Your questions answered

What is a chad?

Our US visitors may be incredulous to discover that there are still some people in the civilised world who genuinely do not know what a "chad" is, but there are still a few and this is for their benefit.

When a voter punches a hole in the ballot paper to indicate their choice, a small circle of paper is, of course, pushed out of the hole. It is this circle that is the "chad", a term carried over from ordinary computer punch cards.

Straightforward? Apparently not. What if the chad is still attached by a corner (a so-called "hanging chad")? Is the vote counted or not? To complicate matters further, experts in this field can also identify sub-species including "dimpled chads", "nippled chads" and even "pregnant chads"!

Another bizarre twist to the story is that the word "chad" may have been adopted because a machine which cut U-shaped slots rather than holes in computer punch cards (thus producing no debris) happened to be invented by a gentleman called Chadless. Obviously, the things not produced by the Chadless keypunch must be chads!

Who is St. Chad?

St. Chad was a seventh century cleric who, according to some, is most famous for not being Bishop of York. Chad lived in a time of religious dispute between the Roman church and the Celtic church. Although matters were largely resolved, in favour of Roman customs, at the Synod of Whitby in 664, there were some who did not accept this decision and were not, therefore, officially accepted by the authorities of the Roman church.

In 665, Wilfrid (St. Wilfrid), who was Abbot of Ripon, was appointed Bishop of York and set off to France to be consecrated by the Bishop of Paris. However, as time went by and still Wilfrid did not return to take up his post, Chad was summoned to be consecrated in his place. Three bishops were required for a consecration, but as there was only one Roman bishop left in England at that time, two Celtic bishops assisted.

In 669, Theodore of Tarsus became Archbishop of Canterbury and immediately set about reforming the English church. On discovering two bishops in Northumbria (yes, Wilfrid did make it back eventually), he declared Chad's consecration invalid because of the participation of the Celtic bishops.

It is Chad's response that is of current significance. He did not argue or fight for his position. Rather, he simply replied: "If you know I have not duly received episcopal ordination, I willingly resign the office, for I never thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, in obedience submitted to undertake it."

Chad's deep humility was rewarded. Very soon after, King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a bishop for his people and so Theodore completed Chad's consecration according to Roman rites and sent him off to Lichfield - where he built his oratory on the site where our church now stands.

 Find out more about St. Chad

So is Chad the patron saint of disputed elections?

Although the church officially recognises certain individuals as saints, it does not, as far as I am aware, assign individual saints patronage of particular aspects of life. The concept of a patron saint is therefore, quite literally, a popular one, i.e. they are appointed by the people, rather than the church authorities. It appears therefore that Chad has just got a new job - and this time no-one's arguing!

St. Chad as the patron saint of disputed elections is entirely appropriate and it seems that his message in his new role is one of humility and unity – not thinking oneself more important than one is and recognising that, ultimately, for good to be achieved, people must work together rather than fight against each other.

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