Derek Rawcliffe

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Derek Rawcliffe (born July 8, 1921 in Manchester , † February 1, 2011 in Leeds ) was a British theologian . He was bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion .

Life

Derek Alec Rawcliffe was born the son of a tobacco dealer in Manchester. Rawcliffe's family later moved to Gloucester , where Rawcliffe grew up. There he went to Sir Thomas Rich's School . Rawcliffe regularly attended church services and concerts in Gloucester Cathedral ; at the age of 17 he decided to become a priest. He first studied at the University of Leeds , where he obtained a first degree in English . In preparation for the priesthood he attended the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield .

He was ordained a priest in 1944 . From 1944 to 1947 he was Vicar ( Curate ) at St George's Church in Claines , in the Diocese of Worcester . In 1947 he took a position as a teacher at the All Hallows School in Pawa in the Solomon Islands . Rawcliffe was there initially deputy principal, in 1953 he became headmaster of the school. In 1956 he changed and was rector of St. Mary's School in Maravovo , also on the Solomon Islands.

In 1959 he was appointed Archdeacon of South Melanesia ( Archdeacon of Southern Melanesia ) and will be based in Lolowai appointed. His responsibility also included the care of the communities of the New Hebrides ( New Hebrides ) and the Banks and Torres Islands . In 1974 he became Assistant Bishop of Melanesia, and in 1975 he was appointed the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of the New Hebrides. He held this office until 1980. Rawcliffe built the structures of the diocese and paved the way for the first "indigenous" bishop of the diocese. Rawcliffe dealt intensively with the culture of the islanders during his tenure and acquired knowledge of traditional healing methods used by the local people.

In 1980 he was appointed Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway in the Scottish Episcopal Church . He held this office until his retirement in 1991. He then moved to West Yorkshire , where he was appointed Honorary Assistant Bishop ( Assistant Bishop ) and performed extensive pastoral duties by David Young (1931-2008), then Bishop of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds . However, he had to give up the office of bishop in October 1996 after it became known that Rawcliffe had given homosexual couples the church blessing in the context of private marriage ceremonies.

Rawcliffe remained active as a priest until his death in his home ward, St Aidan's Church in Leeds. There he mainly looked after asylum seekers , people in need, the homeless and ecumenical matters . He was the senior oblate of the Anglican Benedictine Community at Nashdom and Elmore Abbeys since his oblation in 1947 .

Rawcliffe was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 .

Private

Rawcliffe was married to Susan Speight, who had worked as a ballet teacher and housekeeper , from 1977 until her death in 1989 . Speight was dependent on a wheelchair at the time of the wedding due to diabetic neuropathy ; however, their complaints decreased after a shared mystical belief experience due to a miracle healing .

Rawcliffe came out as gay on a television show in 1995 . At that time he was the highest-ranking representative of the Anglican Church who was openly homosexual. In an interview with the Yorkshire Post a few weeks later, Rawcliffe stated that he was always aware of his own homosexuality, at the latest when he fell in love with a young man who had made him clear advances during his time in Melanesia. He saw his homosexuality as a "gift from God" which gave him the ability to love.

Rawcliffe caused a further stir in an August 1995 article for Gay Times magazine calling for the consent age for homosexual contacts to be reduced to fourteen. In this context he wrote that he had homosexual contact with a much older man for the first time at the age of fourteen.

Rawcliffe initially lived in Bardsey , near Wetherby , where his father-in-law lived , during his retirement . He later moved to the Harehills neighborhood in Leeds. There he died in his home at the age of 89; On the morning of the day of his death, he had given the reading from the Holy Scriptures in his home church .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Requiem Mass for the late Rt Revd Derek Rawcliffe OBE ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. News on the Official Website of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.riponleeds.anglican.org
  2. ↑ Obituary: The Right Reverend Derek Rawcliffe Obituary in: The Scottish Christian, February 13, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Rawcliffe, Derek
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rawcliffe, Derek Alec
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Bishop of the Anglican Communion
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 2011
Place of death Leeds