Giles William Goddard (born 22 June 1962 in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a British

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

priest. He is Vicar of St John's Church, Waterloo.

Early life

Goddard studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

, and graduated from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1984; as per tradition, this was later promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA (Cantab)) degree. He then worked at John Lewis Plc. In 1988 he joined the Housing Corporation, the government agency then responsible for funding social housing. He became Development Director for ASRA Housing Association in 1989, before joining the newly formed Southwark and London Diocesan Housing Association in 1991 as its founding Director, until he was ordained.

Ordained ministry

Goddard was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1995 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1996. He became Curate at St Faith's, North Dulwich. In 1998 he became Rector of

St Peter's Church, Walworth St Peter's Church is an inclusive Anglican parish church in Walworth, London, in the Woolwich Episcopal Area of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. It was built between 1823–25 and was the first church designed by Sir John Soane, in the wave of ...

, where in 2003 he set up InSpire, a centre for learning, arts and community. From 2003 - 2008 he was Area Dean of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

& Newington. On 1 September 2009, he was officially welcomed as

Priest-in-Charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

St John's Church, Waterloo St John's Church, Waterloo, is an Anglican Greek Revival church in South London, built in 1822–24 to the designs of Francis Octavius Bedford. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist, and with St Andrew's, Short Street, forms a united benefice. ...

. In 2014, he was made

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of the parish. Goddard is co-founder of Faith for the Climate, the interfaith environmental action group. In 2014, he presented a motion to the General Synod, calling for leadership on the issue of climate change. The Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion. Goddard said: 'This vote proves that there is a hunger for us to do more on climate change as a church. But this is not the end, it's the beginning.' A former chair of

Inclusive Church Inclusive Church is an organisation founded in 2003 that advocates for the full inclusion of all people regardless of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, and sexual o ...

, Goddard was a member of the General Synod Human Sexuality Group from 2009 - 2017 and works to ensure full inclusion of LGBT people in the Church of England. He appeared in a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

documentar

that considered the question of gay vicars and as a vicar in a short film called "Getting In"

In October 2007, Giles was made an honorary Canon of Southwark Cathedral, along with four other clergy members from the Diocese of Southwark. His first book, ''Space for Grace - Creating Inclusive Churches'', was published by Canterbury Press in 2008. His second book, ''Generous Faith - Creating Vibrant Christian Communities'' was published by Canterbury Press in 2024. In March 2015 Goddard was obliged to apologise for inviting Muslims to conduct Muslim prayers in St John's Waterloo an action that caused national controversy.

References

External links

St John with St Andrew Waterloo website

St. Peter's profile on "a church near you"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Giles 1962 births Living people Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge 20th-century Church of England clergy 21st-century Church of England clergy