digital platform provides a safe space to explore those questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be careful – we can\u2019t be rubbing our hands together in glee that we\u2019re living through a crisis and so people are thinking about God. It is horrible what\u2019s happening in our world. But we are aware that it\u2019s leading people to ask questions \u2013 ultimate questions. Therefore, the Church seems to have a more significant place in the community that it did this time last year for many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking to future, Stephen has other ambitious plans of how to bring the Church into the 21st<\/sup> Century, and has set many goals of what he hopes to achieve while in the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve set the bar of my expectation ridiculously high,\u201d he says. \u201cI want the Church to be less anxious, less pompous; I\u2019d like it to look a bit more like Jesus \u2013 to be simpler, humbler, and I would really like more people to come to Church. The decline of the Church has probably been overstated in the press; we\u2019re not growing in number, but it has levelled off. People just come less often nowadays because of the way the world has changed. But that doesn\u2019t mean any less commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever I\u2019ve gone, what I\u2019ve tried to do is be a voice for the Christian faith. There are a few religious nutters around and there are some atheists around too, but actually a lot of people nowadays \u2013 young people especially \u2013 would describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. And I get that. I enjoy speaking into that and asking, when you say \u2018spiritual\u2019, what do you mean? Where do you think that comes from? How can we understand that more? I want the Church to be a place for people who are spiritual and not religious, to have a home; to come and explore Christian spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in what ways does Stephen feel his time at the University prepared him to achieve all of this?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have very happy memories of my time at PCL, and there is for me a strong connection between my degree and my career; it\u2019s about the business of how we communicate ideas in a winsome and compelling way. That\u2019s what the arts and the media do \u2013 it\u2019s all about ideas. I still feel that I\u2019m in the ideas business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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