The Briefing for Members of Vacancy in See Committees has been recently updated and is now dated July 2013.
There are a number of changes from the previous edition, including these.
1) Following the introduction of Common Tenure, diocesan bishops have a role profile and person specification. Details of how the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) prepare these is now included.
2) The section on the procedures of the CNC has been expanded, in particular by adding information on the interviews that are now held.
3) Under the section “The Prime Minister” there is this new sentence which requires further editing.
A medical and DBS ** [what does this mean???] are conducted prior to the [candidate’s formal nomination to the See?].
DBS refers to the Disclosure and Barring Service checks (previously CRB checks).
12 CommentsRelease 2A from the 2011 Census results for Scotland includes data on Religion. The Census press release on this contains the following:
Religion
BRIN has a very much more detailed discussion at Scottish Religious Census, 2011.
One of the surprising things is that many people in Scotland identify themselves as Church of England or Anglican, rather than as Episcopalian, or belonging to the Scottish Episcopal Church. The figures contained in this table are (updated Monday morning):
Church of England 66,717
Episcopalian 21,289
Anglican 4.490
Scottish Episcopal Church 8,048
Church of Ireland 2,020
Church in Wales 453
BRIN includes links to responses made by many denominational leaders. The Primus of the SEC made this statement.
26 CommentsUpdated Monday
Lambeth Palace issued this press statement:
Archbishop’s statement on marriage tax breaks
Saturday 28th September 2013
In response to the Prime Minister’s announcement today that some married couples and civil partners will receive a transferable tax allowance from 2015, the Archbishop has said the church welcomes all support for family life.
In a statement, the Archbishop said: “We welcome all support for family life and we’re pleased that this initiative includes both married couples and those in civil partnerships.”
Press coverage of this government announcement:
Telegraph Married couples to receive £1,000 tax break
Guardian Tories woo married couples with tax break
BBC David Cameron unveils marriage tax breaks plan
Channel 4 News David Cameron’s cash for married couples – who gets it?
David Cameron proposes rewarding marriage with a tax cut – worth £200 a year to four million couples. But it won’t go to everyone. Who gets the £3.85 a week marriage bonus?
…The married couples tax break will favour “one earner” couples, where one partner is either not working or earning very little. Very high-earners won’t get it either. It will be restricted to basic rate tax payers – a band which includes people on salaries of up to £41,450 a year.
The marriage tax break has been on the Conservative agenda since 2010, but the bill will be sped up this year and brought in for 2015, Cameron promises.
The tax break will go to couples where one partner has an income of under £41,450 and the second is not working or earning a low salary.
In order for the couple to benefit, the low-earning partner will have to be earning under £9,440 – the current tax-free allowance for 2013/14…
Further media comment:
Spectator David Cameron unveils £1,000 marriage tax allowance
New Statesman Five problems with the Tories’ marriage tax allowance
Guardian This Tory tax allowance is just a marriage of convenience
10 CommentsAndrew Brown writes in The Guardian that Outrage is the wrong reaction to outrageous crimes.
Vicky Beeching has interviewed Ruth Chapman for Faith in Feminism: Synod, WATCH & Women Bishops.
Joe Ware writes for the Church Times Enough for need, but not greed.
Huffington Post has photos to show that Abandoned Churches Are Eerily Beautiful. It also has photos of The World’s 50 Most Unusual Churches.
1 CommentA consortium including the Church Commissioners are the preferred bidders to purchase 314 bank branches from RBS, it was announced today. Details are in this press release from the Commissioners.
Church Commissioners statement on RBS bid
The Church Commissioners for England have today confirmed that as part of a consortium of investors they will be partnering with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to create a leading challenger bank from 314 RBS branches across the UK.
The confirmation follows the decision of the board of RBS to favour the bid of a consortium which includes the Corsair Capital investment fund, Centerbridge Partners and the Commissioners to create a new bank with a focus on ethical standards and servicing the needs of retail and SME customers.
