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Mon Jul 30th 2012
Penrith Rotary Club were delighted to welcome as their guest speaker, the Bishop of Penrith, the Rt. Revd Robert Freeman at Monday’s meeting at the town’s George Hotel.

Penrith Rotary Club were delighted to welcome as their guest speaker, the Bishop of Penrith, the Rt. Revd Robert Freeman at Monday’s meeting at the town’s George Hotel.  They quickly learned that the title Bishop of Penrith is something of a misnomer. The post was created in 1534 during the reign of Henry VIII. It certainly takes its name from our town of Penrith but there is no special connection to it, save for the title itself. In fact The Bishop of Penrith lives in Kendal and his job responsibilities include assisting the Bishop of Carlisle in overseeing the whole of Cumbria.

Following ordination Mr Freeman worked as a curate in Blackpool where part of his role was chaplain to the Tower Circus and Winter Gardens and he also served in London, Leicester and Brighouse before his consecration as Bishop of Penrith in York Minster, 9 months ago.

The Bishop explained his interest in helping people outside the church to explore, perhaps discover, Christian faith for themselves. He informed his audience that within a resident Cumbrian population of about 500,000 the maximum number of people attending church on a Sunday was around 25,000; so 5% currently provided lots of room for improvement. It may not be possible for some to take the first step towards regular church attendance so a key aspect of his ministry was to warm people up to the possibility of God.

On behalf of the Rotary Club, Peter Markey thanked Bishop Robert Freeman for his thoughtful talk, which had been full of humanity and humour.