By Judy Taylor

I recently read an article in the Church Times written by the sister of Kit her brother who had sadly died. There had, in this article been many tributes to him and many stories about him too. One, which I found both admirable and wonderful is that of when he was a choral scholar at Clare College Cambridge, he had to make a difficult telephone call to his choirmaster which was to apologise that he was not going to be able to make choir practise that day because he had been arrested. He had gone to the Lakenheath air base with others to protest about nuclear weapons being housed there. The choirmaster was not at all happy and said that when Kit returned he would get a ‘dressing down’ from the Dean of the college for his absence. This story reminded me of when in the 1980’s, I went to London to join an estimated 30,000 people who marched to Oxford Street as part of CND’s protest against cruise missiles which were mainly sited at Greenham Common. Our march ended up by everyone, at a given signal sitting down in the middle of Oxford Street. I also went to the Greenham Common Peace Camp just for the day to join the many brave and committed women who were camped there and contrary to the press reports of it being a refuse sight, well I only saw a well organised group who had individuals with the black bin bags regularly collecting rubbish several times that day. On neither occasion was I arrested, but I know that many were and because of their commitment they were sent to prison more than once.

There have been many people who have risked great personal danger by standing up for what they knew to be wrong. Dietrich Bonhoeffer a German theologian and opposer of Nazism returned to Germany in the knowledge that he would almost certainly be arrested as indeed he was and was imprisoned and eventually executed. St. Paul was beaten and arrested for preaching the Good News of Jesus and he too it is believed was put to death. So many more brave souls who risked everything in the name of righteousness and freedom. And then there are so many more who we know nothing of but in places of oppressive and cruel regimes have been arrested for their beliefs and suffered long periods of imprisonment. I pray that none of us will ever be in that position; but even in our own lives, do we really stand up for something, a comment which is racist, a point of view which denigrates others? How much easier it is to say nothing or even go along with what is being said.

In Salisbury cathedral, at the eastern end in the Trinity chapel is the beautiful Prisoner of Conscience window depicting those who have been imprisoned for their beliefs or for freedom or just for who they are. In the centre window another Prisoner of Conscience is that of Jesus being mocked by the soldiers and crucified and Mary, at Christ’s feet. The window is made up almost entirely of blue glass and on a visit there once, a guide told me that blue glass is the most expensive and precious one that can be used in stain glass windows. Next to the window is a large Amnesty International candle which is there as a focal point for prayers.

There is a lovely end to the article I began with – when the choirmaster who incidentally at that time was John Rutter, said that the Dean would give Kit a ‘dressing down’ for missing choir practise, Kit replied “well I wouldn’t worry too much about that because he is here with me”… and he was Rowan Williams, the future Archbishop of Canterbury!