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Frederick Donald Coggan, Baron Coggan, (9 October 1909 – 17 May 2000) was the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury from 1974 to 1980. The East, The West and the Bible, Empire Club of Canada As Archbishop of Canterbury, he "revived morale within the Church of England, opened a dialogue with Rome and supported women's ordination". He had previously been successively the Bishop of Bradford and the Archbishop of York.
Cornish Arthur Coggan "seems to have taken little interest in his family". Therefore, their three children were raised by their mother. During the First World War she took them to Burnham-on-Sea, in Somerset, for safety. It was there that young Donald was influenced by Ashley King, an evangelist who conducted missions for children on the beach. After the war ended, the family returned to London, but "the strains and stresses of the family’s life were so great that Donald became physically ill." This illness rendered him unable to attend school. Therefore, Donald was taught by a neighbour for four years. The neighbour helped Donald "develop what was to become a life-long love of music."
During his time in Cambridge, Coggan helped found a branch of the Christian Union, an evangelical student movement. He also joined the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, serving as treasurer and vice-president. He became a member of the executive committee of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship.Edward Carpenter, Cantuar: The Archbishops in Their Office (A&C Black, 1997), 532.
Coggan "graduated with an impressive double first". “Dr Donald Coggan.” He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931 and a Master of Arts degree in 1932.
On graduating from Cambridge in 1931, Coggan decided to postpone preparation for ordination for three years. During that time he was an assistant lecturer in Semitic languages and Literature at the University of Manchester. There, he served on the board of management of the Manchester City Mission, and also edited the Inter-Varsity Fellowship magazine.
The couple later had two children: (Dorothy) Ann Coggan (1938–2004) and Ruth Evelyn Coggan (born 1940).
Coggan served as a curate in the evangelical St Mary's Church, Islington, from 1934 to 1937. He was ordained a priest in 1935.
While in Canada, Coggan developed an interest in the theology and teaching of preaching and set up "schools of preaching". During that time, although an evangelical, meaning "a love of the Bible and a missionary dynamic", he dropped his "more fundamentalist attitudes".
Jean Coggan accompanied her husband to Canada. During their "happy years in Canada", Jean give birth to two daughters, Ann in 1938 and Ruth in 1940. Church Times (02 Nov 2006) LADY COGGAN
Wycliffe College awarded Coggan a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1941, and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1944.
When Coggan became principal, the college buildings at Highbury had been bombed by the Germans, and there were only a few students in residence. A new building was planned at Northwood, London. In the meantime, Coggan had to restore the college by using a manor house in Sussex. He recruited a gifted staff and imposed a strict regime. Under Coggan's leadership, the college "became one of the Church of England's most highly regarded theological colleges".
In addition to serving as principal and professor, Coggan served as a proctor in the Convocation (the fore-runner of the General Synod) for the Diocese of London from 1950 to 1956, as an examining chaplain in the Diocese of Lincoln from 1946 to 1956, the Diocese of Manchester from 1951 to 1956, the Diocese of Southwark from 1954 to 1956 the Diocese of Chester from 1955 to 1956.
When Coggan returned to England, wartime constraints on travel meant that his wife and their two children had to remain in Toronto temporarily. When the family returned, the situation was "appalling". Coggan was "permanently on duty" during the college's reconstruction, and the family's living conditions were inadequate. Jean "fell ill" as a result of this stress. The Yorkshire Post (28 January 2005), “Obituary: Lady Coggan”
Coggan was awarded a Lambeth degree of Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) in 1957. List of Lambeth degrees, Lambeth Palace Library
He served as a member of the Board of Governors of Monkton Combe School for nearly fifty years, from 1945 to 1994.A Delightful Inheritance, P LeRoy, Monkton Print, 2018
"Coggan swept in with great energy and firm discipline, and in the space of five years organised the building of five new churches and new diocesan offices, the opening of Scargill House - a fine conference and retreat centre at Scargill, and the raising of much money. Parishes were visited, standards were raised, and the new bishop became a popular figure."
Coggan's success as Bishop of Bradford, as it had been in Canada and at the London College of Divinity, demonstrated that he was "thoroughly capable and balanced, colossally hardworking, a scholarly teacher, a fine preacher, and an increasingly irenic personality."Edward Carpenter, Cantuar: The Archbishops in Their Office (A&C Black, 1997), 533.
Coggan was given a Doctor of Divinity (honorary) by the University of Leeds in 1958.
