The Rock ‘N Rolling Vicar’s Escape From the Status Quo

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The Church of England’s finicky feuds and trendy aspirations means one vicar is pleased he replaced the dog-collar for the plectrum and for a rock n roll lifestyle in the sun.

The words cleric and trendy are not usually entwined, until you meet Terry Brewer, a British priest who became so weary of the Church of England’s insistence on “maintaining the status quo” he took his own radical step and retired to Southern Spain two years ago.

With long, grey hair swept back into a ponytail baring bright and buoyant eyes, a youthful smile and skin scorched to a deep shade of brown, it is hard to believe that Terry Robert Brewer is a day past 40, let alone 62! As he coolly disembarks his BMW motorbike with his glamorous wife clutching his broad shoulders and toned and tattooed biceps, it is equally hard to imagine that Terry was a vicar for 30 years, serving the Church of England before finally settling down in a remote part of inland Spain where he continues his life-long love affair with rock n roll.

A cleric who is so heavily involved in rock n roll is a fairly rare combination because of the apparent “conflicts of interest” between the “shocking” associations this genre of music often depicts and religious beliefs. But Terry pledges that he rarely becomes wound up about music advocating an “anti-religious” lifestyle and songs that do seem to promote sex or drugs are usually being no more than tongue-in-cheek and ironic. 

Terry moved to Spain two years ago craving a change, fed up with the Church’s rigid adherences to conform to the “status quo”.  Latterly, however, the Church of England has been under a series of criticisms for attempting to “loosen up” and become more “fashionable” and bend the “rules” to amend with society.

The Church’s latest “amendment” that has come under attack is a proposal to offer combined wedding and christening ceremonies, a move that condemners believe approves, if not encourages, sex outside marriage. Some censors also see the move as being yet another example of the “Americanization“ of Great Britain and the Church of England being influenced and shaped by the US. Although 58-year-old Mary Miller is the daughter of a vicar and from a highly religious family, she does not oppose of the church’s new service because she disapproves of sex outside marriage but because the initiative has so typically “American”. Mrs Miller said:

            “You would think that the US would not be able to influence something so traditional and established as the Church of England but I have never heard of anything as obviously American as a christening and wedding in one.”

When talking about the “Americanization” of the Church of England, it could be considered as fairly comical that last year the Conservative’s director of strategy and David Cameron’s right-hand man, Steve Hilton, married his girlfriend and had their son christened at the same time. Several days later the happy family left Britain and emigrated to the United States where Mrs Hilton is head of communications for Google and Mr Hilton, who has often been cited for modernizing the Conservative party, continues advising Cameron from his new base in Santa Clara. According to a friend of the Hiltons, a vicar in Oxfordshire persuaded the couple to have a joint ceremony when they went to see him about the christening of their son:

            “The vicar said: ‘Why don’t you get married at the same time?’ So they did,” the source explained.

Although the guidelines that have been sent to the Church of England’s 16,000 parishes to encourage services offering christening and wedding combinations have been dubbed as “new”, it seems they have been being performed already, under the discretion of individual pastors.

Whilst some believe the “merger” to be a positive step reflecting a changing society, others see it has an unfortunate attempt for the church to become “trendy”. John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham, is averse to the “trending-up” of the Church of England. Broadhurst mocked:

            “It is a pity they have not put a funeral in for Grandma as well. What are they playing at? It seems trendy, and it reveals a complete lack of awareness of the reality of what goes in parishes.”

As Terry Brewer, the “rock n rolling” vicar proves being trendy and being involved with the church can easily be intertwined and it does not need radical transformations, arguably brought from the States, to increase its “significance” and attractiveness. An “attractiveness” that is not only causing contestation between secular people in Britain but also between the country’s own ministers.     

Although Terry is happy that he escaped the Church of England’s insistence to maintain the status quo, he is even happier he left before the Church began its onslaught in paltry debates. These days the ex-vicar is most content watching the sun go down behind the Andalusian mountains whilst gently strumming Rolling Stones tunes on his Fender Stratocastor guitar, preparing for his next local gig.