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1 CommentThe Church of England has released its Cathedral Statistics 2024. There is an accompanying press release which is copied below. Statistics for earlier years may be found here.
Cathedral statistics show continued growth in 2024
28/08/2025
The Church of England’s latest cathedral statistics show continued growth in 2024, with weekly attendance rising to 31,900, an increase of eleven per cent compared to 2023. The rise was driven particularly by midweek services, which saw a 15 per cent increase in adult attendance and a 16 per cent increase in child attendance, although still lower than the pre-pandemic figure. (more…)
0 CommentsThe Prime Minister’s Office has annnounced that the next Bishop of Basingstoke in the diocese of Winchester will be the Ven Kelly Anne Betteridge, currently Archdeacon of Bodmin. The Winchester website carries a press release New Bishop of Basingstoke Announced by Downing Street while Truro has Archdeacon Kelly named as new Bishop.
12 CommentsSuffragan Bishop of Basingstoke: 28 August 2025
The King has approved the nomination of the Venerable Kelly Anne Betteridge BA, MA, to the Suffragan See of Basingstoke, in the Diocese of Winchester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 28 August 2025The King has approved the nomination of the Venerable Kelly Anne Betteridge BA, MA, Archdeacon of Bodmin in the Diocese of Truro, to the Suffragan See of Basingstoke in the Diocese of Winchester, in succession to the Right Reverend David Williams BSc, following his translation to the See of Truro.
Kelly was educated at Roehampton Institute, gaining a degree in Education and Theology in 1992. She served as a youth and children’s worker in parishes in the Dioceses of Guildford and of Oxford and then as a ministry specialist working with the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS), involved in training and consultancy work with leaders, writing resources and shaping policy relating to children’s ministry.
Kelly trained for ministry at Queen’s College, Birmingham, gaining an MA in Applied Theological Studies. She served her title across the three parishes of St. Nicolas, Nuneaton with St. James, Weddington, and St. Theobold and St. Chad, Caldecote, in the Diocese of Coventry. She was ordained Priest in 2011 and was subsequently appointed Vicar of St. Nicolas and Priest in Charge of St. James and St. Theobold and St. Chad in 2014.
In 2021 Kelly took up her current role as Archdeacon of Bodmin and a Director of Intergenerational Church, in the Diocese of Truro, supporting deaneries to implement plans for sustainability and flourishing, working with leaders (lay and ordained) to embed new patterns of ministry and, promoting intergenerational approaches to church life.
Updated 29 August
As mentioned in today’s Opinion article, the Redress Scheme that was recently approved by General Synod has suffered from a major data breach. The Church of England has issued this statement:
Redress Scheme data breach by Kennedy’s Law LLP which is copied in full below.
We have been made aware of a deeply regrettable data incident involving the independent Redress Scheme administered by Kennedys Law LLP.
This incident resulted in the unintended disclosure by Kennedys Law of email addresses belonging to individuals who had registered for updates on the Redress Scheme.
First and foremost, our focus is on those affected. We recognise the distress this has caused, particularly for survivors who trusted the scheme to handle their information with care and confidentiality.
While the Church of England is not the data controller for the Redress Scheme and does not hold or manage the data in question, we are nonetheless profoundly concerned. We are in discussions with Kennedys to understand how this breach occurred and to ensure robust steps are taken to prevent anything similar from happening again.
Kennedys has taken full responsibility for the incident and is contacting all those affected directly to apologise and offer support. They have reported the breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office and are investigating the circumstances thoroughly.
This should not have happened. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and support efforts to restore trust and confidence.
Questions or concerns in relation to this data breach can be directed to KennedysDataProtectionOfficer@kennedyslaw.com
Finding support
If you have been impacted by this there are a number of organisations who can offer support:
Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service for anyone who has experienced abuse in relation to the Church of England, the Church in Wales, or the Catholic Church of England and Wales.
There are Safeguarding Advisers in every Church of England diocese across the country. Details can be found using our Diocesan Safeguarding Teams map which links to relevant contact information in each area.
Additional support services are listed here.
If you would like to talk to someone within the Church of England please email redress@churchofengland.org
Statement from Kennedys Law: Published 27 August 2025
Regrettably on Tuesday evening, a message was sent from law firm, Kennedys, to 194 individuals and law firms who had registered to receive updates in relation to the Church of England Redress scheme. Due to human error, the email displayed the email addresses making them visible to all recipients. No further personal details of individuals were shared. Attempts to recall the message were only partially successful.
Kennedys has been working with the Church of England since March 2024 as its independent Scheme Administrator to help it develop further and manage its National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse. This was approved by the General Synod of the Church of England in July paving the way for the scheme to open for redress applications.
Kennedys is deeply sorry for the hurt and concern caused to everyone affected by this significant error and accepts full responsibility. We have contacted everyone who received the message and have reported the incident to the Charity Commission, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Solicitor’s Regulatory Authority. We will fully comply with any investigations.
Additionally, we have launched a full internal investigation to understand how this could have occurred and will incorporate any lessons learnt into our procedures immediately.
