Le Blogging Mondial A L'Institut Oecumenique

Our bloggists are scattered to the winds. This post is being written amidst the elegant tranquillity of a 14th century chateau on the shores of Lac Leman. From the lawn I can see the great fountain of Geneva in the distance, and across the lake the Alps look enticingly jagged and clear. Behind me thunderclouds are massing above the Jura mountains.
I'm here to help celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of my friends the Defrocked Priest & the Double Duchess. If this sounds to you like a collision between Ben Travers and The News Of The World you'd not be entirely wrong. The chateau - an ecumenical college run by the World Council Of Churches - is where they met many years ago, and they have reunited an exotic collection of friends for the weekend. One of the unexpected pleasures of such company is that everybody naturally assumes that a tall, slightly imposing-looking middle-aged man must be a bishop at the very least. I was extremely reluctant to disabuse anybody of this notion until last night when I bumped into the real thing. The Bishop of Minnesota is slight, very chic & in her late 40s. She graciously declined my offer to kiss her ring, to the visible relief of onlookers.