The new bank, to be called Williams and Glyn’s (W&G), will be a vigorous challenger in UK business and retail banking sector with a projected 5% market share of the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) and mid-corporate banking markets, and a 2% share of UK personal current accounts.
Andreas Whittam Smith, first estates commissioner, said:
“The Church Commissioners are excited to have the opportunity to be involved in creating a U.K. challenger bank operating to the highest ethical standards and giving consumers more choice. We are delighted that the Royal Bank of Scotland recognised the strengths of our bid and the consortium’s vision, and have chosen the consortium as their preferred bidder.”
Andrew Brown, Secretary to the Church Commissioners, said:
“This is a great opportunity for the Commissioners to invest in an exciting opportunity for the benefit of the serving and retired clergy, bishops, cathedrals and the wide work of the Church of England throughout the country especially in areas of need and opportunity.”The Church Commissioners for England are responsible for managing a well-diversified investment portfolio with the aim of producing returns to support the Church of England’s work across the country.
Notes:
The Church Commissioners manage an investment fund of some £5.5 billion, held mainly in a diversified portfolio including equities, real estate and alternative investment strategies. The Commissioners’ work today supports the Church of England as a Christian presence in every community.The annual objectives of the Church Commissioners include:
- A return on investments of RPI +5%
- Supporting poorer dioceses with ministry costs
- Providing funds to support mission activities
- Paying for bishops’ ministry and some cathedral costs
- Administering the legal framework for pastoral reorganisation and settling the future of closed church buildings
- Paying clergy pensions for service prior to 1998
- Running the national payroll for serving and retired clergy
A copy of their annual report for 2012 can be found here.:
RBS says Return of Williams & Glyn’s moves closer.
Press reports include:
6 CommentsJames Quinn in The Telegraph RBS sells stake in Project Rainbow branches to Corsair for as much as £800m
Jill Treanor in The Guardian RBS sells 314 branches to church-backed Corsair consortium
BBC News RBS sells 314 bank branches to Corsair consortium
Sky News Church Consortium Wins RBS Branch Sale Race
The timetable for the November group of sessions of the General Synod of the Church of England is available for download, and is copied below.
|
GENERAL SYNOD: NOVEMBER 2013
Timetable |
|
| Monday 18 November | |
| 12 noon | Meeting of the House of Laity |
| 2 pm – 7 pm | |
| 1.45 pm | Worship |
| Formal business | |
| Briefing by the Archbishop of Canterbury | |
| Report by the Business Committee | |
| Quinquennium Goals Part II: Intentional Evangelism | |
| Legislative Business | |
| Miscellaneous Provisions Measure/Amending Canon No 31 – Final Drafting and Final Approval | |
| Yorkshire Diocesan Reorganisation Scheme: Resolution relating to Synodical representation | |
| Not later than 5.20 pm | Questions |
| Not later than 6.50 pm | Presentation on Steering Committee report on women in the episcopate |
| [7.05–7.25 pm] | Evening worship |
| Tuesday 19 November | |
| 9.15 am – 1 pm | |
| 9.15 am | Group work on Women in the Episcopate (to include morning worship) |
| 11.45 am | Legislative Business: |
| Any unfinished legislative business from Monday | |
| Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction (Amendment) Measure (re the Faculty Jurisdiction) – First Consideration | |
| 2.30 pm – 7 pm | |
| 2.30 pm | Presidential Address by the Archbishop of York |
| The Church School of the Future (Chadwick Report) | |
| Legislative business | |
| PCCs (Powers) Measure – First Consideration | |
| Amending Vacancy in See Committee Regulation (to give effect to Bradford DSM) | |
| Standing Orders Committee report | |
| Not later than 5.45 pm | London DSM: Review of the Workings of the General Synod |
| [7.05-7.25 pm] | Evening worship |
| Wednesday 20 November | |
| 9.15 am – 1 pm | |
| 9.15 am | Holy Communion |
| 10.30 am | Women in the episcopate: Motion on Steering Committee report |
| Legislative business | |
| Women in the Episcopate Draft Measure and Amending Canon – First Consideration | |
| 2.30 – 5.30pm | |
| 2.30 pm | Legislative Business |
| Women in the Episcopate: Draft Measure and Amending Canon – First Consideration cont’d | |
| The Work of the Elections Review Group: Second Report by the Business Committee (resumed debate) | |
| Not later than 5.15 pm | Farewells |
| 5.30 pm | Prorogation |
| Contingency business: | Bradford DSM: Name of Dioceses |
| Wakefield DSM: Nature and Structure of the Church of England – National Debate | |
Updated Friday morning
Here’s a round-up of where the process of choosing bishops for vacant English diocesan sees is at present.
