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Gavin Ashenden

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Gavin Ashenden
Ashenden appearing on Anglican Unscripted in 2018
ChurchCatholic Church (since 2019)
Formerly
Christian Episcopal Church (2017–2019)
Church of England (until 2017)
Orders
Ordination1980
by Bishop Mervyn Stockwood
Consecration27 September 2017
by Bishop Robert David Redmile
Personal details
Born
Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden

(1954-06-03) 3 June 1954 (age 70)
DenominationCatholicism (since 2019)
Formerly
Anglicanism (until 2019)
Alma materHeythrop College
University of London
Oak Hill Theological College
University of Bristol

Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden (born 3 June 1954) is a British Catholic layman, author and commentator, and Associate Editor of the Catholic Herald. Formerly a priest of the Church of England, and subsequently a continuing Anglican bishop, he was appointed Chaplain to the Queen from 2008 until his resignation in 2017.[1]

Early life and education

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Ashenden was born on 3 June 1954 in London, England, the son of Michael Roy Edward Ashenden and Carol Ashenden (née Simpson, now Salmon).[2] He was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School and as a music scholar at The King's School, Canterbury. He graduated from the University of Bristol, with a degree in law. He trained for the Anglican priesthood at Oak Hill Theological College, where he read for a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology. Whilst at Oak Hill he was also sent as part of his training to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist[3] in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex,[4] where he came under the influence of Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov).[citation needed]

Ashenden engaged in postgraduate work at Heythrop College at the University of London with a Master of Theology degree on the psychology of religion. Whilst a chaplain and member of faculty at the University of Sussex, he completed a doctorate on the life and work of Charles Williams (1999). He published Charles Williams: Alchemy and Integration, a study of Williams' work in 2007, which was reviewed by the Archbishop Rowan Williams[5] in the Times Literary Supplement.[6] In 2009 he contributed to Charles Williams and His Contemporaries,[7] and in 2012 Persona & Paradox: Issues of Identity for C.S. Lewis, his Friends and Associates [8]

Ministry and other positions

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Ashenden was ordained at Southwark Cathedral in 1980 and served as a parish priest for 10 years in the Diocese of Southwark, firstly at St James's Bermondsey[9] and then as vicar of Hamsey Green in Sanderstead.[10]

Between 1989 and 2012 he held the post of university chaplain and senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Sussex where he lectured in literature and the psychology of religion. He was appointed a senior officer of the university in 1994. He convened and taught the MA programme "Monotheism and Mysticism in Critical Theology". From 1995 to 2003 he also lectured in systematic theology at the University of Brighton. From 1991-2010 he was also a part time chaplain at Roedean.

He was appointed firstly as a canon of Chichester Cathedral in 2003, and subsequently to a further theological canonry (Bursalis Prebendary) in 2006. He was examining chaplain and Diocesan Adviser on New Age Religions to the Bishop of Chichester.

In 1998 he was a Church of England delegate to the 8th Council of the World Council of Churches held in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England for from 1995 to 2012. He has lectured in the United States, including, in 2003, as a visiting theologian for St. Mark Lutheran Church in Salem, Oregon.[11]

In 2012 he took early retirement from his university post and from 2012 to 2016 was 'house for duty' incumbent as vicar of St Martin de Gouray in Gorey, Jersey.[12]

He was vice-chairman of the Keston Institute during the 1980s,[13] and a director of Aid to Russian Christians,[14] in which role he engaged in smuggling Bibles and medicine to the "Underground Church" in the Soviet Union during that decade.

He was a member of the Society of the Holy Cross, and the Little Brothers of Jesus.[15]

In 2016, Ashenden was appointed to the board of reference for the Global Anglican Future Conference.[16][17] He also joined Anglican TV Ministries as their UK correspondent.[18]

Resignation from Church of England positions

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In early 2017, Ashenden resigned from his position as Chaplain to the Queen after writing in The Times criticising a service at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow, at which a Muslim student has been invited to read (in Arabic) a passage from the Koran that explicitly declared that Jesus is not the Son of God,[19][20] and because of his views on Islam and orthodox Christianity.[21] Ashenden concluded that being a member of the Ecclesiastical Household was incompatible with being free to comment on issues of freedom of speech and the integrity of Christianity in the public square.[20]

One of the consequences of his resignation was a variety of media engagements in several countries, including Fox News in the United States,[22] and The Bolt Report in Australia.[23][non-primary source needed]

On 17 March 2017, Ashenden lodged a deed in the High Court of London under the Clerical Disabilities Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 91), to relinquish his orders within the Church of England.[24]

Christian Episcopal Church

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In September 2017 Archbishop Theodore Casimes of the Christian Episcopal Church announced that Ashenden had been consecrated as a missionary bishop for the United Kingdom and Europe.[25]

Ashenden resigned from the Christian Episcopal Church in December 2019 on being received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Catholic Church

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On 22 December 2019, Ashenden was received into the Catholic Church by the Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, at Shrewsbury Cathedral. Bishop Davies commented that it was "very humbling to be able to receive a bishop of the Anglican tradition into full communion in the year of the canonization of Saint John Henry Newman."[26]

In 2023, Ashenden criticized the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which allows Catholic priests to impart pastoral blessings onto irregular couples (same-sex, remarried, and unmarried couples) under certain conditions.[27]

In the media

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Between 2008 and 2012 Ashenden presented the Faith and Ethics programme for BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey.[28] From 2009 to 2012, he also presented the BBC podcast Faith in England.[29][non-primary source needed][30]

Between 2013 and 2022 he wrote a weekly column in the Jersey Evening Post, where his defence of orthodox Christianity and its critique of modern culture caused both strong support and opposition.[31]