We understand the significant impact this will have on those affected for which we apologise unreservedly. We remain committed to supporting victims and survivors of Church of England-related abuse to secure the financial redress, therapeutic, spiritual and emotional support, acknowledgement of wrongdoing on the part of the Church, apology and other forms of bespoke redress under this scheme. Questions or concerns in relation to this data breach can be directed to KennedysDataProtectionOfficer@kennedyslaw.com
Updates
This letter was issued on Thursday: An open letter from the Bishop of Winchester
And this was issued by Kennedys, on the front page of the Redress Scheme website, and is copied below.
Redress Church of England
Kennedys data breach
Published 28 August 2025
I am a Partner at the law firm Kennedys, and I have been working with the Church of
England to develop the Redress Scheme.
I know you will already be aware of the unfortunate incident earlier this week in which an email was sent to people who had registered to receive updates in relation to the Redress Scheme. Due to human error and in breach of firm standards, the email displayed the email addresses of all recipients. I want to reassure you that no further personal details of individuals, or information relating to those individuals, was shared.
I want to take this opportunity to personally apologise that this error occurred. It does not reflect the standards that we expect of ourselves and as a firm but more importantly we know that it has caused trauma and concern, and seriously impacted on the trust that survivors and others have in the Redress Scheme. We recognise the seriousness of this incident, and we have launched an internal investigation to understand exactly how this incident occurred and to ensure it does not happen again.
We are also working with the Church of England and those leading the Scheme to determine how best to rebuild trust in the Redress Scheme, and ensure those affected by this incident are adequately supported and any harm suffered appropriately redressed.
We have received a number of complaints from those affected by this incident and are responding to those individually. If you have been impacted and want to lodge a complaint, or have any related questions or concerns, you can contact me at Helen_snowball@kennedyslaw.com or the Kennedys Data Protection Officer at KennedysDataProtectionOfficer@kennedyslaw.com. We have a dedicated team in place who are entirely focused on this matter.
We understand it can be distressing for some to receive further messages from the original thread. We have provided some guidance here that might help reduce or stop further messages coming to your inbox.
We know this will be a difficult time for many of you and additional support is available from Safe Spaces. They can be contacted on safespaces@firstlight.org.uk or 0300 303 1056.
I would like to reiterate again how sorry I am that this happened and our unwavering dedication to making it right.
With regards,
Helen Snowball
33 Comments
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20 CommentsUpdated
The trial of Chris Brain on multiple charges arising from the Nine O’Clock Service has led to the following outcomes:
A further hearing is scheduled for 4 September, to determine if there are grounds for a retrial on any of the latter charges.
The Church of England has issued these statements: Statements following the trial of Chris Brain, the founder of the Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield.
The Diocese of Sheffield has this: Statement from the Bishop of Sheffield following the trial of Chris Brain
South Yorkshire Police has: Former priest guilty of multiple sexual offences following SYP investigation
Update
Crown Prosecution Service has: Former vicar convicted for rape and sexual assaults connected to his nightclub ‘Nine O Clock service’
Note: this headline has now been amended.
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60 CommentsMost of the electronic voting lists from last month’s meeting of General Synod were published online some weeks ago, and I linked to them here. These contain the names of voting members and how they voted.
The lists for two procedural motions were omitted, but they are now available. Both were motions ‘That the Synod do pass to the Next Business’ and both were carried. The effect of such a motion is that the substantive motion lapses, and the same (or a similar) question cannot be reconsidered in the remaining lifetime of the Synod without the permission of the Business Committee and the general consent of the Synod.
The first was during the debate on item 13 as amended by item 33 (see Order Paper III for Saturday afternoon).
That this Synod noting the wider discussions about the culture and governance of the House of Bishops
a) welcome the decision to undertake an independently led review as proposed in GS Misc 1412 and the importance in the proposed Terms of Reference of the section on Culture and Ways of Working and
b) request that the Report of the Review be published in full and that the cost of the Review be met by the Archbishops’ Council.”.
The second was at the end of Sunday’s debate on the Archbishops’ Council Annual Report. This prevented a debate on Martin Sewell’s following motion on the working of the Audit Committee (see item 35 on Order Paper V).
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It has been announced that the Electoral College of the Church in Wales has elected the Rt Revd Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, as the fifteenth Archbishop of Wales, and her election has been confirmed by the Bench of Bishops. The announcement is copied below.
More pictures can be seen on Facebook here. There is a BBC News report here.
165 CommentsNew Archbishop of Wales elected
A new Archbishop of Wales has been elected today, 30 July 2025.
Cherry Vann who has served as the Bishop of Monmouth for the past five years, has been chosen as the 15th Archbishop of Wales.
She succeeds Bishop Andrew John who retired in July after three and a half years as the leader of the Church in Wales.
Archbishop Cherry was elected having secured a two-thirds majority vote from members of the Electoral College on the second day of its meeting at the St Pierre Church and Hotel in Chepstow. The election was confirmed by the other diocesan bishops and announced by the Provincial Secretary of the Church in Wales, Simon Lloyd. Archbishop Cherry will be enthroned at Newport Cathedral in due course. As Archbishop she will continue to serve as Bishop of Monmouth.