Five dioceses have been allocated places in the queue for the Crown Nominations Commission.
Bath and Wells
The CNC has already held its first meeting (18 July), and the second is scheduled for 3/4 October 2013.
Leeds
The three dioceses that will be subsumed into the Diocese of Leeds have all published updates this week (Bradford, Ripon and Leeds, Wakefield) inviting “anyone wishing to comment on the needs of the diocese, or the wider Church, or who wishes to propose candidates” to write to the Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments by 3 October. This timetable is very short, but originally the closing date was 30 September.
Leeds has been allocated 12 November 2013 and 9/10 January 2014 for its CNC meetings, but the Ripon and Leeds update states “The Crown Nominations Commission will meet on November 12th, interview in January 2014 and will make its selection in February when it nominates the new bishop” whilst Bradford has “These diocesan reps will join the national reps in November to begin the formal process, with a further residential meeting in January. It is hoped that we will have the name of the new diocesan bishop by the end of February.” My interpretation of this is that there will be the usual two meetings (in November and January), and that the public announcement of the new bishop is expected in February.
The diocesan representatives on the CNC are David Ashton (Wakefield), Kathryn Fitzsimons (Ripon and Leeds) and Paul Slater, Zahida Mallard, Sam Corley and Debbie Child (Bradford).
Exeter
The CNC meetings will be on 18 October and 6/7 November 2013. Details of the diocesan statement of needs, and the six people elected from the diocese to serve on the CNC are here. These representatives are Anneliese Barrell, the Revd Douglas Dettmer, the Very Revd Jonathan Draper, Anne Foreman, Charles Hodgson and the Revd Gilly Maude.
Hereford
The CNC meetings will be on 22 January and 25/26 February 2014. The diocese has published this briefing note and this note from the chair of the vacancy in see committee.
Liverpool
The CNC meetings will be on 6 March and 1/2 April 2014. The diocese has published this guide to the process. Liverpool’s vacancy in see committee will be having its first meeting next week (1 October) and its main meeting on 3 December.
Other vacancies in the pipeline are Gibraltar in Europe, Guildford, St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, and Southwell & Nottingham.
Update
The usual notices of the vacancies in the Sees of Leeds and Hereford appear in the Church Times today (27 October) with closing dates for comments of 3 and 17 October respectively. The Religious Job site carries the notice for Leeds here.
26 CommentsThe Lambeth Palace website reports on the consecration of two suffragan bishops yesterday. See Archbishop ordains and consecrates Bishops of Ebbsfleet and Tewkesbury.
Somewhat unusually, the article contains both a transcript, and links to an audio recording, of the sermon, which was delivered by Lord Williams of Oystermouth.
8 CommentsYesterday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby was interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 World at One lunchtime news programme.
You can hear the interview with Martha Kearney here.
Subsequent media coverage:
BBC Pakistan church bombing victims ‘martyrs’, archbishop says
Telegraph Christians now suffering mass martyrdom, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Express “Christians are being attacked just because of their faith”, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Star Archbishop of Canterbury says pray for Kenya mall killers
0 CommentsSee earlier TA articles here, and then here. And our own copy of the election rules here.
Church of England press release:
11 CommentsFirst Female Representatives to House of Bishops Elected
26 September 2013
The results of the first elections for female representatives to attend the House of Bishops have been announced. At its meeting of 7 February 2013 the House of Bishops decided that eight senior women clergy, elected regionally, will participate in all meetings of the House until such time as there are six female Bishops who will sit as of right.The representatives will take up their roles on 1st December.
