In 2001 Willis was appointed
Dean of Canterbury, the 39th holder of the office since the
Reformation. During his tenure he oversaw the enthronement of two
Archbishops of Canterbury (
Rowan Williams in 2003 and
Justin Welby in 2013) and arrangements for the 14th
Lambeth Conference in 2008. In response, Willis, filmed by his partner, Fletcher Banner, began to broadcast religious services from the
deanery garden at
Canterbury Cathedral. His video recordings of the daily service of
Morning Prayer have been watched by thousands of people around the world who dubbed themselves the "Garden Congregation". By the time the Dean retired in May 2022, he had produced well over 900 broadcasts and had cumulatively accrued millions of views on
YouTube and other platforms worldwide, reaching many who needed a point of contact, spiritual or otherwise, in the dark days of the lockdowns. The broadcasts were also downloaded and shared between Christian communities in parts of the world where it is dangerous for them to gather together or worship openly. The broadcasts followed the traditional pattern of daily morning prayer in the Anglican Church, built around the daily reading of Scripture and saying the psalms. The interweaving of all aspects of human history and creativity in arts, music, philosophy, literature into these services which were filmed all over the house and gardens from the pigsty to the roof, gained global appeal. The broadcasts celebrated noteworthy days such as
Thanksgiving,
Jewish New Year and
Chinese New Year, making them truly global and ecumenical, and the content drew heavily on the Dean's fifty years of ministry experience and keen concern for nature and the environment to draw attention to issues around the world. In May 2020 Willis received international media attention when his
cat, Leo, walked between his legs and under his
cassock. A similar incident occurred in July 2020, when another one of his cats, Tiger, began to drink from a jug of milk that had been positioned next to him. A third incident occurred during Willis' broadcast on
Shrove Tuesday 2021, when Tiger stole a pancake that was next to Willis.
Retirement and legacy On 16 February 2022, it was announced that Willis would retire as
Dean of Canterbury on 16 May. This was the day before his 75th birthday, and the Church of England insisted on observing its rule of compulsory retirement at that age. At the
Cathedral's
Evensong service on Sunday, 15 May 2022, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby, publicly thanked Dean Willis for his many years of service. Welby described Willis as "one of the most exceptional deans of the post-war period – overseeing Canterbury Cathedral’s life of worship, prayer and witness with creativity and imagination". In particular, he praised him for his online ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic, which "brought the comfort and hope of Jesus Christ to many thousands of people around the world". The journalist
Charles Moore, describing Willis as the last "great dean", wrote: "His voice was mellifluous, and he could preach in perfect sentences without need of notes, relating current events to a biblical text without strain, triviality or over-personalisation". He was acquainted with every corner of Canterbury Cathedral and its history, and enjoyed showing visitors around. Willis travelled widely in retirement, preaching at cathedrals and churches around the world, especially in North America, including
Washington National Cathedral in
Washington, D.C., the
Cathedral of Saint Philip in
Atlanta, Georgia,
Saint Thomas Church in
New York City,
Christ Church in
Greenwich, Connecticut, and various places of worship in the
Anglican Diocese of Toronto. He also became a resident fellow at
Berkeley Divinity School at
Yale, in
New Haven, Connecticut. ==Hymn writing==