CLIMATE protesters at cathedrals on Saturday 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 inside the building, while, at Durham Cathedral, they displayed one on the cloister lawn. On Sunday, prayer vigils were held across the country at 14 other churches across the country.
From the windy rooftop of Winchester Cathedral, Karen Grattage, a mother of one and a churchwarden in the diocese of Bath & Wells, posted a video on social media. She said: “I don’t want to be here: this isn’t what I thought I would ever have to do. This is a plea to the Church of England to use its position, its authority, its influence to really speak out and make a difference. The politicians aren’t listening. Big business doesn’t care; they put profit ahead of people. So we are really calling on the Church.”
The protests followed the publication of a document, 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 speak out more clearly against the forces that are driving us towards deadly climate collapse” and “to cease doing harm to the planet through its own activities and to return to its radical roots”.
Giannis AlexClimate protesters in York Minster on Saturday
Over the weekend, the police made four arrests. Responses from the churches that had been targeted were mixed. Some, such as 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 of the protesters, James Grote, who also took to the roof on Saturday, was invited to speak from the front at the Sunday-morning service. In his introduction, the Very Revd Roland Riem, the interim Dean, told the congregation that the group had “spent a very uncomfortable time on the roof, showing us their commitment to this cause”. He said: “Let us be very mindful that in the Christian tradition there is an uncomfortable prophetic element and we must take heed of that.”
Sue Hampton, a grandmother, was another member of the group who took part in the protest at Winchester. “I have loved Jesus all my life but since my baptism in the Church of England, aged 22, I have struggled to find in the Church Christ’s radical inclusive love — a love that would be crying out for climate justice and peace, a love that would tirelessly challenge the deadly fossil-fuel industry and champion the poor who have so far suffered most,” she said.