I’m being ‘snubbed by the Church’ over conservative views
GB NEWS presenter Calvin Robinson believes that his attempts to become a curate are being hampered by the Church because of his conservative views.
Mr Robinson, a former teacher and well known right of centre political commentator, has been training for ordination at St Stephen’s House in Oxford and had hoped to begin a curacy in Holborn, London, later this year.
But he believes senior clergy have taken exception to his criticism of woke culture and blocked the plan.
He says he was also told his media work, which has seen him post controversial tweets, would make it difficult for him to fulfil both roles.
Mr Robinson says he has consulted a barrister about the possibility of taking the Church of England to court, arguing he and others are facing prejudice for “having orthodox conservative opinions”. However, the Church has said there was simply “no suitable option available” in London, where numbers are limited, for him to take a curacy. It says it will continue to work with him.
But Mr Robinson said: “The problem is there is a disconnect between the Church of England hierarchy and the congregation. I am much closer to the grassroots.”
Mr Robinson said that the original plan was for him to be a part-time curate and continue his media work on GB News and elsewhere. He explained: “I felt that the media work was part of my calling and future ministry, so the two were not separable.”
However, he claimed that at a Zoom meeting on February 25, he was told that he “needed to make a choice” and warned that it would be too difficult to do both because of complaints about him.
This followed months of email exchanges between the church hierarchy, raising issues about Mr Robinson’s tweets.
Issues allegedly complained about involved Mr Robinson publicly arguing for churches to remain open during the pandemic and criticising a report commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury which concluded that the Church is institutionally racist.
A spokesman for the Diocese of London said: “We have a limited number of curacies available each year that are considered on a case-by-case basis.
“We work with and support ordinands throughout the discernment process to establish the right path for each person. In this instance, it was felt there was no suitable option available that London could offer.
“Calvin continues to be a candidate sponsored for ordination.we continue to be willing to work with him to discern the right way forward, and we keep him in our prayers.”