It was only a matter of time.

The Church of England is facing an escalating crisis after a third senior cleric resigned over the Occupy movement’s protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Rt Rev Graeme Knowles, the dean of St Paul’s, announced he was resigning with immediate effect, saying that the row over the Occupy London site had made his position “untenable”.

Said Knowles in a statement on the St. Paul’s Cathedral website announcing the resignation:

The past fortnight has been a testing time for the Chapter and for me personally. It has become increasingly clear to me that, as criticism of the cathedral has mounted in the press, media and in public opinion, my position as Dean of St Paul’s was becoming untenable. In order to give the opportunity for a fresh approach to the complex and vital questions facing St Paul’s, I have thought it best to stand down as dean, to allow new leadership to be exercised. I do this with great sadness, but I now believe that I am no longer the right person to lead the Chapter of this great cathedral.

He’s right about the “untenable” part, but his use of the passive voice is disingenuous at best. The decision on the part of the Chapter, led by Knowles, not to support the OLSX protesters in their stand against the financial Powers That be, or even to engage in meaningful conversation with them, was a choice.

Clergy involved in urban ministry will tell you that engagement with the community is not optional. Former Chancellor Giles Fraser’s welcome was engaging, but the silence from Knowles with regard to the voices calling for economic justice that have been camped on his doorstep for two weeks was not.

I am saddened by this whole mess, as I have a deep love for the cathedral and for the church at large. But Knowles and the Chapter had an opportunity to make a strong witness to the world about compassion for those on the margins, and they let it slip away. They had an opportunity to demonstrate the church’s concern for justice, and they let it slip away. They have had the attention of not only their city but the whole nation (and others beyond it, like me), and did not use that opportunity to say anything more substantive than “get off the lawn.”

Now it is the Bishop of London’s turn, and — ironically — the turn of 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. You see, the position of Dean at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is a “crown appointment,” which means that Knowles’ replacement comes through the Prime Minister and the Queen. Candidates are identified within the church, and they are forwarded to the PM and eventually to the Queen.

Think about it: a senior member of the Church of England resigns over his mishandling of a political protest on the steps of his cathedral, and now the political powers will have a strong voice in selecting his replacement.

This, though, brought joy to my heart, from the very end of a story last Friday in Church Times, an independent Anglican newspaper in England:

A “Flash Evensong” took place outside the cathedral on Wednesday. Alerted by a website, worshippers brought copies of the Book of Common Prayer and The English Hymnal. Worshippers avoided the steps in order “not to be confrontational”. Canon Fraser attended.

If Knowles had been smart, he would have attended too.

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photo of the view from atop St. Paul’s Cathedral h/t to Steve Cadman