While Coggan served as Bishop of Bradford, he became a world vice-president of the United Bible Societies in 1957. He also served as Select Preacher for Oxford University from 1960 to 1961, as Chairman of the Liturgical Commission from 1960 to 1964, and Chairman of the College of Preachers from 1960 to 1980.
Coggan was enthroned on 13 September 1961. "At his 1961 enthronement in York Minster, Coggan’s evangelical friends were surprised that he wore a cope and mitre.
Coggan began his new ministry with the zeal he had shown in Canada and as Principal of the London College of Divinity. However, "his zeal sometimes outstripped his wisdom, and amid a plethora of activity in the diocese, involving the setting up of numerous councils and committees". After starting something new, Coggan "tended to become preoccupied with yet another initiative, or to find himself required overseas".
In 1967, Coggan took a tour to Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the United Bible Societies. He "filled public halls and cathedrals with his lectures on the place of the Bible in modern society". He also visited the British armed forces bases in Singapore and Borneo, meeting with senior officers, leading retreats, and teaching schools for service chaplains.
In 1970, Coggan led a Canadian Congress on Evangelism. In 1971, he went to Belgium to meet Cardinal Suenens.
He played a leading role in the Lambeth Conference of 1968.
The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, once said that Coggan was "like a man with a wheelbarrow; however much you pile on him, he goes on pushing".
Coggan's concern "with Scripture translations, exegesis and preaching dominated his mind" His "interest in Biblical translation persisted in his ministry – he was actively involved in the preparation of new, clear and usable translations of biblical texts, including the New English Bible (1961) and the Revised English Bible (published in 1989)". He was chairman of the Joint Committee responsible for the translation of the New English Bible (1970).Kenneth Haynes, ed., Geoffrey Hill: Collected Critical Writings (Oxford University Press, 2009), 289. and chairman of the Joint Committee responsible for the translation of the Revised English Bible (1989). The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible with Apocrypha (Oxford University Press, 1992), xvii.
Coggan was "in great demand as a preacher and lecturer in all parts of the country". Not only was Coggan in demand as a preacher and lecturer, his wife Jean was also. As a lay reader at York, she conducted services and preached. In addition, she was "a popular speaker, and much in demand". The Yorkshire Post (28 January 2005), “Obituary: Lady Coggan.”
Coggan was awarded a Doctor of Divinity by Cambridge University in 1962 and a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Hull in 1963.
Coggan "founded, and energetically promoted, Feed the Minds, an ecumenical programme for providing Christian literature to the third world". He also founded the English College of Preachers, based on a similar organization in the USA.
In these new ventures Coggan found assistants of real calibre. John Hunter, Alec Gilmore, and Douglas Cleverley Ford. David Blunt, Coggan's lay chaplain, the son of his predecessor in the Diocese of Bradford, was a key person in all of Coggan's activities.
Coggan's appointments of three suffragan bishops were also highly successful: George Snow, Douglas Sargent, and Hubert Higgs "all provided thoughtful loyalty and stimulating companionship". The theologian Alan Richardson, who was dean of York Minster, became a close friend and confidant.
In the early 1960s, Coggan expressed his support for the ordination of women.Edward Carpenter, Cantuar: The Archbishops in Their Office (A&C Black, 1997), 535. He formally proposed it at the Lambeth Conference in 1968". Coggan also "pressed repeatedly" for inter-communion with the Roman Catholic Church
In 1967, Coggan was awarded a Doctor of Letters by the Westminster Choir College and a Doctor of Sacred Theology by the General Theological Seminary. While in North America, Coggan addressed The Empire Club of Canada in Toronto on 1 June 1967. His speech was titled “The East, The West and the Bible”.
In 1972, Coggan demonstrated his abhorrence to racial intolerance by opening the Bishop's Palace in York to an Asian family that had been forced to leave Uganda. He opposed apartheid in South African and was a sponsor of a "No Arms for South Africa" campaign along."
The University of Manchester awarded Coggan a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1972.
Regarding homosexuality, in 1973 Coggan said on BBC radio that many Anglican clergymen were homosexuals. "We must treat them," he proclaimed, "with great sympathy and understanding."
Coggan was "often described as the laymen's archbishop. He made friends easily with business leaders and workers alike. He was perhaps less at ease with the landed gentry of the Yorkshire farms and wolds, but they warmed to him for his active support of the York Civic Trust."
