CLIMATE campaigners, during protests at several cathedrals on Saturday, have called on the Church of England to be more prophetic in speaking out about environmental issues.
Members of Christian Climate Action hung banners from the tower of Bath Abbey and the roof of Winchester Cathedral. At York Minster and Westminster Abbey, they held banners contained in the constructing, while at Durham Cathedral they displayed one on the cloister lawn. On Sunday, prayer vigils were held across the country at 14 other churches.
From the windy rooftop of Winchester Cathedral, Karen Grattage, a mother of 1 and a churchwarden within the diocese of Bath & Wells, posted a video on social media. She said: “I don’t wish to be here, this isn’t what I assumed I’d ever should do. This is a plea to the Church of England to make use of its position, its authority, its influence to actually speak out and make a difference. The politicians aren’t listening, big business doesn’t care; they put profit ahead of individuals. So we’re really calling on the Church.”
The protests followed the publication of a document titled Stop Crucifying Creation (News, 2 September) which was sent to Church of England clergy over the previous fortnight, urging the Church to “find its courage to talk out more clearly against the forces which can be driving us towards deadly climate collapse” and “to stop doing harm to the planet through its own activities and to return to its radical roots”.
Giannis AlexClimate protestors in York Minster on Saturday
Over the course of the weekend, the police made 4 arrests. Responses from the churches which had been targeted were mixed. Some, like St Paul’s Cathedral confiscated leaflets given to visitors on their way in, whereas others were reported to have been “welcoming”.
At Winchester Cathedral, one in every of the protestors, James Grote, who also took to the roof on Saturday, was invited to talk from the front on the Sunday morning service. In his introduction, the Very Revd Roland Riem, the interim Dean, told the congregation that the group had “spent a really uncomfortable time on the roof, showing us their commitment to this cause”. He said: “Let us be very mindful that within the Christian tradition there’s an uncomfortable prophetic element and we must take heed of that.”
Sue Hampton, a grandmother, was one other member of the group who took part within the protest at Winchester. “I actually have loved Jesus all my life but since my baptism within the Church of England, aged 22, I actually have struggled to seek out within the Church Christ’s radical inclusive love — a love that might be crying out for climate justice and peace, a love that might tirelessly challenge the deadly fossil-fuel industry and champion the poor who’ve to this point suffered most,” she said.
