Lord Carey—The Occupy protest at St Paul’s Cathedral - a parable of our times

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The inevitable resignation of the Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s, Giles Fraser, via the predictable medium of Twitter, is a sad day for one of our great national churches. But the departure of this able man, and now the planned reopening of the cathedral, should at least bring to an end the hand-wringing and posturing of the past two weeks. My paramount concern throughout has been that the reputation of Christianity is being damaged by the episode, and, more widely, that the possibility of fruitful and peaceful protest has been brought into disrepute.

The Blitz only closed St Paul’s for four days. By contrast, the Occupy London Stock Exchange protesters, camped outside Wren’s masterpiece, managed to put it out of business for a week. It has been a debacle that should prompt urgent public debate both within the Church of England, and throughout society at large.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • Urban/City Life and Issues • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Stock Market • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

6 Comments
Posted October 27, 2011 at 5:48 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. A Senior Priest wrote:

Yes, yes, yes, all true. A debacle. At least the protesters should have been required to provide unhindered easy access to the church, and then they would have become a tourist attraction. BTW… George Carey is called Lord Carey, or Lord Carey of Clifton. But never, ever is he referred to as Lord George Carey, unmistakably indicating that he’s the younger son of Duke or a Marquess, which he’s not.

The error is corrected. Thank you.

-Elf

October 27, 8:30 pm | [comment link]
2. NoVA Scout wrote:

I very much appreciate the punctilious and polite correction in Comment no. 1, concerning proper titles and forms of address.  These are virtually impenetrable to most Americans, but provide a flicker of hope that There’ll Always Be An England.

October 28, 7:38 am | [comment link]
3. Pageantmaster [KJS to Coventry] wrote:

#2 Fear not - help is at hand!

October 28, 9:43 am | [comment link]
4. evan miller wrote:

Pageantmaster, you’re a gem!

October 28, 11:28 am | [comment link]
5. New Reformation Advocate wrote:

All true.  I too thank Pageantmaster and A Senior Priest for their contributions here.

But what about Lord Carey’s essay itself?  From this side of the Pond, it seems to me that he’s right on target.  Only perhaps, he may have understated things a bit.  In good English fashion.

My favorite part: The Blitz only closed St. Paul’s for four days.  The Occypy Lond Square Movement managed to do it for a week.

Nice zinger.

David Handy+

October 28, 1:30 pm | [comment link]
6. New Reformation Advocate wrote:

Oops, I meant Occupy London Stock Exchange.  (Foolish American)

DH+

October 28, 1:32 pm | [comment link]
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