Stanley Booth-Clibborn

Stanley Booth-Clibborn at a Good Friday sermon in the 1980s

Stanley Eric Francis Booth-Clibborn (born October 20, 1924 in London , † March 6, 1996 in Edinburgh ) was a dignitary of the Church of England and from 1979 to 1993 Bishop of Manchester . He was particularly committed to the responsibility of the church and politics in social issues, the ordination of women and issues of ecumenism .

Life

Youth and education

Stanley Booth-Clibborn was the son of Reverend John Eric Booth-Clibborn, a Church of England minister, and his wife Lucille, née Leonard. His paternal grandmother was Catherine Booth-Clibborn , the eldest daughter of William Booth , founder of the Salvation Army . The father died in the year Stanley was born and the mother lived until 1989.

Booth-Clibborn attended Highgate School in Highgate , Middlesex . In 1942 he was drafted into the British Army and served in the Royal Artillery until 1945 and in the Royal Indian Artillery from 1946 to 1947 . During this time he was promoted to captain .

After the end of his army service Booth-Clibborn took up a study at Oriel College of Oxford University , where he attended courses on modern history. He completed his university education in 1950 with a "second-class degree". Then he prepared at the theological college Westcott House in Cambridge on the ordination before. He was ordained a deacon in 1952 and a clergyman in 1953. From 1952 to 1954 he served in the Diocese of Sheffield as a curator in Heeley and then until 1956 in Attercliffe , the latter an area in the suburban, steel industry-dominated northeast of Sheffield .

Activity in ecumenism

In 1956, Booth-Clibborn decided to go to Africa in the spirit of the ecumenical movement and until 1963 served as secretary for the Council of Christian Churches in Kenya . In this role he was responsible for the training of local clergy, a task he took very seriously as the dissolution of the British Empire was looming and the Christian churches of Africa were to be prepared for independence through the training of qualified leaders. In Booth-Clibborn's view, this also meant that simple clergymen as well as higher ecclesiastical dignitaries paid attention to political issues. In this sense, he also emphatically campaigned as editor-in-chief of the newspapers Rock (1957 to 1964) and Target and Lengo (1963 to 1967), the latter grouped under the term East African Venture Newspapers . At an early stage he also spoke out in favor of the release of Jomo Kenyatta, who had been sentenced to seven years of forced labor - although the British colonial powers held him responsible for the horrors of the Mau Mau War .

His opinionated comments led to conflicts with both more evangelikar oriented missionaries who opposed the politicization of religion, as well as with the colonial administrations that were regularly criticized in Booth Clibborns publications. After one of his newspapers was banned, he decided to go back to the UK. Overall, the years in Africa strengthened his views on the importance of ecumenism and a necessary renewal of the Christian churches by emphasizing work for the poor and socially marginalized groups.

Return to England and the office of bishop

The University Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge, where Booth-Clibborn was vicar from 1970 to 1979

On his return to England Booth-Clibborn held from 1967 to 1970 parish offices in downtown Lincoln (Lincoln City Center Team Ministry ) and then moved as a vicar in the Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge, both a parish of the Diocese of Ely and the university church of Cambridge University . The contact with student believers as well as with important speakers, who were invited to the church services on Sunday evening, was a new experience for Booth-Clibborn. Many of the sermons he delivered during this period appeared in the Church's St Mary's Sermons series. He stayed at the church until 1979 and during this time he gained a reputation for being able to organize a lively community life with his energy and for having administrative and communication skills.

That was the prerequisite for his being called Bishop of the Diocese of Manchester in 1979 . In this function he was confronted with the difficult church and social conditions in the metropolitan area of Manchester , which was in the middle of restructuring from an industrial to its service metropolis. Two-thirds of the 300 parishes were in problem areas where unemployment, crime and vandalism were common, and the large, Victorian-era churches in the city center had mostly tiny parishes, as many of the people who owed their prosperity to inner-city business , lived outside of Manchester and thus belonged to a neighboring diocese. Booth-Clibborn reorganized the diocese of Manchester by dividing it into three sections, each with around a hundred parishes, which improved the pastoral situation. Personally, he often looked after clergymen who had gotten into trouble, be it in private or through their office. The fact that he was accessible and had an open ear for people's problems earned him the support of the clergy and the encouragement of many believers.

The beginning of Booth-Clibborn's episcopate coincided with the inauguration of the Tory government by Margaret Thatcher . As one of the few members of the Labor Party among ecclesiastical dignitaries and as a proponent of commitment by the church and the state in favor of the socially disadvantaged, in the following years he became someone who was preferred by the media for critical comments on current political events and developments, especially as more public dignitaries such as Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Archbishop of York Stuart Yarworth Blanch were reluctant to do so. Booth-Clibborn gave his views frankly and decisively on such occasions, which earned him the reputation of a dangerous radical among many Tories, even though he actually gave up his position in the tradition of William Temple on social responsibility and service to the weak in society broad political consensus. He also brought this socio-ethical attitude in his only book Taxes - Burden or Blessing? In 1991 - in contrast to the hostility to state taxes by conservatives and business liberals - he defined direct taxation as the possibility of bearing the necessary responsibility as a citizen.