- South West region – Ven Nicola Sullivan, Archdeacon of Wells
- North East region – Very Revd Vivienne Faull, Dean of York
- South East region – Ven Rachel Treweek, Archdeacon of Hackney
ENDS
Notes
The results for the elections in the 5 other regions are expected to be announced over the next two weeks.The rules relating to the election of the regional representatives can be found here:
http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1784044/2013%20rules%20under%20so12.pdfMore information on the role and work of the House of Bishops can be found here: http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/general-synod/about-general-synod/house-of-bishops.aspx
From the Anglican Communion News Service:
Church of South India elects first woman bishop
The Church of South India has today appointed its first woman bishop.
The Revd Eggoni Pushpalalitha was ordained in 1983 and has most recently been a priest in the Diocese of Nadyal in Andhra Pradesh.
Her appointment comes only days after the Church of Ireland elected its first woman bishop, the Revd Pat (Patricia) Storey as the new Bishop of Meath and Kildare.
Provincial Secretary of the Church of South India, Mani M. Philip confirmed that Miss Pushpalalitha had been appointed by the Synod Selection Board this afternoon.
“We have been ordaining women since 1976,” he told ACNS, adding that in its constitution, the province mandates that at least 25 per cent of all statutory bodies should be women.
Bishop-designate Pushpalalitha is expected to be installed on Monday 30 September.
One of the 38 Member Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Church of South India is a ‘united’ Church—the result of the union of churches of varying traditions Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed. It was inaugurated in September 1947.
4 CommentsThe recent decision of the Church in Wales to allow women to be consecrated as bishops, and the election of a woman bishop in the Church of Ireland have prompted an article, Women bishops and the recognition of Orders, by Will Adam, editor of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal, in Law and Religion UK about the implications for the Church of England.
… This is bound to bring up again the question of the recognition in a Church which does not permit the ordination of women as bishop of episcopal acts performed by a bishop who is a woman …
However, the consecration of a woman as a bishop in the Church of Ireland changes the situation. Deacons, priests and bishops of the Church of Ireland, Church in Wales and Scottish Episcopal Church are not considered as “overseas” clergy by the law applying to the Church of England. This is significant, because the permission of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York is not required for such ministers to be invited to exercise the ministry of their orders in England …
The article refers to this 2004 opinion from the Legal Advisory Commission of the Church of England: The Effect of Acts by women Bishops of Churches in Communion with the Church of England.
Kelvin Holdswoth writes about the same topic in Taint. He concludes with
10 CommentsWhat I’m interested in is that with respect of our current bishops in Scotland, all of them have either had a female co-consecrator present at their consecration, joined in consecrating someone with a female co-consecrator present or have been consecrated by someone who has had a female co-consecrator present at their own consecration.
What I wonder is whether those who apply the theology of taint believe that anyone at all (bishops, priests or deacons) now ordained in Scotland is legit.
Oh, and by the way an English bishop was present and joining in when this situation began. I was there – I saw it with my own eyes.
Where does this leave the Scottish Episcopal Church in relation to those who would deny the legitimacy of women to act as bishops? …
Do we, or do we not, remain in full communion with [all of] the Church of England?
Reform Ireland has published this:
Appointment of the new Bishop of Meath
45 CommentsThe Church of Ireland, in common with the Anglican Communion worldwide, has always prized doing things ‘decently and in order’ (1Corinthians 14:40). With the appointment of the first woman bishop in Britain and Ireland, it has furthered the disorder in God’s church that it originally initiated with the decision to appoint women as presbyters and bishops by an act of Synod in 1990.
God’s order for the family and for his church is male headship, a loving, Christ-like, self-sacrificing leadership for the purpose of leading others into maturity and fellowship in Christ. This ordering, initiated by God at the creation of man and woman, is not based upon or designed to produce any inferiority or inequality of woman to man. Rather, it is based upon the very nature and purpose of relationships within the Trinity itself.
