Martin Dudley

Tuomas Mäkipää (left) and Martin Dudley (centre), Helsinki, Candlemas 2015.

Martin Raymond Dudley (born 31 May 1953) is an Anglican priest, City of London common councilman[1] and author of various books about the Christian Church.

Dudley is the present incumbent of the combined benefices of St Bartholomew in the City of London: Rector of St Bartholomew the Great since 1995[2] and priest in charge of St Bartholomew the Less since 2012.[3]

Life and career

Dudley was born in Birmingham where he attended King Edward’s School. After a year training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he returned to the Midlands to work for a travel company.

In 1974, Dudley studied religion at King's College London, graduating with Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees. He studied for the priesthood at St Michael's College, Llandaff and was ordained as a deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1980 at Llandaff Cathedral. After a curacy in Whitchurch, Cardiff, he became vicar of Weston, Hertfordshire in 1983 before being appointed vicar of Owlsmoor, Berkshire (1988–95), where he oversaw the building of a new parish church.

Appointed to the rectorial benefice of St Bartholomew the Great in 1995, Dudley was subsequently elected to the City Court of Common Council representing Aldersgate Ward in January 2002. He serves on various City of London Corporation committees as well as being a governor of the Museum of London and a member of the Trust for London (formerly the City Parochial Foundation).

Dudley received a PhD from the University of London (King's College, London) in 1994, and pursued further studies in voluntary sector management at the Cass Business School, being awarded MSc (City University) in 2006. He has been elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of the Royal Historical Society as well as being admitted as a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farriers.

Dudley married Paula Jones, a chiropodist, in 1976; they have two sons.[4]

Civil partnership blessing controversy

Dudley made news in 2008 when he blessed the civil partnership of two Anglican priests, for which he received a public rebuke from Richard Chartres, Bishop of London. In Riazat Butt’s Guardian profile, the late Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark, said that "he [Dudley] is very bright. He is a very consistent person in that he knows his own mind and doesn't mind if everyone else disagrees with him. He is very intelligent and prepared to take a stand for something he believes in, even if it's not going with the mainstream."[4] Dudley justified his actions in an article in the New Statesman magazine.[5]

Publications

Style

References

  1. ↑ www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
  2. ↑ www.debretts.com
  3. ↑ www.stbartstheless.org.uk
  4. 1 2 Butt, Riazat. "Guardian Profile". London: www.guardian.co.uk, 20 June 2008.
  5. ↑ Dudley, Martin. "Why I blessed gay clergymen's relationship". London: www.newstatesman.com, 17 June 2008.
  6. ↑ www.taxadvisers.org.uk: "Honorary Chaplain of the Tax Advisers' Company"

External links

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