Stars congratulate new bishop

Hollywood superstar couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones have sent congratulations to their cousin, who will tonight become the youngest-ever Anglican Bishop of Bermuda.

The Rev Nicholas Dill, 49, will formally take over the top job in the island’s biggest church at a ceremony in the Anglican Cathedral in Hamilton.

But Bishop-Elect Dill said that his famous cousin and actress wife are at the Cannes Film Festival in France and will be unable to attend the service.

Bishop-Elect Dill said: “I did get a nice communication from them. Sadly, they won’t be here, but they have sent their best wishes.”

Bishop-Elect Dill added: “I am a little nervous, but I’m looking forward to it. It will be a great occasion — although it feels like it’s happening to someone else at the moment.”

The father-of-six said that one of his main priorities was making the church more attractive and relevant to young people.

He added: “I am happy to talk in any situation, but as a matter of theology I’m more of the evangelical branch of the church.

“My preference personally is low church, but I always value the tradition of others. On Saturday, I made a pilgrimage and visited all the Anglican churches on the island and they all have different ways of doing things. There is a breadth of spirituality out there.

“There is probably a tradition of more middle-of-the-road to high church in Bermuda, but I think people are looking for new expressions to make the church more accessible to people of all ages.”

But he said: “I’m going to be here for a while, so I will take time to listen to people, get to know them and let them get to know me. Almost immediately, I want to get a discussion on youth ministry and reaching out to young people as soon as possible. That will be high on the agenda.”

Bishop-Elect Dill added that he also wanted to see the church operate in a more coordinated way as a diocese, rather than as nine individual parishes.

And he said that, although the Anglican faith had seen a drop in the number of faithful in the last census, his own former parish of St John’s in Pembroke had bucked the trend. He added: “That’s largely through efforts to attract the youth and being involved in outreach, supplying meals and support to families going through hard times.”