More than anything else, "it was the energy, compassion, and integrity of Coggan himself" that made for his success at York. His preaching would often take "a single Greek word and open up its meaning, leaving laity enlightened and encouraged and clergy thirsting for more study".
As primate-elect, Coggan had his first meeting with the media at Church House, Westminster. He was questioned about being only a "caretaker primate" (He was already 65 and would have to retire at age 70.). He answered that "he would regard it as an honour to take care of his beloved church for five or whatever number of years".
Coggan was invested as the Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1974. He was enthroned on 24 January 1975 at Canterbury Cathedral.
Coggan's enthronement was "the most ecumenical enthronement ever held". For the first time since the English Reformation, the Holy See was represented. There was also "participation by Orthodox patriarchs, leaders of the Methodists and other Free Churches, Quakers, denominational leaders from all over the world, and heads of Anglican churches in full communion with Canterbury." Donald Coggan Enthroned.
Being the Archbishop of Canterbury requires administration because it entails four jobs: (1) bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury; (2) Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury; (3) titular head of the Anglican Communion; and (4) chief chaplain to "the mixed pickles of church and state".
In 1975, Coggan was made a fellow of King's College London in 1975.
Many are realizing that a materialistic answer is no real answer at all. There are moral and spiritual issues at stake. The truth is that we in Britain are without anchors. We are drifting. A common enemy in two world wars drew us together in united action – and we defeated him. Another enemy is at the gates today, and we keep silence.
In broadcasting the "Call to the Nation", Coggan was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to attempt to communicate en masse beyond the church. Around 28,000 people wrote letters to Coggan in response to his broadcast. The letters included those that addressed the primate as "Dear Lord" as "Your Grace, Chief Godman". For a time, the call "aroused widespread interest, but its long-term impact was negligible".
The NIE was described "as unique in that it represents the first united and positive action in evangelism since the Reformation". The NIE was officially dedicated at a service in the chapel of Lambeth Palace in January 1979. Leaders of churches involved were present, including the Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. The Living Church, Volume 181 (Morehouse-Gorham Company, August 31, 1980), 5-6. The NIE did not catch the imagination of Christians around the country. By June 1980 only 200 had booked to attend the Assembly in September 1980 instead of the anticipated 2,000."
Coggan founded the Lord Coggan Memorial Fund which helped to supply Russian children with copies of the Bible. “About Donald Coggan”
In 1977, during a visit to Rome, Coggan called for full intercommunion between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, taking his hosts completely by surprise.The Vatican’s official account of the meeting can be read at Visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury
The visit to Rome took place during an ecumenical tour in which Coggan also went to see the Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul and the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
Coggan attended the enthronement in 1978 of Pope John Paul II, the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be present at such a ceremony since the Reformation.
Reaching out to other faiths, Coggan supported the Council of Christians and Jews.
Other destinations on the 1976 trip included Pakistan and India. In India, Coggan visited the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, an old people's home, and the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. Independent Television News
Coggan's "relaxed manner and personal interaction with many of the participants" contributed to its success. He was known for his warm welcome and once remarked that "the art of hospitality is to make guests feel at home when you wish they were".David Fowler, I've Started, So I'll Finish...A Memoir (Farthings Publishing-UK, 2015), 207. The tone of the conference allowed "the anxieties and concerns of the bishops" to be aired. The conference "helped to bring a new coherence to the Anglican Communion".
Coggan also invited bishops to bring their wives, who formed a "separate conference".Colin Buchanan, Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism (Scarecrow Press, 2006), 263. Jean Coggan was in charge of a committee making arrangements for a conference for bishops' wives. The conference for wives was held at Christ Church College Canterbury on 5–13 August.
During his primacy, Coggan had "preached more sermons and travelled more miles than any other of his predecessors".
Coggan died at the Old Parsonage Nursing Home, Main Road, Otterbourne, near Winchester, on 17 May 2000, survived by his wife. His funeral service, followed by cremation, was held at St Swithun's, Winchester, on 26 May 2000. A memorial service was held in Winchester Cathedral on 30 June 2000. Coggan's ashes are interred in the cloister garden of Canterbury Cathedral. Mitre and the Crown
Coggan's wife Jean (Lady Coggan, died 2005) played an important supporting role in his ministry. They had two daughters: Ruth Coggan, formerly a missionary doctor of the Church Missionary Society in Pakistan, and Ann Coggan, formerly a teacher at The Pilgrims' School, Winchester. “Anglican Archbishop Donald Coggan, 90.”
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