Booth-Clibborn took active roles both in the General Synod of the Church of England and its standing committee, as well as in the House of Lords , of which he was a member from 1985, although all of these put additional burdens on him. He spoke out early and decidedly in favor of women's ordination and exercised the role of moderator within the Movement for the Ordination of Women from 1979 to 1982. Furthermore, he maintained his connection to Africa, for example through several visits to Namibia , during which a lively cooperation with the local diocese developed. In spiritual matters he was more traditionally oriented than in social questions and he did not shy away from appointing conservative and Catholic clergy to posts in the diocese.

The last years of his episcopate were overshadowed by declining health. He resigned from the office of Bishop of Manchester in 1993. The following year he was awarded the title of Doctor of Divinity by the University of Manchester .

Private and death

From 1958 until his death, Stanley Booth-Clibborn was married to nee Anne Roxburgh Forrester. Her parents, William and Margaret Forrester, were influential figures in the Church of Scotland . Anne actively supported her husband's pastoral work and was a charity herself, for example as deputy chairwoman of the Christian Aid aid organization , where she was particularly concerned with Africa. Stanley and Anne Booth-Clibborn had four children together, two sons and two daughters.

After the end of his episcopate, Stanley Booth-Clibborn moved with his wife to Edinburgh in their Scottish homeland. There he died on March 6, 1996 at the age of 71 after heart surgery and a stroke . His remains were cremated and the ashes were interred in Manchester Cathedral on March 29, 1996 .

Publications

Sermons

• Let's join the human race. The Society for Non-Members . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1970.
• Speaking to the Seventies. A Great Big Melting Pot . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1970.
• Anchors in the Storm. Life at Sea . Great St Mary's. Cambridge 1971.
• The Difference in Being Christian Today. Is marriage out of date? Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1971.
• Shopping-List for Modern Man. A Package of Seeds . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1971.
• These Days of Decision. Going Down - to a Rat Race? Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1971.
• Time for a new look. "The English Are Best" . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1971.
• Change - and Decay? Easy Abortion - Morale Decay? Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1972.
• Crossroads - And Finding Your Way . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1972.
• Moments of Truth. The True Alternative Society . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1972.
• The need for roots. Live Now, Pay Later . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1972.
• The need for roots. The Invisible Religion . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1972.
• Some Signs of the Times. Church and Change in City Centers . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1972.
• Against the Stream. Sex - Doing What Comes Naturally? Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1973.
• The End of the Monopoly Game. Christ's Call to the Family of Man . Church Missionary Society, London 1973.
• Hell Is Other People . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1973.
• Movements of the Spirit. The Spirit in the Mass Media . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1973.
• Persons and Purpose. Does Peace Mean Progress? Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1973.
• Reflections of Reality. The Puzzle of Living . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1973.
• World Affairs and the British Conscience . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1973.
• The Church for Others. Speaking through brick walls . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1974.
• Facing Facts with Faith. Cambridge Summer - The End . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1974.
• Living Free. "Christ, Sex and Freedom" . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1976.
• What Matters ...? ... in Race and Immigration . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1976.
• Reverence for Life. "All Things Under Man's hand?" . Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1977.
• "The Search for Truth ... in Prayer." Great St Mary's, Cambridge 1977.

Books

• Great St. Mary's. The University Church, Cambridge . Great St. Mary's, Cambridge 1975.
• Taxes - Burden or Blessing? Towards a Christian View on Taxation . Arthur James, London 1991, ISBN 0853052980 .

literature

• Ronald H. Preston: Clibborn, Stanley Eric Francis Booth- (1924-1996) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004.
• Alan Webster, F. W. Dillingstone: Obituary. The Right Rev Stanley Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ronald H. Preston: Clibborn, Stanley Eric Francis Booth- (1924-1996) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004.
2. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
3. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
4. ^ Alan Webster, F. W. Dillingstone: Obituary. The Right Rev Stanley Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
5. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
6. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
7. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Booth-Clibborn, Stanley . In: Who's Who In East Africa 1965–1966 . Marco Survey, Nairobi 1965.
8. ↑ Webster, Dilling Stone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
9. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
10. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Webster, Dillingstone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
11. ↑ See under "Publications".
12. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Webster, Dillingstone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
13. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
14. ↑ Webster, Dilling Stone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
15. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Webster, Dillingstone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
16. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
17. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
18. ↑ Webster, Dilling Stone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
19. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
20. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Webster, Dillingstone: Obituary. Booth-Clibborn . In: The Independent . March 8, 1996.
21. ^ Preston: Booth-Clibborn . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .

predecessor	Office	successor
Patrick Campbell Rodger	Bishop of Manchester 1979–1993	Christopher Mayfield