David Say
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The Right Reverend Richard David Say, KCVO, DD (4 October 1914 - 14 September 2006), former bishop of Rochester (1961-1988). He was often noted for his height (6ft 4in).
[edit] Life
He was the son of Commander Richard Say, RNVR. He was educated at University College School, Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Ridley Hall.
He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in Canterbury Cathedral on 22 December 1939 and was ordained priest just 10 days later on 1 January 1940. He served his curacy at Croydon (then in the Diocese of Canterbury), then at St Martin-in-the-Fields (Diocese of London) where he was General Secretary of the Church of England Youth Council. He later became General Secretary of the British Council of Churches, and (as a conscious disciple of William Temple and a close supporter of Bishop George Bell) an Anglican representative at World Council of Churches conferences. He retired from those roles in 1955 to parish ministry in Hatfield (with the linked office of chaplain to the Marquess of Salisbury), and then to his ordination as bishop in 1966.
He took a seat in the House of Lords from 1969 to 1988 (speaking there in 1986 on the admission of women into Holy Orders as deacons), and for some years deputised for the Archbishop of Canterbury as chairman of the board of governors of the Church Commissioners. He also spoke in General Synod in favour of church marriages for divorcés (1983) and of Anglican-Methodist reunion.
On retirement from the bishopric (he was one of the last bishops not required to retire at 70, whilst the final words at his retirement service being “Alleluia — on we go”) he moved to Wye, where he was active in the parish, and was an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Canterbury Diocese until shortly before his death.
Say supported the city of Rochester, Chatham, Kent County Cricket Club, the University of Kent and, more recently, Canterbury itself. He was also for 18 years High Almoner to the Queen.
On his death, the bishop of Dover Stephen Venner said:
- I was privileged to benefit from Bishop David's advice and friendship over the years. Even when I saw him a few days before he died, he typically ministered to me as much as I to him.
His funeral occurred in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral on 27 September 2006, and a public memorial service on 2 February 2007 at 2.30pm in his former cathedral (with a sermon by the present bishop Michael Nazir-Ali). His wife Irene was a JP and gardener, and died in 2003. They had a son and two daughters, all of whom survived them.
[edit] Quotations
- He believed the greatest danger to the Church of England was concentrating “on laundering our surplices” and forgetting its true mission, which was "from Corrymeela to Calcutta, washing the world’s feet”.
- “God is the God of the future as well as of the past”
[edit] Obituaries
[edit] Telegraph
- Edward Francis, an Archdeacon under Say
- David Bartleet, a suffragan bishop under Say
- Philip Goodrich, a suffragan bishop under Say
| Preceded by Christopher Maude Chavasse |
Bishop of Rochester 1961–1988 |
Succeeded by Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull |
