Joan of Arc wins me £12.50

Joan of Arc Wins Me £12.50

Parents, pay close attention to the media your children consume. Even before I drifted from my Christian faith, back in my younger, more passionate days, I considered myself healthily skeptical of organized religion and not overly reverent toward Church authority.

So I was surprised to feel a spark of excitement when I saw Sarah Mullally, soon to be installed as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, among the clergy entering St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday evening. She appeared there as the Bishop of London, while I was present as a grieving daughter.

Each year, St Paul’s holds a memorial service for families of patients who died at the nearby St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The room where my father spent his last weeks looked out toward the cathedral. Attending the ceremony was a peculiar experience, especially since my father’s youthful zeal had ended in fierce atheism.

As I set out into the cold evening to reach the service, I could hear him in my head asking, "What are you bloody doing that for?"

When my stepmother and I took our seats beneath the great domed ceiling, surrounded by others still wrapped in coats and scarves, I thought what an odd and mournful crowd we were.

Author’s Summary

A daughter, reflecting on faith and loss, attends a memorial at St Paul’s where memory, irony, and belief quietly intertwine.

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New Statesman New Statesman — 2025-11-07

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