Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Rev. Martin Dudley is a First Class A$$

But don’t take my word on the priest who officiated at *that* gay wedding. Read for yourself.

This is particularly outstanding:

But there are some who dispute Dr Dudley's portrayal of himself as "the Christian good neighbour". Peter Bill, 61, a journalist, lives on the third-floor of a block of flats just yards from the church and says that in his experience, Dr Dudley is quite the opposite. Moreover, that it yields an interesting insight into the way Dr Dudley operates.

"The bedroom window of my flat is 30 feet from the church's bell tower," says Mr Bill. "When I bought the flat in 1999, the bell was not working but subsequently Dudley had it fixed and the bloody bell would chime incredibly loudly every hour on the hour from 7am to midnight. I found it hard to sleep and spoke to other residents who felt similarly, so I dropped a polite note asking if they could reduce the bell ringing from 8am to 10pm so that we could get a proper night's sleep.

"Dudley called and what he said was so bizarre that I've never forgotten it. He told me: 'The patients in the intensive care unit of St Bart's Hospital [also a neighbour] like the bells to ring because it reminds them that they're still alive.' I was taken aback. I said: 'We're only asking you to cut back two hours, presumably they still know they're alive at 1am and you don't ring the bell then.' But he wouldn't listen. He was totally dismissive. I'd never met anyone so arrogant, intemperate and inflexible."

Later, when Mr Bill happened to meet Dr Dudley's boss - the Archdeacon of London Peter Delaney, ironically the man the Bishop of London will now charge with investigating Dr Dudley - the Archdeacon offered to raise the issue, only to write back that he had "tried and failed".

Then two years ago, Mr Bill bumped into Michael Cassidy, a City lawyer and, like Dr Dudley, a City of London councillor. Dr Dudley sits on 14 City of London committees, while Mr Cassidy was previously council leader.

Mr Cassidy agreed to approach Dr Dudley as an "honest broker" over the bells issue, only to be shocked by his response. "He told me he'd agree to the residents' request for £5,000," recalls Mr Cassidy. "The gall of it! I just couldn't believe it."

Mr Bill says that Dr Dudley later justified the £5,000 - to be paid to the church - on the grounds that "if I have the bells turned off, that's the amount it would add to the value of your flats". In disgust, Mr Bill sent an email to Dr Dudley saying he wanted nothing more to do with him. "What a bastard. I told him I'd never met someone with such a manifestly un-Christian attitude to his neighbours."

Asked yesterday to explain his mercenary attitude to the bells, Dr Dudley said: "I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to discuss that. I don't want to be interrogated further."


I imagine he didn’t.

3 comments:

REC CHIP said...

Mark,

You are forcing me to agree with the "priest" who did the "gay wedding." You will pay for this my brother!!!(GRIN).

I hate to say it but I am with the rector on this one. How dare anyone object to church bells!!! He turned them off from midnight to 7 am. I always enjoyed hearing churchbells (well clock bells at least) at all hours when I was younger.

Again, Mark you will pay for making me agree with the heretical "priest" in London.
YIKES!!

Mark said...

I love church bells, too. They are among the joys of England. But I wouldn't dream of ringing them after 10pm or even 9pm unless there was a very compelling reason. That's just being a good neighbor.

wannabe

REC CHIP said...

Mark,

I wonder if maybe I am misunderstanding what "ringing" was going on. From what I read, the church clock was chiming the hours.

When I was younger (in college) the bells rang 4 times an hour.

You know, at 15 after-ding, dong, ding dong,

at half past,ding dong, ding don, dong, ding, dong, ding

45 minutes, ding, dong, ding dong, dong ding, dong ding, ding dong, ding dong

and at the hour, ding, dong, ding dong, dong ding, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, dong ding, dong, ding and then Bong.... up to 12 times.

This happened even at 2 am (and 2: 15, 2:30 etc).

NOBODY COMPLAINED!!!

(Of course, since it was a Sewanee, we were all too drunk to notice-GRIN)