THE Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, who announced earlier this month that he had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer (News, 13 February), has written to his diocese to say that he is now in the care of the hospice team.
In his message, issued on Friday, he said that his oncologist had told him this week that his tumour was “particularly aggressive and hard to manage”, and that chemotherapy was likely to do more harm than good. When asked how long he might live, the oncologist gave him the “sobering answer” that he would be “doing well” if he was alive in a month’s time.
Bishop Watson had previously hoped to continue in office until Easter. He has now, however, signed a deed of delegation handing responsibility for the diocese to the Bishop of Dorking, the Rt Revd Paul Davies. He apologised that he would be unable to fulfil his existing commitments.
“I don’t fear the prospect of dying and find to my relief that my faith in the ‘resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’ has only grown stronger over the past few weeks,” he writes.
He had “grumpy patches”, he said, but considered himself “deeply blessed” to have been born into a loving family, to have been “joyfully married” for 40 years and raised four “remarkable” children, and to have had such a fulfilling ministry in the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury had paid a “welcome pastoral visit”, he said, and he asked for continued prayers for her in her “daunting new responsibilities”.
A Day of Prayer for Bishop Watson, at Guildford Cathedral, has been organised for Monday, 23 February. In his letter — which, the Bishop acknowledges, is likely to be his last — he expressed thanks for the “tidal wave of love, prayer and goodwill” that had flowed since his diagnosis became public, and said that he and his family were “particularly moved” to hear the news of the vigil.
