The Rev. Canon Samuel Wells once said he would never live in America.
"I was very comfortable in the job I was in," Wells said, speaking about his role as priest at St. Mark's Church in Cambridge, England.
A week after he made that statement, though, he was in talks with Duke administrators about his new job: dean of the Duke Chapel and the University's chief spiritual figure.
"If you want to make God laugh, you tell him your plans," he added. "You find yourself doing things you never thought you would do."
A fourth-generation priest in the Anglican Church, Wells was installed Sunday as the fifth dean of Duke Chapel.
Wells described his role at the University as both the person who will lead the weekly worship and the person who will act as a constant reminder to the community about God. The dean, who received his doctorate in Christian ethics from Durham University in England, added that he will also engage the community on an intellectual level.
"My role is to irritate those who think Christianity is irrelevant and comfort those who feel God is part of them," Wells said.
When Wells was appointed in March 2005, the search committee hinted that a driving force behind his selection was his dedication to the underserved.
Wells served as a community worker in inner-city Liverpool before training for his ordination and established a non-profit organization that helps disadvantaged children gain opportunities.
The dean said he will work with the religious community to strengthen ties between the Chapel and the poorest neighborhoods of Durham.
"You can talk about institutional structures, funding and initiatives all you like, but there is one type of relationship that really changes things, and that's friendship," he said. "You have to ask the second question, not 'How are you?' but 'What is it like being you?' and be prepared to be changed by that."
But his journey to Duke was not one without turbulence. His installation almost had to be postponed due to United States immigration laws, but those problems were worked out in time, and Wells arrived on campus about six weeks ago.
"It shows that America is getting very serious about what kind of people it welcomes to its soil," Wells said. "It didn't feel very welcoming. But the welcoming since I've been in Durham and in the Duke community has been particularly warm and made up for any other feelings I've had."
He said he is still adjusting to Duke and its traditions, adding that he does not quite understand Duke basketball. But he agrees with most tenters who say the Duke game against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a religious experience.
"People make sacrifices for tenting, they focus together on a common goal and they shape their life around it," he said. "Well that's a religion. Whether it has transcendent significance or whether it brings the wonderful gifts God really has to give is another matter."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.