Canon Robert Wright to leave Abbey
Friday, 5th February 2010
Canon Robert Wright, Rector of St Margaret’s Church Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, told the congregation at St Margaret’s at the Sung Eucharist on Sunday 7th February that he will resign at the end of September 2010.
Canon Wright, who is also currently Sub Dean and Archdeacon of Westminster, is relinquishing his posts after 12 years at the Abbey in order to devote more time to painting. He has acquired a reputation as a painter of abstract works with religious and contemplative themes.
Canon Wright has also trained as a mediator and plans to offer those skills to the Church of England. Both the Clergy Competency and Discipline Measures recognise the value of mediation in disputes. He is working with two barristers and hopes to advance the use of mediation within parishes where problems have arisen.
Canon Wright also wants to find more time for contemplative prayer.
He and his wife Leah have been at Westminster Abbey since 1998 and he told the St Margaret’s congregation:
We shall miss Westminster, of course, but we shall take with us so many happy memories.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said:
The time for tributes will come later but I would like to say now how much I valued the warmth of Robert’s welcome when I became Dean and that I have come to recognise the strength of his and Leah’s joint gift of friendship and encouragement. We shall all miss them. Happily we still have a few months to relish all that Robert and Leah have to offer the life of the Abbey.