As God’s Word makes clear, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-equal persons of the eternal Trinity, ‘One God world without end.’ Yet, the Son is eternally submissive to the Father (1Cor.11:3), who is described as his ‘head’, and similarly the Holy Spirit’s role in the economy of God is to serve the Father and the Son. Such headship of the Father does not imply the inferiority of the Son or the Spirit. Rather, the submissiveness of the Son within the Trinity is for the purpose of a perfect loving fellowship where there is mutual glorification of the other.
In 1 Corinthians 11, the NT teaches that the principle of male headship in the family and the church is modelled upon the relationship of the Father and the Son. Male and female are equal in status (Galatians 3:28) but woman is called to be submissive to God’s design for male headship in the church. This voluntary acceptance by a co-equal of her role in the church is her Christ-like service of God, and like Christ does not imply any inferiority or inequality. On the contrary, like the voluntary submissive relationships within the Trinity, the purpose of the woman and the man in playing such complimentary roles is for the purpose of mutual glorification of the other in Christ.
This complementarian approach is creational, biblical and crucial for our sanctification in Christ. To ignore God’s design for man and woman is to bring disharmony and disorder into Christ’s body. The Church of Ireland, by its recent appointment of a woman to be Bishop, has not only brought more disharmony and disorder into God’s church, but it has also side-lined Christ in his own church. If God’s Word does not rule his body, the church, then Christ is a mere figure-head and not the captain of his people.
By ignoring God’s equality agenda and role for man and woman and substituting it with a ‘spirit-of-the-age’ equality agenda, the Church of Ireland has in effect discriminated against those who hold to a biblical position. This decision will not only prevent those who believe in God’s agenda for man and woman being able to serve in Meath diocese, but also impair fellowship throughout the Church of Ireland. The appointment to Meath is therefore a sad day for many in the Church of Ireland because it is one more indication that the Church of Ireland is no longer listening to God’s purposes for his church.
23th Sep 2013
Charles Read, Vice-Chair of WATCH, writes: “Close, but no cigar (yet)”.
22 Comments…In the Church in Wales debate, the assistant bishop of Llandaff, David Wilbourne, reminded people of how he had been John Habgood’s chaplain when the latter, as Archbishop of York, had drafted the Act of Synod. Bishop Wilbourne told the Welsh Governing Body that the first flying bishops had deliberately been chosen from men nearing retirement because the Act of Synod was meant to be a transitional arrangement. As he said, “Yet here we are 20 years later.”
The Welsh church will make provision for those opposed to women bishops by means of a Code of Practice, not by enacting legislation. This has been where the Church of England has got into a tangle. The July General Synod asked for simple legislation to create women bishops precisely because making provision in law for opponents had proved unworkable and was leading to women bishops being second class bishops. If Wales and Ireland can do it, so can England.
In Wales and Ireland, the sky has not fallen in by going about it this way. Perhaps developments in these countries will give us courage to press on with legislation that does not discriminate. Meanwhile, here’s a sobering thought:
It is May 2014 and Kenny has moved from Dunboyne to live in Manchester. He is exploring a call to ordination but has only just been confirmed by bishop Pat – one of her first. However, the English DDO tells him that the Church of England does not recognise bishop Pat’s confirmation as valid because she is a woman. He needs to be confirmed again.
Can we get our house in order on matters like this? It is only going to get worse now – we have a female bishop on our doorstep and we don’t recognise her ministry. If we don’t move ahead quickly, then it won’t be Kenny the ordinand, it will be Sally and Simon the Irish priests, ordained by bishop Pat, who cannot minister in England because we don’t recognise their orders as valid – not because of them but because of her – or more specifically her gender. Theology of taint anyone? Or is it just the Church of England’s inability to welcome the ministry of ordained women – even women who are bishops. Our neighbours show us a better way. Let us walk in it.
Charles Read is a Vice-Chair of WATCH and member of General Synod
Updated Tuesday evening
BBC has Pakistan blasts: Burials amid anger after Peshawar church attack and Pakistanis react with ‘shock and anger’ at latest attack and also Who are Pakistan’s Christians?
