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Political issues are also moral issues for Bishop Peter and the family is the most important one currently. He is encouraged that such a large proportion of the support and practical help given to those in need in our society is provided by the churches and Christian organisations.
His achievements include the strategy document Moving Forward, which set a vision for the diocese in the context of the Decade of Evangelism. He has encouraged the development of new forms of lay and ordained ministry, making Norwich a leader in the field of the Ordained Local Ministry. This began as an experiment a few years ago and means that people are called to training and even ordination within their own parish for service in that very parish. There is an emphasis on ministry teams - there are now about 300 lay readers and a number of people undertaking specific ministries such as bereavement visiting.
Bishop Peter came to value the ministry of women and has supported and encouraged the ordination of women, while remaining sensitive to the different position of some others in the church.
As Bishop Peter, now 65 years old, looks forward to retirement, he also looks back with quiet assurance that he has been led throughout by the God he seeks to serve.
He didn't always want that. Although brought up in a devout Christian family, as a young man he drifted away from God and it was while he was in the army in Germany that he began to think seriously again about God. A talk by Major Batt, the death of his father, a year in hospital with tuberculosis and talking with other Christians and clergy all contributed to this journey of faith.
He was also greatly influenced by two books: Cry the beloved country by Alan Paton and Trevor Huddlestone's Nought for your comfort. "If God was true," he said, " the most important question in the world was 'what did God want me to do?'"
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The call to the ministry was quite a slow one and Bishop Peter remembers that he resisted a lot. After being accepted for ordination, he went to train at Westcott House, Cambridge. He appreciated the range of churchmanship represented there which mirrored his own experience - his Anglo-Catholic family background and the later influence of evangelicals.
His honesty with God is reflected in the fact that he questioned his call to ordination right up to the last moment when a wise bishop reminded him that "the opposite of faith is not doubt but sight"
Bishop Peter has had a varied ministry: parish work, a stimulating but demanding five-year chaplaincy to students in Cambridge, Bishop of Taunton before coming to Norwich.
From the beginning he has always sought to encourage links between the churches and if there is a disappointment as he retires, it is that there has not been more progress in that area.
However he feels that the time for institutional linkings is probably past and the most important thing now is for Christians to be seen to be loving one another and working together.
Bishop Peter and his wife look forward to returning to the Cotswolds and to having more time for their family, particularly their seven grandchildren. He hopes to enjoy gardening, fishing and painting.
He will, of course, be available to help and support the church in that area but will also have a specific role as Dean of the new Priory of England within the Order of St John of Jerusalem, an organisation devoted to charitable work, mainly through the St. John Ambulance.
Christians in Norwich and Norfolk will want to wish him God-speed.
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