The Most Reverend Jeremy Greaves has been installed as the tenth Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, and the first in 22 years. The ceremony took place in St John’s Cathedral before a 1,000-strong congregation. The service blended ancient traditions with modern sensibilities, signaling the style of the new leader. It included a eucalyptus smoking ceremony and saw Anglican school students undertake his ceremonial “interrogation.”
The bishop’s staff, or crozier, that he used in the tradition of knocking on the closed front doors before entering the Cathedral is a family heirloom passed down from his British-born grandfather, Bishop Walter Baddeley.
He was the Bishop of Melanesia, based in the Solomon Islands, during the Japanese occupation in 1942 and set up an underground jungle hospital that treated the indigenous population and wounded US servicemen during the fierce Battle of Guadalcanal and for the duration of World War II. Bishop Baddeley was awarded America’s highest civilian honour, the Medal of Freedom, for his war efforts.
In his sermon, Archbishop Greaves spoke about what it means to work for God and finding hope “in the darkness”. He made reference to his own ‘”darkness” when he was abused by a scout leader as a child. For three decades it was a haunting secret he carried alone, unable to confide in his parents or even his wife, until a few years ago when he went to the police and received a financial settlement from Scouts Australia..
He told The Australian: “I don’t want my story to overshadow or be seen to be more important than those of victim-survivors of abuse in the churches. The reason I have not shared this before is because the stories of others are so important to be heard. My experience of the process simply informs my belief that all churches need to get better at this stuff.”
He’ll seek to draw on his experience with the national redress scheme for victim-survivors to speed up compensation payouts from the church and make the mechanism more “victim-survivor-centric”.
Archbishop Greaves has a strong background in social justice having worked closely with refugees and First Nations community members for decades, particularly during his time serving as a priest in the Northern Territory. During his installation he was accompanied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders as he walked from the Cathedral entrance to the altar. He plans to visit the Torres Strait Islands next year to learn more about the devastating impacts of climate on the residents including their cultures, ceremonies, livelihoods and homes.
The Australian reports the 54-year-old Archbishop who has children aged 21, 19 and 17 “is the personification of a progressive church leader. If asked, he will allow Anglican priests in his Diocese to perform same sex marriage blessings.”
The newspaper observes: “The pressure points bearing down on Anglicans are particularly acute in Queensland. [Archbishop] Greaves believes the huge Brisbane Diocese with 138 parishes has been targeted by a breakaway conservative faction known as the Diocese of the Southern Cross, backed by the fast-growing evangelical arm of the church seated in the powerful Sydney Diocese.” It has reportedly launched at least six chapters in Southeast Queensland.
The new Archbishop reflected in his installation sermon: “Christian hope invites those under its influence to see possibility in everything — nothing, not even the deepest darkness, is outside the possibility of transformation. What does it look like for us to work for that God? It seems to me that we have a choice in this season in the life of the Church — we can continue to bow down in fear before the many idols we’ve created or we can help one another learn to walk in the dark.”
Photo: Anglican Focus
