Scarlet Ribbons: A Priest with AIDS - Softcover

Bailey, Rosemary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0986377031 ISBN 13: 9780986377037

Publisher: Jorvik Press, 2017

Synopsis

Honourable, impassioned and tender — Sara Maitland

A quiet triumph of the spirit — Library Journal

A soul-searching testimony — The Observer

Rosemary Bailey gives an unsentimental yet heartbreaking account of her brother’s life, from his strict upbringing by a fundamentalist father, through ordination as an Anglican priest, then gay liberation, to his diagnosis with AIDS and a long debilitating illness that he never allowed to defeat him.

Rosemary captures the sad drama that consumes Simon Bailey, rector of the South Yorkshire village of Dinnington, as he breaks the news of his homosexuality and his illness, first to friends, then to close parishioners, and finally to his family, the church authorities and the media.

While slowly succumbing to AIDS, the Rev. Bailey continues to hold services in the parish church, while his parishioners care for him around the clock through his final months.

The story was the subject of the BBC Everyman documentary, Simon’s Cross.

About this title

Review

Honourable... empassioned and tender (Sara Maitland)

'Two journeys are powerfully described - Rosemary finds a brother and a meaning to life and Simon finds he can survive a bullying fundamentalist father to accept himself first as a gay priest, then as a man living with AIDS... Rosemary Bailey's book will shock because it reveals the damage done to gay priests by the church, but it also shows that openness and honesty breed love and understanding? Revd Malcolm Johnson, Bishop of London's Adviser on Pastoral Care and Counselling

About the Author

Rosemary Bailey was born in Yorkshire in 1953, and studied English and Philosophy at Bristol University. She has worked as a journalist for twenty years, writing about sexual politics, culture and travel for many publications including the Sunday Times, Guardian and Vogue. She now lives in London and France with her husband, biographer Barry Miles, and their son.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jorvik Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0986377031
• ISBN 13: 9780986377037
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 224