Christ Church Cathedral Oxford blocks its own Canon on Twitter

Jun 10, 2021 by

by Archbishop Cranmer:

The Rev’d Angela Tilby is a Canon Emeritus of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford. She is also a writer, broadcaster, columnist, and Canon of Honour at Portsmouth Cathedral. She is thoughtful, intelligent, and highly respected. But she has been rather disturbed by the treatment of the Dean, the Very Rev’d Prof. Martyn Percy, toward whom some senior clergy in the Cathedral have been uncharitable, not to say un-Christian, if not downright disparaging and defamatory.

To be blocked on Twitter is indeed quite a trivial happening in the grand scheme of things, but occasionally it gives an insight into a mindset, an insecurity, or a raw nerve. These are a few of the tweets which Canon Tilby has been posting in response to the Cathedral’s tweets:

Christ Church Cathedral Oxford Angela TilbyChrist Church Cathedral Oxford Angela Tilby

And of her summary blocking, she surmises

Christ Church Cathedral Oxford Angela Tilby

The interesting thing is that Canon Tilby was blocked without any request either to moderate her ‘zeal’, or any polite request to stop banging on about truth and justice. They could have sent her a private DM, but she wasn’t even ‘warned’; just simply summarily blocked. Whoever controls the Cathedral’s social media could have muted her, but there was no mercy: they blocked, which amounts to Twitter excommunication and social-media oblivion.

This wasn’t for any kind of personal abuse, rudeness or vulgarity (good grief, you should read the stream of responses to just about everything the Archbishop of Canterbury tweets, but he doesn’t block people); it was for challenging corporate inaction and disinformation, which is perpetuating injustice, which is causing grief and suffering. Why would Cathedral staff tweet that they are praying earnestly for Martyn and Emma Percy to be restored to wholeness when the answer to their prayers lies in their own repentance?

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