As difficulties over gay issues and women bishops continue to bombard the Church of England, a former south Herefordshire vicar has launched a radical new book with the aim of re-claiming some of his faith’s “long lost magic”.
The third book from the Rev Mark Townsend, who announced his shock resignation from the priesthood last year shortly before moving to a new parish near Ross-on-Wye, he believes he can reach more people through his gift for magic and his writing.
A prominent church leader claims that replacing church sermons with Mark’s stories could prompt a “tide of renewal” through the old institutions.
In this controversial book, The Magician’s Tale, the central character has a love-hate relationship with the Church.
A magician-priest, he tries to retrieve some of the long lost magic of a Jesus we could actually like – a human being who comes with a message of unconditional love, and hope for those who’ve been crushed by institutional religion, said Mark, whose work is recognised by the Magic Circle, of which he is a member.
“It is a timely publication what with the huge problems within the C of E over gay issues, women bishops and other moral concerns,” he explained. “The Jesus I try to present loves people for who they are and does not require them to change their sexuality if they are gay, surrender to the supreme authority of men if they are women, or live in eternal shame if they’ve suffered from divorce or some other wound traditionally viewed as ‘sin’.” Mark, who was a vicar at Leominster for eight years, quit the ministry just before he was due to take over as priest-in-charge of the Weston Group within Ross Team Ministry.
“Sure, it’s been the toughest year in my life – having to survive on less than a third of what I’d been used to. But now I’m free to explore areas I never would have been able to before, and I’ve discovered that real magic does exist, and that it truly is through life’s darkest times that one can discover the purest gold.”
He is deeply concerned about current troubles within the Church. “We hear so much negativity surrounding the Church on gay issues and women bishops, but everyone is special,” he said.
“In my book I am trying to get away from that negativity and present the case for a universal picture which we don’t hear about enough. All we hear about is what the Church is against.”
Well-known in the county for his ability to mix magic with his ministry, he holds regular ‘magic’ evenings at Saxty’s wine bar in Hereford and the Chequers’ inn at Leominster on alternate Thursdays.
“It’s opening up a whole new world which I probably wouldn’t have been able to visit before,” he added. “I don’t regret taking the course of action that led to my resignation. It was the honest thing to do.
The Rt Rev Alistair Bate of the Liberal Catholic Fellowship commented: “If these stories were told in Church, perhaps in place of sermons, we might see a tide of joyful renewal sweep through the old institutions.”
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