Julian Sleigh
Julian Sleigh (1927-2013) was a Christian Community priest and councillor who worked extensively in South Africa.
Julian Sleigh
(6 October 1927 - 2 October 2013)
Julian Sleigh was born on October 6, 1927 in Florence, Italy where his father was a lecturer in the British Institute. He went to school and studied economics in London. As a schoolboy he had already begun to show leadership qualities, being a patrol leader and then troop leader in the Boy Scouts. During his national service he was selected for officer training.
While working in Anglesey, Wales as an assistant for an engineering company he met Trevor Ravenscroft (author of Spear of Destiny), and through him heard of Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy. This led him to work in Camphill, Scotland for some years before helping to found Camphill in South Africa in 1958. He married Renate König, daughter of Camphill founder Karl König, and in the ensuing years they had five children.
In 1965, after further study in Germany and Britain, Julian Sleigh was ordained a priest in the Christian Community. He immediately returned to South Africa to become, together with Heinz Maurer, a founding priest of the Christian Community in Southern Africa. Julian Sleigh worked as a priest in the Camphill Village for adults with special needs near Cape Town. For many years he was involved in the telephone counselling service, Lifeline. This work led him to write his book Crisis Points which has been translated into a dozen languages.
His leadership qualities were again called on when in 1983 he was asked to take on the overall responsibility of the Christian Community's work in Southern Africa, and later also in Australia and New Zealand. He worked at the Camphill Village in South Africa until his retirement at the age of seventy, and then continued living there until his death on October 2, 2013, a few days before his 86th birthday.
Read the full eulogy to Julian Francis Sleigh, as delivered at his funeral by Peter van Breda.
Books by Julian Sleigh
Crisis Points: Working Through Personal Problems
Details a twelve-step process to help resolve difficult situations of all kinds. The steps are designed to allow us to face the facts of our lives and to perceive the feelings and emotions that come from our own destiny.
Friends and Lovers: Working through Relationships
A sensitive look at the issues surrounding friendship, intimacy and loyalty. (Out of Print)
Thirteen to Nineteen
The author sheds light on adolescent problems such as loneliness, relationships, difficulties with parents, drink and drugs, and sexual awakening. (Out of Print)