Obituary: The Very Reverend Colin Slee

... Slee was an obvious choice for appointment to the provostship of Southwark Cathedral in 1994 (all provosts were restyled deans in 2000). Although the heady days of 1960s' "South Bank Religion" were long gone, Southwark retained some radical aspirations, and the unsolved problems facing the Church in the back streets of south London still demanded new and often unconventional methods.

But nothing in Slee's approach or reputation was ever likely to endear him to the diocese's wealthy Evangelical parishes in Surrey. He, in turn, candidly described this growing movement as exhibiting "a strident, partisan, doctrinaire and frequently self-righteous churchmanship that alienates and excludes seekers after the truth".

Inclusiveness should, he believed, be at the heart of the Church's life and this was reflected in the large Sunday morning congregation in Southwark Cathedral, where young and old, black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight mingled in a lively community. Read more