Originally from Leicestershire, Archbishop Cherry Vann was consecrated as Bishop of Monmouth in 2020. Cherry was ordained as a deacon in 1989. She was then among the first women to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1994. She then served as Archdeacon of Rochdale, in the Diocese of Manchester, for 11 years.
She said, “”The first thing I shall need to do is to ensure that the issues which have been raised in the last six months are properly addressed and that I work to bring healing and reconciliation, and to build a really good level of trust across the Church and the communities the Church serves.”
The Very Revd Ian Black, Dean of Newport welcomed the news on behalf of the Diocese of Monmouth.
He said, “Cherry is the right person for this moment in the Church in Wales’ life. She has the skills and vision that we need to restore trust following some very public failings. She has brought stability to the Diocese of Monmouth, managing the change to ministry areas with clarity and purpose, showing deep care for the clergy and people. This foundation will be a good base as she leads the Province over the next few years.
“She has a deep faith, which is also open to those who take a different view to her, and this has impressed those people enormously.
“I look forward to supporting her as Dean of her Cathedral. One of our duties and pleasures here is to pray for the bishop every day and we will continue to do so gladly.”
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9 CommentsThe Prime Minister’s Office has announced that the next Bishop of Worcester is to be the Right Reverend Hugh Edmund Nelson, currently Suffragan Bishop of St Germans. The Worcester diocesan website has more information here, and the diocese of Truro has this.
3 CommentsAppointment of Bishop of Worcester: 29 July 2025
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Hugh Edmund Nelson, for election as Bishop of Worcester
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 29 July 2025The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Hugh Nelson, Suffragan Bishop of St Germans in the Diocese of Truro, for election as Bishop of Worcester, in succession to The Right Reverend John Geoffrey Inge, following his retirement.
Background
After a theology degree at Worcester College, Oxford, Hugh spent 13 years living and working with adults with learning disabilities in one of the L’Arche communities. He trained for ministry at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, was ordained Deacon in 2009 and Priest in 2010, serving his title at The Six group of Churches in the rural area around Sittingbourne in the Diocese of Canterbury. He was appointed Vicar of Goudhurst and Kilndown, also in the diocese of Canterbury, in 2012.
In 2020 Hugh took up his current role as Suffragan Bishop of St Germans in the Diocese of Truro and was in addition appointed Bishop to the Armed Forces in 2021. Since 2023 he also served as Acting Bishop of Truro until the installation of the Right Reverend David Williams on 17th May.
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155 CommentsUpdated on 19 August to add two procedural motions
The electronic voting results from this month’s meeting of General Synod are now available online. These contain the names of voting members and how they voted.
The full text of motions can be found in the official record of Business Done.
The House of Bishops yesterday agreed to replace Issues in Human Sexuality in the process of discerning new candidates for ordination with a requirement for candidates to live in line with the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy. Details are in a Church of England press release which is copied below.
Bishops confirm replacement of ‘Issues in Human Sexuality’ in discernment process
23/07/2025
The House of Bishops has agreed to replace the outdated document Issues in Human Sexuality in the process of discerning new candidates for ordination with a requirement for candidates to live in line with the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy.
The change does not alter the Church’s doctrine or canonical requirements, which remain in place, but is intended to ensure the discernment process is both theologically robust and pastorally sensitive.
The decision, at an online meeting of the House of Bishops this morning, follows a near-unanimous vote at the General Synod in York last week, and is an interim step while a longer-term approach is developed.
Synod supported an amended private member’s motion calling on the House to remove any requirements relating to Issues – as it was widely known – from the process and replace it with the interim requirement relating to the Guidelines.
When it was first published in 1991, Issues aimed to be sensitive, but the tone, language, and some of the assumptions are now considered inappropriate and offensive to many people.
Originally intended as a teaching document, Issues had assumed a more definitive role within the Church’s discernment and vocations process with candidates required to confirm that they would shape their lives within the boundaries outlined within it.
Bishops also agreed to remove the document from the House of Bishops website.
Work is now getting under way to update materials used in the discernment process such as online forms which reference Issues and documents used in the Candidates Panel. All existing guidance documents for Candidates, Diocesan Directors of Ordinands and Bishops’ Advisers will be reviewed and changed where necessary and new guidance will be issued. The Ministry Development Team, in collaboration with the Ministry Development Board, will report back to the House in October on this process.
This interim procedure will remain in place while the Church continues its work on the broader package of proposals for the Living and Love and Faith process. This work is ongoing, with the aspiration that proposals will be brought to the House of Bishops in the autumn and then to the February 2026 General Synod.
The House heard a presentation on the work undertaken so far on a review of regulations for Reader Ministry and the findings of the second Anglican Giving Survey carried out earlier this year.
The survey found that over 75 per cent of Anglicans had been thanked for their giving in the last six months, up from less than a third five years ago.
It also highlighted the generosity of givers, with average giving exceeding inflation over the last five years, and suggested that more than two thirds of Anglicans had heard a sermon on giving in the last year, with 60 per cent of those saying the sermon changed their thinking on giving.
The meeting closed in prayer.
Notes