Guardian Pakistani Christians mourn 85 killed in suicide bombings at Peshawar church and Peshawar church bombings show the deadly outcome of religious intolerance
Telegraph Peshawar church attack: Nawaz Sharif warns that Taliban talks could be scrapped
Independent Pakistan church blast: Christians in angry protest against attacks which killed 85 in Peshawar
Karachi News Muavia-led Punjabi Taliban behind church bombing and World leaders condemn Peshawar church attack and also Global prejudice against Christians
Update
Church Times Death toll rises after attack on Pakistan church
On Monday, the Bishop of Pontefract, the Rt Revd Tony Robinson, who chairs the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pakistan Focus Group, said: “I think this is the worst case that we have had of an attack on a church, although for many years now this has been part of a pattern of attacks on Christians, both at worship and in their homes. We hope that the Pakistani government will try to protect Christians in that country, who are trying to live peaceful lives in that context.”
He said that it was “very difficult for the government in Pakistan to protect every church”; but the rise of terror groups “may mean they need to be more proactive than they have been”.
Anglican Communion Office Secretary General to Anglican Communion: “Please pray for Pakistan”
3 CommentsThe Secretary General of the Anglican Communion has asked for Communion-wide prayer following the suicide attack on a church in Pakistan that left than 78 dead and more than 100 injured.
In a letter to the Anglican Communion’s Primates—its most senior bishops—Canon Kenneth Kearon wrote, “Messages of condolences have been coming in from around the Communion, and I write to ask you to consider requesting your parishes and dioceses to remember in prayer those who died or were bereaved and those who were injured or live in fear because of the tragedy…”
Updated twice Monday
All Saints Church, Peshawar which was attacked yesterday by suicide bombers, is a church in the Diocese of Peshawar in the Church of Pakistan.
The diocesan website has information about the tragedy here.
Information about the historic building is here.
The Church of Pakistan is a United Church within the Anglican Communion. More information about its formation on this page. (scroll down).
And there is a blog post by an American priest who knows the church: Peshawar church bombing a condensation of horror and loss. More from Titus Presler via the Living Church here includes After church bombing Edwardes closes for 3 days and empathy abounds and College closes for 3 days in solidarity as church institution after All Saints bombing.
Media reports of the attack:
Karachi News: Twin suicide attacks in Peshawar church claim 81 lives and Peshawar church attack: Probe committee constituted, 81 dead buried. Also Nationwide protests against Peshawar church bombing and Peshawar bombing: Initial report says a warning was already issued.
Guardian: Taliban suicide attack on Pakistani church leaves dozens dead
Telegraph: Suicide bombers kill 60 Christians outside Pakistan church
Independent: Taliban claims responsibility for Peshawar church bombs that killed 78 and Pakistan’s beleaguered Christians fear Peshawar bombing will not be the last such attack
New York Times: Scores Are Killed by Suicide Bomb Attack at Historic Church in Pakistan
Reuters: Suicide bombers kill 78 Christians outside Pakistani church
Updates
Anglican Communion News Service Anglicans worldwide expresses shock, sadness over Pakistan bombings and also Sorrow over church bombings in Pakistan.
Lambeth Palace Archbishop ‘appalled’ by Pakistan church bombings
13 CommentsReaders may find this Church Guide to Dealing With an Idea useful.
Maleiha Malik writes for The Guardian that Full-face veils aren’t barbaric – but our response can be.
The UK Human Rights Blog has published these two articles on this topic.
Adam Wagner The Niqaab issue is too important to be left to liberal instinct
Alasdair Henderson Veils and ignorance: defendant not allowed to wear niqaab when giving evidence
Jamie Bruesehoff writes for The Huffington Post Dear Parents With Young Children in Church.
Faith & Leadership has interviewed Sarah Coakley: Ministry is not easier than theology.
Jonathan Romain writes for the Church Times that Faith needs some of football’s goals.
9 CommentsUpdated Sunday
Completed in June by 4,018 people, the YouGov survey for the Westminster Faith Debates offers little comfort for either those who defend or those who oppose faith schools. It shows that:
There is a great deal more information in the press release about specific questions that were asked.
