Not woke enough to be a vicar so blocked from ordination

Trainee priest Calvin Robinson                Source: Mail Online 

The MailOnline reports that despite spending more than £20,000 of parishioners’ money on sending him to study theology at at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, Calvin Robinson was blocked from becoming a priest in the Church of England by a white bishop for saying that Britain is not a racist country.

Lecturing him about racism in the church, the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Sarah Mullally, told Calvin, "As a white woman I can tell you that the Church IS institutionally racist."

They had been discussing the Church’s race policy, which Calvin had been vocally objecting to for some time. The bishop could not understand that as a black man, he simply did not share her – and the Church hierarchy’s – view on this contentious issue.

He says, "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has proclaimed that the Church of England is ‘deeply institutionally racist’ and called for ‘radical and decisive’ action. Last year an Anti-Racism Task Force recommended using quotas to boost the number of black and ethnic-minority senior clergy, introducing salaried ‘racial justice officers’ in all 42 dioceses and launching ‘racial justice Sunday’ once a year."

Calvin said that he fundamentally disagreed with this approach, which is based on a faith in divisive Left-wing Critical Race Theory, instead of the teachings of Christ. I believe it is divisive and offensive.

The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev Jonathan Baker, told Calvin that there had been ‘a lot of turbulence’ over some of the views he had expressed online and on TV. It was no secret that senior figures in the Church disliked him. 

Calvin said, "I am after all a traditionalist – which means I do not believe in the ordination of women – and I have never been afraid to voice my criticism of the Church’s drift away from what I, and many of its parishioners, think are its core values. I did not expect everyone to agree with me, but what I did expect is the right to express my own opinions. I had always been taught that the Church of England was a broad church."

Emails obtained via data-protection rules revealed that bishops at the very top of the Church of England had been closely scrutinising Calvin's public comments: ‘His political agenda is I guess what you would call libertarian – anti-woke, anti-identity politics, Covid-sceptical,’ the Bishop of Fulham wrote in one email. ‘His tweets get him into trouble sometimes and there have been complaints to the Bishop of London that he shouldn’t be ordained.’

Calvin was to be ordained as a deacon with a part-time role as assistant curate at St Alban’s Church in Holborn, central London. In February the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev Jonathan Baker, told him the role was ‘likely to prove problematic, and would not lead to a fruitful or happy formation for you in your early years in ordained ministry’. He offered to reduce his media work but was told he would still not be able to take up the proposed role because ‘that moment had passed’.

At a meeting with Calvin, Bishop Mullally insisted the decision was not about his politics, but because his ‘presence’ on social media and TV ‘is often divisive and brings disunity’.

The Rev Kate Bottley              Source OK

Presumably the bishop of London has not noticed the ever present Gogglebox star, the Rev Kate Bottley on TV and elsewhere along with countless clergy who constantly tweet their trivia on Twitter.  

Kate is described on Wikipedia as "a Church of England priest in North Nottinghamshire, a role which she combines with her other roles of journalist, media presenter and reality television star. She appears frequently on British radio and television as well as in newspapers." 

As Calvin pointed out, it’s not just issues of race and gender. 

It seems the Church will affirm any liberal progressive secular view, but clamp down on conservative views, either political or theological.

"If you defend family values, the sanctity of marriage, all human life being sacred, or the fact that God made us male and female, you will face opprobrium" he said.

"Something has gone wrong. The established Church is entering apostasy, and the faithful masses in the congregations and the hard-working clergy deserve better."

Exactly!

Postscript [01.06.2022]

 From Twitter: Cancelled by Woke Church of England - Calvin Robinson

The penalty for keeping the faith. Welcome to the club!