There are many highly comical elements of the Occupy London/St Paul’s debacle – the Trustafarian queues for Starbucks, the empty tents, the misconceived ‘Elf and Safety’ fears, the general sense of it all being such a pointless waste of time – but one that has really tickled me is the martyrdom of Dr Giles Fraser, the Cathedral’s canon chancellor.
He resigned from his post yesterday with “great sadness and regret”, on the righteous grounds that he wanted no part in anything that might involve the Church “using violence” against the protestors. Given that this wasn’t at all likely to happen, his resignation must be one of the most frivolous in memory. But you only need to look at Fraser to know that here is not only one of those clergymen who, given half a chance, would be bringing electric guitars into St Paul’s or trying to get down with the kids by organising (alcohol-free) “raves for Jesus”; but also a man who hungers for celebrity.
He needlessly announced his needless self-sacrifice on Twitter. Bet you anything he’ll be popping up in the media whenever a talking head is required on “What it means to be a Christian in the modern world….”
Odd. It was imagined that the camp would obstruct evacuation in an emergency?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the Anglican cathedral in Washington, DC, is awaiting repair from earthquake damage. I guess it's open, but it has its own monetary problems.
Bet you anything he’ll be popping up in the media whenever a talking head is required on “What it means to be a Christian in the modern world….”
ReplyDeleteHe already does - predictably, he's a Thought for the Day bod.
I met him once and he was nice and friendly. He does seem to have got his knickers in a twist. But, as you suggest, the whole thing has the trademark absurdity, bathos and disproportion of the English scandal (c.f. duckhouses).
This has a nice postmodern feel to it. The protestors don't have any particular grievance or entitlement they can articulate, but the Church is gearing up to apologize to them anyway.
ReplyDeleteAm I alone in thinking that the obvious stance for the church to have taken from the outset, would have been to get behind Occupy London and perhaps even offer them some space, for a dignified protest against the lack of restraint from Mammon? God knows (perhaps) that organization could do with some positive press.....
ReplyDeleteM- my understanding is that's exactly what Fraser did, but the trouble was they wouldn't go away.
ReplyDeleteI'd be tetchy too if my name immediately put people in mind of two sitcom characters noted for erudite buffoonery.
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