THE enthronement today of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is unlikely to be without controversy. Peace groups have threatened to demonstrate outside the Cathedral to make plain their feelings on war on Iraq.

Controversy is a familiar refrain in relation to Dr Williams. This is a misunderstanding of him.

He does not set out to deliberately be a troublesome priest, but he does feel his job is to act as society's conscience by asking awkward questions -- or as a teacher who is trying to bring back morality.

IT has been a long wait. His appointment was announced what feels like years ago, yet finally Dr Williams, who expressed disbelief at the announcement, is here.

It is the day when his ministry as the local bishop begins and as an archbishop he feels it important to have roots in the local community.

"I've missed that terribly for the last couple of months so one of the things I'm looking forward to enormously is actually beginning to relate in a concrete way to the people of the churches of the diocese of Canterbury," he said.

With two bishops (Dover and Maidstone) sharing administrative responsibilities he sees a chance to wander around the parishes, possibly joining in worship in churches or doing some teaching.

Admitting that it would be difficult to spend as much time as he would like to in Canterbury because of the national and international context of his role, he said: "I will want to get to know Canterbury and Kent as well as I can. We are looking at the diary to see just how much time at weekends I can realistically spend."

Past performance in Wales suggests he is deeply concerned with local issues and with trying to get to know the community. But it has been odd that he has not until now been introduced to the local media and therefore the local people and this is an area in which he needs to find balance.

It can only be hoped that things will settle down for him, giving him time to find his feet. He is currently a hot commodity with requests for interviews coming from the worldwide media. The diary currently was not a pretty sight, he said, apologetically.

It is because of this huge workload that he has perhaps not been able to get to grips with the local issues yet. He was aware of the Kent and Canterbury hospital downgrading, but needed to become briefed about what had actually happened before saying anything publicly.

He has had a briefing on Kent's make-up and was aware of areas that faced severe deprivation and radical change and here he thinks he can help in two ways.

When Archbishop of Wales he used to visit valley parishes in South Wales. "People who feel they are being taken seriously do have a little bit more confidence and that little bit more hope," he pointed out.

Secondly the church could act as an honest broker by bringing people together. Again he had done something like this in Wales.

On asylum-seekers he returned to the line he has been attacked for expressing when he suggested that society would be best served by putting asylum-seekers in secure accommodation units until their claims were sorted out.

There were human rights issues and security issues that were difficult to balance, he said. His main concern was to have a fair and rapid asylum process rather than the delay many are subjected to.

His second concern is on how asylum-seekers are integrated into communities with the minimum of antagonism.

"I wasn't making any specific proposals about policy but trying to say that of course there's a security question but it has to be seen in connection with a whole range of other issues.

"Again in South Wales the church has been, myself included, very much involved in looking at the conditions for asylum-seekers," he said.

Iraq has filled the newspapers for weeks. Dr Williams and the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor have both said the moral case for war had not been made. He is urging everyone to pray hard for peace and for those likely to be directly affected.

"It's our duty to challenge consciences," he said, making the point that the church had to ask political leaders about the human costs of war. During the service he will not be imploring Prime Minister Tony Blair not to go to war. Instead the sermon will be on the Bible readings in the service.

"I've never thought that a sermon is a place to make grandstanding public statements and my priority is simply to try to interpret the Bible in that service."

Was war likely? With what appeared to have been a heavy heart he said: "We are not there yet."

In short Dr Williams is a likeable man. He is a genuinely humble person who speaks in measured and modest tones.

One hopes the people of Canterbury will take to him as he hopes to take to the city.