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They have knelt at the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, archbishop martyred inside the cathedral in 1170. Some early visitors, tossing crutches aside, reported maladies miraculously cured on site; others brought gold and jewels in tribute. Many journeyed from afar on horseback at a pace termed "cantering," their treks lending archetypes for Chaucer's fabled Tales.
Through time, prayers at Canterbury have also turned to world peace, notably during World War II when the German Luftwaffe bombed the vicinity in June 1942. Topsoil was layered inside the cathedral's nave, and stained glass removed, to guard against damage. Candles still burn daily as signs of intention to end warfare and mend strife of all kinds.
To this fitting venue -- its grey-green and golden-brown stonework worn smooth with the weathering of storms and the calming of fears -- the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has called bishops of the Anglican Communion to gather for private days of retreat and reflection that will begin the 2008 Lambeth Conference.
Here the tone will be set for two weeks that many hope will achieve new spiritual healing and greater cross-cultural understanding in current postcolonial and postmodern contexts. Here will be revisited such Anglican traditions as the uniting precepts of the Elizabethan Settlement and the emphasis placed by 16th-century English theologian Richard Hooker on approaching faith through scripture, reason and tradition.
Here also echo expressions of healing wisdom and diplomacy expressed during previous once-a-decade Lambeth Conference gatherings, which date from 1867. Conferences in most recent history have assembled under the 77-million-member Anglican Communion's scriptural motto: "The truth shall make you free."
"Neither the Church nor the world 'sets the agenda,'" Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie told the 1988 conference during his opening address titled "The Nature of the Unity We Seek."
"God has set his agenda of shalom, unity and communion. We must seek to be loyal to it."
Preaching a decade later at the 1998 conference's opening Eucharist, Bishop Simon Chiwanga of Tanzania, chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council, observed that "Change comes by enlightenment, not by force."
Canterbury's current dean, the Very Rev. Robert Willis, recently commented on the healing properties experienced by visitors to the cathedral. From its restored herb garden to its apse peace altar, the cathedral continues to underscore themes and conversations that point visitors toward comprehensive health and wholeness.
Willis's reflections, offered in an interview with Episcopal Life, follow.
EL: In what ways does Canterbury continue to be a place of healing and reconciliation?
RW: "Because so many people believe they have a sense of ownership of Canterbury in a real and good way, a bishop from northern Uganda might suddenly arrive to tell the story of what is going on there, or a Christian from Korea or Palestine might arrive without any kind of announcement and say: "May I just tell my story?" Then you find throughout the year, on a day-to-day basis, that you are causing cultures to mix and different people to hear the stories of folk they would never come into contact with in another place and they tend also to talk about their faith because of the nature of this holy place.
"Our mission statement is to show people Jesus, taking from that story in St. John's Gospel where some Greeks, I suppose some Greek tourists to Jerusalem at that time, were wondering what this phenomenon of a man speaking in Temple courtyard was and told a disciple on the outer ring of the crowd, Philip, that they'd like to see Jesus. And Philip asks Andrew, and Andrew tells Jesus. I think all our community believes that in some way they want their life, their work to show something of the good news of the Gospel and help people along that pilgrim path.
"The breaking down of barriers has been helped considerably by the fact that in our study center we can now host groups up to 40-strong and can now have them here for some time, four weeks or so sometimes. We balance the courses across the year, and we find that people who were strangers before become friends. They don't always agree, but they do sense a sort of commitment to one another in living in a place that belongs to them all and that I think is a great ministry of healing and reconciliation."
EL: Please describe the significance of the herb garden.
RW: "There was an area of the monastic remains, the ruins of what was the monastery here, which needed a replanting, and every monastery had an herb garden. Well, we've reintroduced one, labeled "The Herbs," and shown just the kind of things that would have been growing here when this was a Benedictine monastery. It has been the most wonderful success and people love walking in it. The sense of cooking herbs means that this is a place of hospitality, the sense of healing herbs means that this is a place of reconciliation, and the sense of fragrance, rather like the holy oils of Maundy Thursday, give a scent of the wholeness and healing of the kingdom of heaven."
EL: In what other specific ministries of healing and reconciliation is the cathedral involved?
RW: "There is also the constant ministry of healing and reconciliation of the daily chaplains and the welcomers who are here, who are set at any time to listen to anyone when they come here, and welcome them and receive them. Sometimes it's within the formal ministry of reconciliation, either individually or in public service; sometimes it might be a particular healing service. At other times, it's something which just happens in the course of a conversation which someone who has walked here will find themselves having because holy places and places where people pray day in and day out seem to have a way of unlocking things within people and making them pilgrims when they thought they'd only come as tourists."
EL: How might the bishops attending this year's Lambeth Conference find the cathedral to be an agent of healing amid the current tensions in the Anglican Communion?
RW: "The conference begins with two full days of retreat within the walls of the precincts. The precincts can be closed to public access so that there is a sense of reflection, peace, ownership and possession. At that point I hope there will be much getting to know one another amongst the bishops within the context of worship, study and reflection. Those things are healing within themselves and Canterbury can give perspective to that."
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