Three Anglican items from the BBC Sunday programme:
Disinvestment
“I am ashamed to be an Anglican”, said the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, this week. “More sanctimonious claptrap from the C of E.” said Canon Andrew White in Iraq. He said he despaired of his church. They were both talking about a resolution passed at this week’s General Synod supporting disinvestment in the company Caterpillar because of the use of their products by Israel in the West bank and Gaza against Palestinians.
This row is of course hugely embarrassing for the C of E and is made even more so by the fact that George Carey’s successor Rowan Williams, supported the motion. But the present Archbishop was clearly worried by the adverse reaction that resulted and wrote to the Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sachs, expressing his deep regret at the effect on Jewish friends and neighbours of how the Synod’s decision had been perceived.
Interviews with Simon McIlwaine, spokesperson for Anglicans for Israel and the Bishop of Chelmsford, John Gladwin.
More items below the fold.
Sandy Millar
In November we discussed the appointment of the man behind the Alpha Course, the retired London Vicar, Sandy Millar, as a bishop in Uganda. This week he was formally licensed in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Sandy Millar’s appointment was regarded with suspicion in some quarters, where people saw it as an evangelical plot and feared it might set a precedent for one Anglican province to interfere in the affairs of another.
Christopher Landau interviews the new bishop.
Youth and the Church
In May last year we reported how parishioners in Rochdale felt so intimidated by youths who gathered outside their church that their Vicar decided to abandon it and hold their Ascension Day service in his home instead. That experience prompted the Church of England in Greater Manchester to issue guidelines on how vicars should deal with young people who hang around churchyards.
The booklet, which is being issued to all churches in the Diocese, draws on some more positive encounters between vicars and young people – – including a project in Ashton, which has brought a group of 14 -17 year olds out of the cold and into their local vicarage.