After Bishop Ewen Ratteray’s announcement last week that he will retire next year on March 30, expressions of surprise and shock came in from around the Island. Saddened by the decision was Catholic Bishop Robert Kurtz who had a close relationship with the Bishop.

Both bishops also seemed to hold similar views on topics such as homosexuality when both failed to participate in the United by Faith gathering, which they said they feared would be gay-bashing.

“I am saddened to hear that within the next year I will be losing the company of a dear friend and a brother Bishop in pastoral ministry in Bermuda,” Bishop Kurtz said. “As the first Bermudian and the first Black Bishop of the Anglican Church in Bermuda, Bishop Ewen has been and continues to be uniquely positioned to speak to the moral conscience of the nation.”

Speaking for the nation is exactly what the Bishop seemed comfortable doing in his outgoing interview as he tackled poverty, housing, and corruption — topics many interview subjects steer clear of.

On the other hand, questions about himself and his work at the Church find a much more reserved and reticent subject, who quickly deflects to others’ opinions of his time spent in office.

Where he could be drawn, he said he was very happy with the recent apology given by the Anglican Church for slavery. “Writing the apology and having it passed by the Anglican Synod,” he said, “is something I am very pleased about.”

Controversy, however, has swirled around his time in office when he stood his ground for one of his clergy, when in April of 2003 the Immigration Department threatened to arrest Canon Alan Tilson.

Further more the appointment of Church Warden William Hayward to the St. Mark’s Church led to internal squabbling that made it into the public realm and finally saw the warden’s licence suspended.

Though the Bishop would not comment on one particular challenge during his 11 years, he did have five goals while entering the office, one of which — Unity — would speak to the main problems he encountered.

“Unity, commitment to Christ, renewed commitment to prayer and worship, teaching the faith, evangelism are five things I hoped to achieve,” he said.

“Unity, trying to bring people together in the church like any organisational body you get different opinions, difference of views and it is difficult to hold the lot together.

“In a sense some of those are immeasurable in quantitative terms, but all of which I think in one way or another or some way or another not only what is in my head and my heart but what I try to preach about and try to live.

“Like the third thing about prayer and worship. Prayer and worship is the centre all that makes me, me. And without that I’m nothing and it’s the driving force behind all that I do.”

While many of his goals are immeasurable, the Bishop says he has witnessed many social ills growing while he has been in his position.

One of these is the growing divide between the races, which in recent weeks, he says, has grown inordinately with the debate over the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) scandal.

The problem, as he see it, is when Bermuda is wracked by a scandal such as the recent BHC scandal, the races grow farther and farther apart.

While he believes there needs to be a discussion on race, much like the one initiated by Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, he also feels the discussion needs to be structured and needs to be non-partisan.

That is why he says he supports a Truth and Reconciliation Committee like the one held in South Africa after the end of Apartheid, which led to a complete airing-out of grievances.

“We would need to Bermudianise the committee and tailor it to our need,” he said. “We haven’t experienced the violence that occurred there and we already have various initiatives that are going on by CURB and CURE, but we need more structure.

“The one thing that is important is an open and honest dialogue between both parties — blacks and whites. It seems to be the case that black people want to talk and white people don’t.

“I encourage people to engage in a discussion. Black people have been affected negatively by this and white people haven’t. But I don’t believe, as someone said to be the other day, that white people won’t change.

“It’s not really about that. We all need to change our attitude and how we behave towards one another.”

Bishop Ratteray has personal experience to speak from.

He was born in Somerset, Bermuda on February 18, 1942, and studied at West End Primary before attending Berkeley.

After he studied at the seminary at Codrington College, Barbados, West Indies in 1961 and was ordained Deacon in Bermuda at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity by Bishop John Armstrong on December 18, 1965, he had to leave the Island.

“I went over to England for the experience, but also because there was no place for me here. I was the wrong colour,” he said.

It was not until 1974 that Thomas Nisbett as the Canon at Christ Church in Warwick broke the mould, that black priest began practising in Bermuda’s Anglican Churches.

So after serving in three Parishes in the Diocese of Wakefield from 1966 to 1980 which included South Kirkby (Senior Curate 1966 to 1968), Sowerby (Priest in charge of St. George’s, Sowerby 1968 to 1971) and Airedale with Fryston (Vicar 1971 to 1980), he decided to return to Bermuda.

While away, not only did he manage to pick up some experience, but also managed to meet his wife who is from York originally in his second ministry, and both moved back in 1980 for him to serve as the Rector in Pembroke.

In 1994, he became the Archdeacon before being elected by the Bermudian Synod of the Anglican Church on April 20, 1996. Not only was he the first Bermudian Bishop, but also the first black Anglican Bishop in Bermuda. The Archbishop of Canterbury, with the assistance of two other Bishops, the Bishop of Southern Virginia and the Bishop of Nova Scotia, came to the Island and consecrated him on May 19, 1996.

Driving him now to speak out on these different social issues is a real concern over where he sees the Island going as poverty becomes worse and people are being left on the street.

While the Island has an “aura of wealth”, according to the Bishop, we manage to do a good job of sweeping poverty under the table and it is causing more and more to turn to the Church for vouchers.

“The amount of poverty has gotten worse, but in Bermuda we hide it rather well. We have more people nowadays who beg on the street and we have increasing numbers who come to the Cathedral for food vouchers.

“We have this aura of wealth and well-being and everything is fine and dandy but underneath that there is a hidden group of people that are suffering.”

The reason the Bishop believes lies in the wealth that comes into the Island from the international companies, which creates to two classes — one of extreme wealth and one of poverty.

Companies are a two-sided coin — they bring work for the Island, but also increase the cost of living which leads to a lack of affordable housing and leads to overbuilding for new offices and large hotels.

While many in Bermuda seem to be in dire straits, the Bishop says it is not all bad news — there are many out there trying to provide services.

“Having said that there are folks who do do things and that do care,” he said. “There is mentoring like Big Brothers and Sisters — those are the things that are helpful and there are charities who do a lot of good. There is a good side to that bad side.

“And thank god there are people who are willing to spend time with our young people.”

The Bishop made particular note of the alternatives to the main public education system, which he sees providing those who may have been left out, a way back in.

His example was from the front page of this paper on Friday, June 22, about Nikki Bascome, age 16, who was kicked out of two public schools before turning his life around and attending The Educational Centre.

These are the alternatives and helping hands that are going to save Bermuda, which is experiencing a temporary set-back, according to the Bishop.

One he hopes will be resolved before he leaves in just under a year and leaves for the City of York in Yorkshire, England. A departure that is more of an ‘au revoir’ then good-bye.

In England, the Bishop hopes to take it easy. “I like to cook, but I don’t want to do too much of that,” he joked. “It wouldn’t be a good thing.

“It will be good. My wife will be relatively closer to her family and we have always loved York.”

While Bishop Ratteray is excited about his plans to return to York, not everyone is so pleased — one of his four grand-children refuses to speak about it.

But the talk will continue as the time arrives for the next Bishop to be selected by the Anglican Synod of Bermuda and if after two elections there is no resolution, the Archbishop will be called on to select his successor. Last words of advice for the next Bishop, Bishop Ratteray answered: “Say your prayers and love the people no matter what.”