Call him Bishop Walkabout

Bishop of Melbourne walks his city using this greeting:"Hi, I'm Philip, and I'm the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne"
Why? To learn firsthand the hopes, wishes, and needs of his city

"AN ANGLICAN meets a Catholic." Now there's a sentence you kind of hope might lead to an ecclesiastical joke. Something, perhaps, by Irish funny man Dave Allen.

Such were the possibilities when Melbourne's new Anglican Archbishop, Philip Freier, left St Paul's Cathedral at lunchtime yesterday, crossed Flinders Street, and parked himself on a Federation Square step.

There he chatted with Narre Warren alpaca farmers Barbara and Adrian Corkeron, the latter of whom told Dr Freier he had history with the Jesuits.

Schism was averted in the spirit of ecumenism. It's all right, Dr Freier indicated, I'm just here to ask people what I should understand about Melbourne.

The Corkerons were among the first people approached by the senior cleric on day one of his Prayer4Melbourne Quest — a two-month tour of Melbourne public spaces to find out our hopes, wishes and prayers for the city.

Each week of his quest, Dr Freier will journey to places such as Fountain Gate. At the end of his mission, he will write a prayer for Melbourne, based on the themes brought to his attention.

Read it all at The Age of Australia.

Photo and text courtesy of The Age.