Bishop Graham licensed priests, confirmed parishioners, and met people carrying out God’s work across Norfolk and Waveney.
His Christmas message to the diocese was filmed in St George’s Church, Colegate, Norwich, where, every Wednesday, volunteers host local people ranging from a pre-school music group to a drop-in food and social session.
Bishop Graham talked about the first performance of the carol Silent Night, in a church in Salzburg one Christmas Eve. He brought us, via Salzburg, from the baby in Bethlehem to Norwich – accompanied by a soundtrack of Silent Night played and sung by an impromptu choir of toddlers, parents, carers, and the volunteers and guests of the winter Hot Spot (and summer Cool Spot).
Toy poodle Honey is also a regular member of the drop-in group, which was set up almost three years for anyone who fancies a bit of company and food – provided by the volunteers and local bakery Bread Source. The Revd Annie Blyth said: “We sit here on a Sunday and talk about the work of Jesus Christ. We are living it, we are doing it here.”
On November 9 Bishop Graham opened a moving, and impressively researched, exhibition following the lives and deaths of villagers who left Saxlingham Nethergate to fight in the First World War. At the culmination of work to restore the village war memorial he learned the tragic stories of men whose names it are carved into it.
The Bishop confirmed 10 people at St Mary’s Church, Baconsthorpe, as well as visiting 87-year-old Derek to confirm him with his wife and vicar present.
On November 11 he joined the congregation at St Peter’s, Lingwood, to license the Revd Jane Morris as Rector of Lingwood. And on November 16 he was in Walsingham to license Father Benjamin Eadon as the 12th priest administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
At a service in Norwich Cathedral Bishop Graham installed the new Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich. The officially titled Worshipful Jacqueline Humphreys becomes the senior legal officer of the diocese. Retired Norwich Crown Court judge Stephen Holt was installed as a lay canon of Norwich Cathedral at another service.
At the end of the month the Bishop of Norwich joined the local leaders of six other churches – the Rt Revd Peter Collins, the Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, Liz Hoffbauer of Norwich Quakers, the Revd Helen Hollands, chair of East Anglia Methodist District, the Revd David Mayne, regional minister team leader for the Eastern Baptist Association, the Revd Lythan Nevard, moderator for the Eastern Synod of the United Reformed Church, and Major Howard Russell, East of England Divisional Commander for the Salvation Army, to renew, sign and celebrate an ecumenical covenant pledging to work together to further the gospel.
It was announced that the Bishop’s Garden had helped 10 Norfolk charities raise more than £25,000 this spring and summer.
The garden was the backdrop as Bishop Graham presented the Bishop of Norwich Ecology Prize to University of East Anglia student Liz Allocca for her top-scoring dissertation on climate change and bird migration.
Members of the Church Commissioners for England enjoyed seeing the garden too, when they met in Norfolk for a board meeting.
At the Diocesan Synod, which meets three times a year, Bishop Graham spoke about responding to the Makin Review and set out his hopes for the work of the new Synod.
He also spent a day with the rural deans of the diocese.
In a busy month for Bishop Graham’s national and international commitments he wrote an opinion piece for the Eastern Daily Press after returning from Colombia, where he led the international Anglican delegation to the UN biodiversity conference, COP16.
Here he met decision-makers from around the world to talk about the importance of halting nature loss.
He wrote another piece for the Eastern Daily Press, and a pastoral letter to the people of his diocese, setting out his deep concerns about proposals to legalise assisted suicide.
And he wrote to the people of the diocese after the publication of the Makin report into the horrific abuse inflicted on boys, and the subsequent resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury
In the House of Lords Bishop Graham spoke about the costs of not investing in renewable energy – increasing migration, conflict, biodiversity loss and food security issues. And in a debate on the Rule of Law he talked about how key pillars of our society are grounded in the Bible, including human rights, all being equal before the law and protection for the vulnerable. He tabled questions about the impact of changes to inheritance tax for small farmers, focusing on how it might affect conservation, young people and mental health.
