Another is that he is a big man -- about the size of President-Elect Trump, maybe six feet two and hardly emaciated. Another similarity is that his mannerisms and timing command respect. I suspect that, like Trump, he's easily underrated.
I was interested in what he'd say in his homily. Again, it was a pastoral exercise, and it was about Epiphany. He focused on several parts of the gospel narrative: Herod's request of the magi that they tell him where the newborn Christ was located, the massacre of the Holy Innocents, and the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. He made the repeated point that in these times, it's also become more difficult to be Christian, and it still involves the way of the Cross.
Hepworth clearly has a deep understanding and familiarity with scripture and salvation history, which came out in his homily. He's also focused on the world as it is. Although some visitors here, and other observers elsewhere, have suggested he's something of a con artist, I got nothing like that from his visit.
I came away with the impression, like that of other correspondents here, that Hepworth is a complex man, but I would add to it that he's something of a visionary. He saw a potential in the Portsmouth Petition that simply hasn't been realized. It reminds me of the sense of potential, if not necessarily optimism, that I get whenever I visit the St Mary's parish.
