Yes, I was always a bit scared of Geoffrey. I had no reason to be as he was always attentive and charming. The first real personal contact I had with him happened like this. I had noticed the growing use of the word ‘Church’ without the definite article – as in ‘New ways of being Church’ – and it puzzled me. Where had it come from? So I ‘phoned Geoffrey. “Give me half-an-hour” said he. Sure enough,  on time, he rang me back; questions answered and references given.

There was closer contact to come when I moved to become vicar of the neighbouring parish of St Mary, Lewisham. That parish, like St Stephen’s, had passed the resolutions AB & C, and so came under the jurisdiction of John Broadhurst, the Bishop of Fulham. Only a handful of parishes in the Anglican diocese of Southwark had passed these resolutions and in doing so had angered and annoyed the then Bishop, Tom Butler. For Southwark regarded itself as the flagship diocese of the C of E, shattering stained glass ceilings and boldly going where no woman had gone before. In the midst of centralism and intolerance, Geoffrey was a beacon of light.

In those testing but remarkable days we looked forward to the arrival of New Directions and the antics of Archdeacon Armitage Shanks. Geoffrey was merciless in exposing the New Thinking sweeping across the C of E as little more than the Old Heresy in different clothes. Some thought him cruel in what he wrote. Looking back, we had few other weapons. The promises made of two integrities and mutual flourishing were as thin as the paper they were written on. At least in Southwark diocese there was no charm offensive!

With the ordination of women bishops at the behest of Parliament which threatened disestablishment if the C of E did not conform, the way ahead for Anglo-Catholics became clear. Geoffrey was received into the Church, but his health was already giving cause for concern, and he was not ordained. In more tolerant days one could have imagined him in his later years in a Cathedral Close, an examining chaplain perhaps to the Bishop of Barchester, terrorising the younger clergy with his insistence that words should mean what they say.

Journey home, Geoffrey, aided by many prayers said and masses offered. Our world will be duller and narrower without you.