"I'm still Dorrien"

This weekend the Right Reverend Dorrien Davies has been enthroned as the 130th Bishop of St Davids in a cathedral which is the mother church of a large diocese covering the west Wales counties of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. It’s a part of Wales that Bishop Dorrien knows well – having studied at Lampeter, served as a curate in Llanelli and subsequently as parish priest in Llanfihangel Ystrad Aeron and at St Dogmaels before being made a Residentiary Canon at St Davids Cathedral in 2010. Five years ago he was appointed to a senior role as Archdeacon of Carmarthen; he’s well-known and popular in the diocese.

He succeeds the Rt Revd Joanna Penberthy who retired last year following a lengthy period of sick leave. Her time in office wasn’t without controversy following a tweet for which she subsequently apologised in which she said “Never, never, never trust a Tory.”

Bishop Dorrien was born and brought up in Abergwili near Carmarthen which is also where Llys Esgob – the Bishop’s Palace – is situated. That’s where Jonathan Thomas recorded a conversation earlier this week, covering a wide-range of topics and issues including climate change, historic churches, the management of differing opinions over same-sex blessings and the role of the Church in an election year. He also recalls growing up in the shadow of the Bishop's Palace in Abergwili, and his consecration service as a bishop in Bangor Cathedral last weekend.