Faith

Stephen Cottrell was appointed to the post of Bishop of Reading following controversial events.

He became Bishop of Reading shortly after the cleric Jeffrey John decided to decline the post. Jeffrey John had been in an openly gay relationship. John's nomination for Bishop had caused headlines around the world and threatened a rift in the Anglican church.

Five years on, the Rt Rev Cottrell, who  asks to be called simply 'Stephen', told Susanne Courtney that he has settled in nicely to his adopted county.

Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading

"I have recently celebrated my fifth anniversary as Bishop of Reading." he said: "I really feel at home in Berkshire, in the Reading area. We've made good friends, but in another sense you think, where have the last five years gone?"

Growing up, few would have picked Stephen as a possible future bishop. Born to non-church-going parents, Stephen toyed with the idea of becoming a musician or film maker.

He still enjoys playing the guitar and banjo ukulele.

"I actually own and play rather badly a ukulele banjo." he told Susanne. "But I am actually a reasonably good guitarist, that's the instrument I really play.

"My parents found it rather annoying because I took piano lessons till I was 11 or 12, I bought a guitar, wanted to be a rock and roll hero, and I've played the guitar ever since, but I dabble on the ukulele banjo.

"It's a great instrument, it's really fun, it makes a great sound."

The Bishop's other act of rebellion against his was to start attending church in his teens.

"I wasn't brought up going to church." he explained: "I was baptised as a baby by my parents, who were part of great post-war lapsed generation. That was my one and only visit to church as I child.

"I started going to Church as a teenager. For me the act of rebellion was going to church rather than leaving church."

Once he became a regular church-goer, the Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell realised that his future lay in the church.

Jim Morrison and Jesus Christ

"I'm all or nothing kind of person." he said. "So once I crossed that Rubicon of goodness, there is a God and that God has been made known in Jesus Christ, that could never be in a little compartment of my life labelled Sunday morning.

"it was all or nothing, for me becoming a Christian and deciding to go into Christian mission as a priest was one and the same for me.

"I was one of those ghastly young people who in my mind was Thomas Chatterton, Keats, James Dean, Jim Morrison and Jesus Christ, all rolled into one. I had this romantic idea, I would be one of those people who live fast and die young.

"I grew out of it, it was a typical teenage thing, I actually realised the person I wanted to follow was Jesus Christ.
"So in my very early twenties I sought ordination."

The Bishop said he did not think of his role within the church as a job, but a way of life.

"As a vicar, you're involved with people's lives at their times of greatest sorrows and greatest joy, bringing meaning to it. That is a great privilege." he said.

"You're living alongside the people you're serving, you're part of the community. That can be tough at times, but you get to know people in the community really really well, and at best, you're trusted in the community."

The Bishop said he particularly enjoyed working with young people and helping shape their lives.

Five years ago, the Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell got the call - he was asked to become Bishop of Reading.

"I got a phone call out of the blue." he said. "I chose to accept it. At the time, the whole situation didn't give me much joy, because a lot of people were hurting.

"I was full of dread about it all, but I really believed it was the call of God. I had a deep instinctive feeling, and that sustains you. The first year wasn't easy but we've got through that and moved beyond it."