At a press conference in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, the day before his installation, the new Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Frank Griswold, described experiences that had changed him and, perhaps, the style of his ministry.

He recalled moving from one congregation to another early in his ministry. "I remember arriving and having a very fully formed sense of what I should do. I came armed with a file of sermons I had given at the [church] where when you spoke the lights dimmed and the sexton adjusted the sound system. Suddenly I found myself in a room ... that seated 120 people. And I realized that I had to learn over again what it meant to minister.

"The congregation pulled ministry out of me," he said. "I was not so much shaping and forming them as I was being shaped and formed by them." Each time he moved, he said, he was formed anew by the community, and this will happen with his new community in his new position.

In Chicago - "a very direct part of the world ... where people tell it like it is" - he said, "I found myself being much more courageous and forthright." After he became accustomed to the style, he said, "I realized that this is really healthy. Much better than kind of polite murmurings while behind your back all kinds of untoward things get said and done." He has learned, he said, "there is an incredible richness to the life of this country and the life of this church that exists in the Midwest, and I certainly hope not to become a prisoner of the East Coast over the next nine years."

As his first act as Presiding Bishop, "I fled to a monastery in upstate New York for five days of retreat ... a Benedictine community there I've known for 34 years."

Asked about dealing with "diverse groups," he said that "a bishop's heart must be open, a bishop's door must be open to everyone, absolutely everyone. Don't try to pin me down either to the right or to the left ... I'm ready for conversation. All one can do is open the door and say please come in, please sit down and let's talk.

"On the other hand," he continued, "they can choose not to come in and talk, there's no way to compel them to do so." Questioned specifically about PECUSA, Inc. [TLC, Jan. 11] he said he had received a letter from Bishop Wantland of Eau Claire "indicating a desire on his part to talk with me. I look forward to that conversation."

He expressed regret that foreign mission commitment has lessened in recent years, while the church in the United States has been "preoccupied."

Among other things, he plans to work on "ecumenical and inter-faith relationships." First, however, is just learning "what does it mean to be the Presiding Bishop, just getting my sea legs ..." and learning the names of the 200 or so staffers at the Episcopal Church Center.

Episcopal News Service contributed to this report.