The Revd Peter Mullen (born 11 January 1942) is an Anglican priest, theologian and writer, who was Rector of St Michael, Cornhill and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London from 1998 until 2012.
Mullen also served as Chaplain to the London Stock Exchange, a historic honorific post, as well as Honorary Chaplain to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers [1] and numerous City livery companies. [2]
Of Irish ancestry born in Yorkshire, Mullen was educated at West Leeds High School, later reading Religion and Literature at the University of Liverpool, where he played cricket [3] and graduated as BA in 1969. [4] He then took a doctorate (PhD) from Middlesex University in 2000. [5]
After working at the Ministry of Labour, he pursued a journalistic career at the Armley & Wortley News, becoming a columnist with The Guardian . He later wrote opinion and travel columns for the Daily Mail under Sir David English's editorship, then for the Wall Street Journal and Yorkshire Evening Press . [6]
Ordained into the Church of England in 1970, Mullen became Chaplain and Head of RE at Whitecroft Road High School, Bolton, Lancashire in 1974. [7] In 1977 he was appointed Vicar of Tockwith and Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton near York, serving as incumbent until 1989. After an extramarital affair, he was unfrocked until 1997, and wrote many books, articles, papers and essays. [8]
In 1998 Mullen was introduced as Rector to the combined livings of St Michael Cornhill (succeeding the Very Revd Gordon Reid) and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate (succeeding the Revd Prebendary Alan Tanner OBE ), [9] and appointed Chaplain to the London Stock Exchange. [10]
Mullen also served as Chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London for 2001/02 [11] and Honorary Chaplain to the Worshipful Companies of Cutlers, Woolmen, Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, [12] Marketors, Fuellers, [13] Water Conservators [14] as well as the Honourable Company of Air Pilots in the City of London, and was appointed a Chaplain of the Order of Saint Lazarus (ChLJ). [15]
Despite enduring popularity with his City congregation, Mullen reluctantly retired from active ministry on his seventieth birthday in January 2012, [16] being appointed an Assistant Priest to the Bishops of London and then Chichester.
A staunch adherent and vocal advocate of Anglo-Catholicism, Mullen has been a noted critic of homosexuality. Writing on his online blog, he stated that homosexuals should carry health warnings, for instance, "Sodomy may seriously damage your health". He later explained that his comments were 'satirical', and went further by emphasising that he has homosexual friends. Nonetheless, a spokesman for the diocese of London made an announcement distancing Bishop Chartres and fellow clergy from Dr Mullen's statements, following which these comments were removed from his blog. [17] He later apologised. [18] Mullen has also called for tax-payer funded homosexual parades to be banned, describing them as "obscene". [19]
A Eurosceptic, Mullen was invited to address a United Kingdom Independence Party event at Chichester in March 2010, where he denounced the European Union and Islam. [20] He has mocked Muslims, saying there could be an "agreeable carnage" at the start of the annual Hajj in Mecca: "They usually manage to stampede and slaughter quite a few hundred of their co-religionists. Just imagine for a moment what a field day the BBC and the left-wing press in England would have if anything even remotely as bad as that happened in Vatican Square at Christmas or Easter". He added that Muslims "lend themselves to ridicule: sticking their arses in the air five times a day. How about a few little choruses, 'Randy Muslims when they die/Find 70 virgins in the sky'?" [21]
Mullen is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal . [22] [23] [24] He has also written for the Daily Telegraph in support of preserving traditional forms of Anglican worship. [25] Mullen has argued it should be permissible to use force against a burglar, even that resulting in death, and that burglars forfeit all their rights by their actions. [26]
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