Giles Fraser is saying goodbye to being a columnist for the Church Times. After 9 years he says:
I HAVE written this column for nine years. It is time for me to hang up my hat. It has been a huge privilege to write in these pages, and I want publicly to thank the work of the editorial team, who have been so supportive of my column.
Partly, this decision has to do with the arrival of a new Archbishop. Justin Welby is a good man, and will, I expect, make a fine leader of the Church. But his moral opposition to homosexuality remains a massive problem for me – as was that of his predecessor. I do not want to spend my time getting angry with him, or continually being ashamed at the Church of which I am, and will always try to remain, a part.
But the C of E is travelling in a different direction now. And there is something spiritually deadening about being in a state of permanent opposition to all of this. In my sermon on Sunday, I preached about the loyalty of Simeon and Anna, arguing that it is more important to say what you are for than what you are against. I need to take my own advice, and find a different space where I feel more comfortable saying what I am for.
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Sometimes you have to let the anger drop, if only for your own sanity. It’s time for fresh fields and pastures new.
Canon Giles Fraser is Priest-in-Charge of St Mary’s, Newington, in the diocese of Southwark.
The Café does not think this is the last we will hear from Giles but wish him all the best in his fresh fields and pastures.