Kay Carmichael: Social Reformer, Teacher and Writer (Died: Dec 26 2009)

Wasn't going to post today. But just picked up the notice that Kay Carmichael, social reformer and teacher, died on Boxing Day. I often talk here about those who have shaped my thinking, my attitudes, my moral values, my theology. I was taught Social Administration in the 1970's by two socially attuned and radically compassionate human beings - Professor Bob Holman and Dr Kay Carmichael. Together they reconfigured the way I think about social justice, human wellbeing and social welfare, the nature, causes and responses to poverty, the cruciality of civic responsibility, and the dignity of each human being. In doing so, Kay Carmichael also changed the way i think about the Gospel, the mission of the Church and the God who sides with the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised.

I want to say more about Kay Carmichael in a later post. For now, I simply want to express appreciation and gratitude for the life of a fine teacher, who embodied the passion for social justice she instilled in her students. And more than its personal impact on me, acknowledge also the differences she has made in the wider public sphere, where she looked for ways to enact the great Hebrew call to prophetic living, "to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God."

Comments

[chris]

Catching up, I am - so have just seen this post. Kay Carmichael came into my life in 1984, when some Greenham women came to Dunoon to face trials for the action at the Holy Loch Site One early in that year. She came with the vanguard to try to set up somewhere for them to stay, and was active in contacting my then bishop when as a result of my activities in having them accommodated in the church grounds my family was more or less hounded from the church. She had little success, but at a very difficult time was a staunch and reassuring ally who made me feel that I was doing the right thing.