Donald Clifford Gray (1930-2025)

It was with sadness that we learnt of the death of Canon Donald Gray at the beginning of July. Donald, born in 1930, served as a member of the Council of Societas and was President from 1987-89 and stood in that impressive line of Anglican scholar-priests who combined rigorous academic study and writing with a pastoral ministry. As reflected in his main published works, Donald’s scholarly interests were in modern Anglican history and worship, and yet his ecclesial horizon and commitment to ecumenism were unwavering. As the international Societas Liturgica has constantly insisted, liturgical renewal and ecumenical endeavour are inextricably bound together. Donald’s contribution to liturgical study was celebrated in a volume of essays, Like a Two Edged Sword, that marked his 65^th birthday, and among the contributors were major players in the field of liturgical scholarship whose names will be familiar to students of Liturgy and Worship, Bryan Spinks, Paul Bradshaw, Ruth Meyers, and Gordon Wakefield.

Donald studied at King’s College London and gained an AKC in 1955, and this was followed by a year at Warminster Missionary College and then ordination in 1956. But this dedicated young priest obviously had latent academic ability and aptitude, and in mid-life gained an MPhil from Liverpool University in 1981, and then a PhD in 1985 from the University of Manchester where another prominent English liturgist, Kenneth Stevenson, was the Chaplain and a Lecturer. The PhD was published as an Alcuin Club Collection in 1986 and since then this has been a standard textbook on the antecedents of the Church of England’s 20^th century Parish Communion Movement. Other significant publications include the two Joint Liturgical Studies on the 1927/8 Prayer Book, and a delightful study published in 2012 of an earlier scholar-priest, Percy Dearmer, who famously sought to bring the best of art and music to English parish worship. Apart from his meticulous historical study and his long association with Societas, Donald was active in several liturgical organisations and committees. He was appointed as a member of the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission in 1968, was the first Chair of the UK’s Society for Liturgical Study, founded expressly to encourage young liturgists, and served as Chair of the Alcuin Club from 1989 – 2014. The list of his ecclesiastical appointments is equally impressive, being Rector of Liverpool (1974-77) Rural Dean, and then Rector of St Margaret’s Westminster, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons (Lady Boothroyd who became a close friend) and Canon of Westminster Abbey. These final appointments were the culmination of Donald’s lifelong commitment to the role of the Church in the public square, and of his deep appreciation of both the historic and living links between the English Crown and the Church of England. He was proud to have been made a Chaplain to the Queen and was evidently pleased to see his work recognised with the honour of being awarded a CBE in 1998.

Yet through all this, Donald never lost his northern down-to-earth determination, his uncommon common sense, and sense of humour. His ready smile and laughter brought a warmth to any social gathering where he was present. It was serendipitous that I was his guest preacher at Evensong on the day after the emotionally super-charged funeral of Diana, the former Princess of Wales. The Abbey was packed, and as we processed through the nave at the end of the service, Donald nudged me and quietly said: ‘Well lad, you’ll never preach to a congregation this size again.’  Donald will be remembered by many of us as a person who was hugely supportive, a real encourager. Ben Gordon-Taylor, a more recent member of the Council of Societas, described Donald as the master of the handwritten card and recalls the card he received shortly after his successful PhD examination, simply saying: ‘I gather the PhD is in the bag!’. And it is with Donald’s voice that I conclude this short personal appreciation of his life. Donald preached at the Sung Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral on Advent Sunday in 2007. He reminded the congregation that penitence was just one strand in this richly themed season and concluded his sermon by saying: ‘Canon Gray says it’s perfectly okay to have a glass of sherry in Advent!’ May Donald know the full ‘social joys’ of heaven.

Christopher Irvine