Timothy John Raphael
5240 Aged 87
The Ven.Timothy Raphael, who died in Cheltenham on 20 November 2016, exercised a notable ministry as Parish Priest, Cathedral Dean, and Archdeacon in England and New Zealand. Tim was born in New Zealand in 1929 and attended Christ’s College from 1943 to 1946 in Condell’s House. Following secondary school, he had a spell as a Preparatory School master when he read languages for an external degree at Wellington University and plunged into left- wing politics and amateur dramatics. He trained at the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield while undertaking additional studies at Leeds University. Tim was a Curate at St Stephen’s, Rochester Row, Westminster from 1955 to 1960. In 1957 he married Anne Shepherd, a nurse at St Thomas Hospital, who needed the permission of her matron to marry. Anne proved the model of a Priest’s wife while maintaining her own personality. Her hospitality was legendary. In 1960, Tim was appointed Vicar of St Mary, Welling, in the Diocese of Southwark. Well suited to the radical and political religion of London’s South Bank, he was among the first tutors on the Southwark Ordination Course. In 1963 Tim accepted the post of Vicar of St Michael and All Angels in Christchurch where he had worshipped as a layman. It had always been his intention to return home, but it meant a major upheaval for his family. Two years later, he was invited to be Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin. At 35 he was the youngest dean in the Anglican Communion.
He arrived with a reputation of being very high church but was quickly accepted by the less formal congregation. Having won the prize at university for public speaking and possessing an abiding sense of theatre, Tim had such a reputation for thoughtful and provocative preaching that the Otago Daily Times would send along a reporter so his sermons could be included on the front page the next day. He was a regular broadcaster and campaigner for church unity. In 1973, the Bishop of London persuaded the Raphaels to return to London to the parish of St John’s Wood. Close relationships were established with both synagogue and mosque – a rabbi threw his farewell party. Tim was Bishop Graham Leonard’s nominee to be Archdeacon of Middlesex in 1983 and he formed a strong partnership with the Area Bishop of Kensington, Mark Santer, who valued his loyalty and sound judgement. Tim was an avid reader and always had a poem or paragraph or joke to offer. In 1996 he retired to Cheltenham and he hated it at first. Invitations to preach soon came, and he was in his element. He was also used as a trouble shooter elsewhere in the Church of England. After a triple bypass operation and a stroke that affected his eyesight, dementia began to set in. Tim spent his final years in a nursing home visited by the indefatigable Anne. He is survived by Anne and their children Julian, Caroline and Bridget and six grandchildren.
Chronicle 2017
13
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