The Bishop of Norwich was this week awarded an honorary doctorate by the university where he studied for his first degree more than 30 years ago.
He said he was surprised and delighted by the honour, awarded to recognise his environmental work with the Church of England.
The Rt Revd Graham Usher, studied ecological science at the University of Edinburgh and was introduced at the ceremony by a professor who had taught him as an undergraduate.
“Graham said he wanted to go into the Church. This sounded most unusual for an ecology graduate, and I remember thinking ‘You’ll probably become a Bishop!’” said Emeritus Professor John Grace.
“He was a quiet chap, but he always turned in excellent essays. My rule was: I only gave a mark of ‘A’ if the essay was at least as good as I could have done myself. I think all of Graham’s marks were ‘A’. I was not surprised to see him awarded First Class Honours, one of only four in his year.”
At his graduation, 33 years ago, Bishop Graham said Sir James Lovelock of the Gaia hypothesis was awarded an honorary doctorate. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be similarly honoured,” he said.
Addressing the students about to graduate with degrees in the geo-sciences he said: “Over the three decades since I sat where you are sitting, the world has become hotter and nature loss has accelerated…I appeal to you with all my heart and soul and mind and strength to tread gently on this our single island planet home. This beautiful, resilient, yet fragile common home of ours.
“However much we dream of future solutions, in which some of you will play a part, we need to act now to prevent yet more catastrophic climate change and nature loss. Greed, apathy and selfishness all play their part, and is why the world’s religions and philosophies have prophetic words to say and are at their best when they mobilise action.”
Bishop Graham is the Church of England’s lead bishop for the environment. He leads the Church of England Environment Programme which recognises the Church’s responsibility to respond to the climate crisis and nature loss as part of its care of God’s creation. Its work ranges from the push for the Church to reach net zero carbon to supporting parishes looking after churchyards for the benefit of nature and people. With climate change hitting the world’s poorest places and people the hardest, the Environment Programme also covers ethical investment and community action, plus worship and teaching.
The Bishop of Norwich regularly advocates for the environment in his role in the House of Lords and, internationally, as lead bishop for biodiversity in the Anglican Communion.
After graduating from Edinburgh he studied theology at Cambridge and was ordained in 1996. He went on to work with young offenders and set up a church community centre in one of the most deprived areas of the country before becoming Bishop of Dudley, then the youngest bishop in the Church of England. He has been Bishop of Norwich since 2019.
An honorary doctorate, in Latin “Doctor honoris causa” or for the sake of honour, is often conferred to recognise the recipient’s contributions to a specific field or to society in general. Bishop Graham received his honorary degree for his environmental work with the Church of England alongside retired astronaut and oceanologist Dr Kathy Sullivan.
Pictures: Andrew Perry/University of Edinburgh