The full survey results from YouGov are available here.
There was also an appendix to the press release as received by email, which is not included elsewhere but which is reproduced below the fold.
Update
BRIN has now posted on this survey and their summary of key points is:
Church of Ireland press release: Bishops Appoint The Revd Pat Storey As New Bishop Of Meath And Kildare
The House of Bishops of the Church of Ireland meeting yesterday in Dublin appointed the Revd Pat (Patricia) Storey as the new Bishop of Meath and Kildare, to succeed The Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, who is now Archbishop of Armagh. The appointment of the new bishop had passed to the House of Bishops as the Episcopal Electoral College which met on 28 May failed to appoint a Bishop of Meath and Kildare dioceses. The Revd Pat Storey is currently Rector of St Augustine’s Parish Church, Londonderry.
Announcing the appointment of the Revd Pat Storey, The Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, said: ‘Having known Pat Storey since she was an undergraduate and I was Chaplain at Trinity College, Dublin, I very much welcome her as a new bishop. She is a person of great warmth, intelligence and spiritual depth and I am certain that her ministry in the Dioceses of Meath and Kildare and the wider Church will be a blessing to many. We remember her and her family in our prayers.’
Responding, the Revd Pat Storey said: ‘I am both excited and daunted by this new adventure in our lives. I have had an extraordinarily happy experience in St Augustine’s and in this wonderful city which I will be sad to leave. However, I count it an enormous privilege to begin a new phase of my ministry with the people of Meath and Kildare, and I look forward to working with the team of clergy who are already there. I would sincerely ask for your prayers for myself and my family, who are the best family in the world!’
The Revd Pat Storey (53) has been Rector of St Augustine’s, Londonderry (Derry and Raphoe) since 2004. She is married to the Revd Earl Storey and has two adult children, Carolyn and Luke, and a son–in–law Peter. Having grown up in Belfast and studied French and English at Trinity College, Dublin, she trained at the Church of Ireland Theological College (now Institute) and was ordained deacon in 1997 and priest in 1998. She served a Curacy in Ballymena (Connor) and was a Team Vicar in Glenavy (Connor) and a part–time Youth Worker Co–ordinator with the Church of Ireland Youth Department. Among Central Church participation, she is a member of the Standing Committee of the General Synod. The Revd Pat Storey becomes the first woman to be appointed a bishop in the Church of Ireland.
The consecration of the new bishop will take place in due course, followed by enthronement in the diocesan cathedrals thereafter.
Another press release: Archbishop Of Dublin Welcomes Appointment Of The Revd Pat Storey As New Bishop Of Meath And Kildare
22 CommentsLambeth Palace has issued this press release:
4 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is delighted to announce the appointment of Ailsa Anderson LVO as Director of Communications at Lambeth Palace. Mrs Anderson is currently the Communications and Press Secretary to The Queen.
Mrs Anderson will be the primary spokesperson for the Archbishop, and a member of his senior team at Lambeth Palace.
She will manage the Lambeth Palace communications team, overseeing day to day contact with the media as well as driving and developing strategic communications. The role has responsibility not only to oversee how the Archbishop is represented to the press, but also to provide him with regular advice and guidance where the media are concerned.
A former newspaper journalist, Mrs Anderson brings extensive experience of public relations. She was appointed Communications and Press Secretary to The Queen in October 2010, having been Deputy Press Secretary to Her Majesty and Head of News at Buckingham Palace since June 2007. From May 2001 to June 2007, she was Assistant Press Secretary to The Queen. Mrs Anderson has also acted as Press Secretary to two ministers of state and a cabinet minister.
Mrs Anderson will take up the role in December. The exact date is yet to be finalised.
Speaking about the appointment, Archbishop Justin said: “Ailsa Anderson is an experienced and distinguished communications director with an exceptional record of service. I am absolutely delighted and honoured that she has chosen to use her great skills and experience in the service of the Church, and greatly look forward to working with her.”