The Clergy and The Railway Revd Roger Farnworth
Team Rector, Parish of the Good Shepherd Ashton-under-Lyne, Borough Dean of Tameside
I was asked to give a talk in 2020 to a clergy discussion group on the subject ‘Clergy and Trains’. This group had decided to have its annual outing on The East Lancs Railway, and I was to be the after dinner ‘entertainment’! It did not work out, for obvious reasons in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic altered everyone’s plans! However, as a result of the request, I began to study what was available online and in the press on this subject and the place it takes in the wide range of interests available to the clergy. … Whether my research counts as original research, I very much doubt. However, you might find what follows of interest! “It is a truth universally acknowledged that the clergy love trains.” So started an article by Ed Beavan in the Church Times on 15th June 2011, entitled ‘All Steamed Up About Trains’1 On the centenary of the birth of the Revd W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, Ed Beavan asked, in his article, why are so many clergy railway buffs? The statement, ‘so many clergy are railway buffs’, seems to me to be the kind of statement which becomes more and more true as time goes by. Once we begin to believe that it is true, we then begin to validate our own understanding and our own take on reality. I know of no independently accredited study of clergy interests which proves that there is a greater preponderance of railway interest among the clergy when compared with other professions, although there will probably be someone out there to correct me. Nor I think is there a similar study which compares the range of different interests held by the clergy and determines the most prevalent. Model railways (and even railways themselves) are a relative latecomer in the various fields open to clergy to pursue. There are several good examples of clergy in earlier generations who had interests beyond their own parish, church, or flock.
Clergy with interests in Science
In Palaeontology, most early fossil workers were gentleman scientists and members of the clergy, who self-funded their studies in
this new and exciting field.2 Wikipedia lists Catholic Clergy who have made significant contributions to Science3 and there are many from other denominations too. Examples from across the spectrum of Clergy allegiance to denominations, include: Roger Bacon, Nicolaus Copernicus, Gregor Mendel, Georges Lemaître and John Michell. The extensive Wikipedia list is merely a snapshot of a longer list which extends down to the present day. There have been many people who have combined their scientific eminence with a role as a member of the clergy. There is also today, a society for priest-scientists. The Society of Ordained Scientists is a society within the Anglican Communion. The organisation was founded at the University of Oxford by Arthur Peacocke following the establishment of several other similar societies in the 1970s, to advance the field of religion and science. Other interests are also shared by clergy and the religious. One particularly engaging study of clergy interests and proclivities was produced recently by Revd Fergus ButlerGallie, “A Field Guide to the English Clergy: A Compendium of Diverse Eccentrics, Pirates, Prelates and Adventurers; All Anglican, Some Even Practising.”4 Waterstones comment: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” This timeless wisdom has guided the Anglican Church for hundreds of years, fostering a certain tolerance of eccentricity among its members. Good thing, too!”5 Given my interests in blogging, railways, and model railways, I have no alternative but to echo the sentiment. … “Yes, it is a good thing too!” My current curate, while definitely not being an eccentric, has been an avid player of computer games, he plays regularly in a variety of different local bands, and he has taken up rollerblading. One Franciscan friar, Brother Gabriel, spends his spare time at a Bloomington, Indiana, Skate Park several times a week after participating in evening Mass and prayers.6 This article is, in no way, a formal survey of clergy interests, and all these examples are, of course, very obviously anecdotal. So, are there any grounds for believing that an interest in January/February 2021
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