While a continuing Anglican bishop he was a contributor to both Anglican Ink[32] and Anglican TV,[33] before creating a new internet programme 'Catholic Unscripted'.[34]

Ashenden has contributed Op Ed pieces in both The Times and The Daily Telegraph,[35] and written for The Sunday Times.[36] He has featured in The Spectator's religious affairs podcast 'Holy Smoke;' [37] and has written also for Christian Today. In 2021 he became a regular columnist for the Catholic Herald, appointed as an Associate Editor in 2022. He maintains a website for the publication of homilies, articles and commentary at ashenden.org.[38]

He was interviewed by Rod Liddle for The Sunday Times over the controversy surrounding Bishop Curry's sermon following the Royal Wedding in 2018.[39] BBC 2's Newsnight took up the issue when the Archbishop of Canterbury raised questions about God and gender.[40] John Anderson, formerly deputy prime minister of Australia, conducted an interview on the dangers to freedom of speech in his series "conversations",[41] and he has become a regular guest on GB News.[42]

Ashenden has written on Russian Orthodox spirituality in A Guidebook to the Spiritual Life (ed. Peter Toon).[43] He also wrote The Oxford Inklings[44] and about C. S. Lewis in Persona and Paradox.[45]

Distinctions

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Styles and titles

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References

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  1. ^ "Ashenden, Rev. Canon Dr Gavin Roy Pelham, (Born 3 June 1954), Vicar, St Martin de Gouray, Jersey, since 2012; Chaplain to the Queen, since 2008". ASHENDEN, Dr Gavin Roy Pelham. Oxford University Press. December 2009. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U250394. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Ashenden, Rt Rev. Dr Gavin Roy Pelham". Who's Who 2019. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2019. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U250394. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain – Monastery of St. John the Baptist". thyateira.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Home".
  5. ^ "Rowan Williams in the TLS on Gavin Ashenden's work Charles Williams: Alchemy and Integration". ashenden.org. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  6. ^ Ashenden, Gavin (1 November 2007). Charles Williams: Alchemy and Integration. The Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0873387811.
  7. ^ Charles Williams and his Contemporaries (PDF).
  8. ^ "Persona and Paradox: Issues of Identity for C.S. Lewis, his Friends and Associates". Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  9. ^ "St James Church, Bermondsey". godlovesbermondsey.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Sanderstead Team Ministry – The Diocese of Southwark". anglican.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  11. ^ "Faith Dialogues at Saint Mark – Saint Mark Lutheran Church". stmarksalem.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Home". gouraychurch.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Keston Institute : Resources for the Studies of Communist Countries and Religious Affairs". keston.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  14. ^ International, Center for Civil Society. "Aid to Russian Christians". friends-partners.org. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  15. ^ Ashenden, Gavin (December 2016). "About". ashenden.org. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  16. ^ "GAFCON UK Panel of Reference named – Anglican Mainstream". anglicanmainstream.org. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  17. ^ "About GAFCON UK – GAFCON UK". gafconuk.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  18. ^ "AnglicanTV Ministries". Retrieved 16 April 2017 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ Farley, Harry (11 January 2017). "Controversy Over Cathedral Koran Reading Deepens With Denial That Jesus Is Son of God". Christian Today.
  20. ^ a b Turner, Camilla (22 January 2017). "Queen's chaplain resigns over cathedral Koran reading row saying he has a 'duty' to defend Christianity". The Daily Telegraph.
  21. ^ "An interview with Fox News – USA". ashenden.org. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  22. ^ Fox News (26 January 2017). "Reverend resigns after Quran is read in Christian church". Retrieved 16 April 2017 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "The Bolt Report (@theboltreport)". Twitter. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  24. ^ "As Gavin Ashenden leaves the Church of England, the Ordinariate circles like a vulture". archbishopcranmer.com. 18 March 2017. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Former Queen's Chaplain Consecrated Missionary Bishop to Anglicans in UK and Europe". Virtue Online. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  26. ^ "Anglican Bishop and Queen's Chaplain Converts to Catholicism". Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  27. ^ Ashenden, Gavin (21 December 2023). "Fiducia Supplicans: an exercise in smoke and mirrors, where spin becomes substance and appearance reality". Catholic Herald.
  28. ^ "BBC Sussex - Gavin Ashenden". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  29. ^ "BBC Radio Sheffield". facebook.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  30. ^ "BBC Radio Bristol - Faith in England, 02/11/2011".
  31. ^ "Freedom of Expression Series " Jersey Evening Post". jerseyeveningpost.com. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  32. ^ "Anglican Ink Author Biographies – Gavin Ashenden". Anglican Ink. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  33. ^ "Anglican TV". Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  34. ^ "Gavin Ashenden & Rod Dreher in conversation."Culture, Crisis & the Catacombs.'Catholic Unscripted#4". YouTube. 5 May 2020.
  35. ^ Ashenden, Gavin (6 June 2018). "It was a terrible error of judgment for Justin Welby to publicly embrace EU utopianism". The Telegraph.
  36. ^ Ashenden, Gavin. "Playing nice to all religions may be wishful thinking".
  37. ^ "Coffee House Shots | the Spectator". 13 November 2023.
  38. ^ "Gavin Ashenden". Gavin Ashenden.
  39. ^ "The Sunday Times – Liddle & Ashenden.-".
  40. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Does God have a gender? DISCUSSION - BBC Newsnight. YouTube.
  41. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Gavin Ashenden | The Nature and Importance of Freedom. YouTube.
  42. ^ "Dr Gavin Ashenden joins Nigel Farage for Talking Pints". YouTube. 27 January 2022.
  43. ^ A Guidebook to the spiritual life. OCLC 18322927. Retrieved 16 April 2017 – via worldcat.org.
  44. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  45. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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