Daniel Inman Church Times Don’t allow residential training to collapse
“The market is now saturated: action must be taken to ensure that institutions are not forced to close”
Mark Bennet Surviving Church Have attitudes to sex changed in the Church over the past 30 years?
Surviving Church BBC Interview of Julie Macfarlane. Seeking Justice after Abuse
David Ison ViaMedia.News Abusers of Faith
Meg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel BBC Documentary
6 CommentsThis article dates from 1996 but may be of interest
Andrew Brown Prospect The unholy mess
Savi Hensman ViaMedia.News Secularism – A Force for Good?
Angharad Woolcott Church Times ‘As a survivor, I believe that by talking out, I may be able to help others’
“A survivor of clergy abuse reflects on the BBC2 documentary Exposed: The Church’s darkest secret, on the serial sex-offender and former bishop Peter Ball”
Richard Harries Church Times What it feels like to believe
“Richard Harries argues in the last in his series that, in a sceptical age, an appeal to personal experience remains paramount”
Suffragan Bishop of St Germans: 17 January 2020
The Queen appoints Reverend Hugh Edmund Nelson, BA, MTh, to the Suffragan See of St Germans.Published 17 January 2020
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing StreetThe Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Hugh Edmund Nelson, BA, MTh, Vicar of Goudhurst with Kilndown, in the diocese of Canterbury to the Suffragan See of St Germans, in the diocese of Truro, in succession to the Right Reverend Christopher David Goldsmith, BA, DPhil, who resigned on 29th September 2019.
Hugh was educated at Worcester College, Oxford and spent 13 years living and working in L’Arche London, one of the Christian communities for people with and without learning disabilities founded by Jean Vanier. He trained for ministry at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, served his title at The Benefice of The Six in the Diocese of Canterbury and was ordained Priest in 2010.
In 2012, Hugh was appointed to his current role as Vicar of Goudhurst and Kilndown. He also served as Chaplain to Blantyre House Prison from 2012-2016.
There are more details on the Truro diocesan website.
12 CommentsUpdated 24 January to include second batch of papers
The first batch of papers for next month’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod are now available online. The remaining papers will be issued on 24 January and I will add links when these become available.
Papers with a note of the day scheduled for their consideration are listed below the fold. Synod meets from Monday 10 to Thursday 13 February in London.
The Agenda is here and the Report by the Business Committee (Guide to the February 2020 group of sessions) is here.
Synod members reading this might like to note that the deadline for the submission of questions is 12 noon on Wednesday 29 January 2020.
9 CommentsThe Fence Diary of an Urban Parson
The Reverend J J Cowan goes on a ‘modulated exploratory learning course’.
Mtr Kate St Chrysostom’s Church News and Views Compassion easier than Justice …
Simon Butler ViaMedia.News Living in Love & Faith – The Importance of Speaking the Truth
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The Church’s Dark Secret – Reflections
36 CommentsThe BBC has transmitted a two-part television documentary programme:
Exposed: The Church’s Darkest Secret.
The Church of England has issued two press releases. The first one was issued last week, the second one yesterday after both episodes had been shown:
BBC2 documentary on Peter Ball
Response to BBC 2 documentary on Peter Ball from the Bishop of Bath & Wells, Peter Hancock
The Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, has also issued a response (includes video).
Media coverage includes:
Guardian Friendship with Prince Charles made paedophile bishop Peter Ball ‘impregnable’
Church Times Bishops shamed by BBC documentary
33 CommentsAdrian Chiles The Guardian My atheist family was appalled when I converted to Catholicism – but it’s given me great peace
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Taking stock in 2020. Where is the Church going with Safeguarding?
Private Eye Silence of the Lambeth
Richard Harries Church Times Coming in from the outside
“In the second of a series of articles exploring apologetics in a secular age, Richard Harries considers what it might mean to know God”
David Walker ViaMedia.News All Things Considered….Including ‘Living in Love & Faith’
10 CommentsUpdated Monday
Second Church Estates Commissioner: Andrew Selous MP
The appointment of Andrew Selous MP as Second Church Estates Commissioner.
Published 10 January 2020
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street and Andrew Selous MPThe Queen has approved the appointment of Mr Andrew Selous MP as Second Church Estates Commissioner.
Notes to Editors
Andrew Selous has been a Member for South West Bedfordshire since 2001. He is a confirmed member of the Church of England.
There is information on the role of the Second Church Estates Commissioner here. The Commissioner’s primary parliamentary role is to answer oral and written questions from MPs about Church of England matters.
Update
Church Times has more information: Andrew Selous is new Second Church Estates Commissioner.
6 CommentsUpdated
Three articles from the Anglican Communion Office:
Changing the way the Anglican Communion communicates
A look ahead at 2020 for the Anglican Communion Office
Anglican Primates gather in Jordan for “very strategic meeting” ahead of Lambeth Conference
Anglican Primates meet with King Abdullah II and Heads of Churches in Jordan
The Church Times has this report:
‘Grown-up’ Primates’ Meeting affirms Anglican links with Canterbury
10 Comments
David Taylor A Blaze of Light Mixed-Mode or Residential? I’ve Done Both
Richard Harries Church Times Belief in a sceptical society
“In the first of three articles exploring apologetics in a secular age, Richard Harries surveys how life has changed since the 1960s”
Peter Anthony Saint Benet’s Kentish Town Christmas Attendance Statistics
The same title but two very different views of the year ahead
David Baker Christian Today What will happen to the Church of England and Anglicans in 2020?
Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News What Will Happen to the Church of England and Anglicans in 2020?
The Bishop of Ludlow, the Rt Revd Alistair Magowan, has announced he will retire at the end of April.
1 CommentRose Hudson-Wilkin The Voice Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin gives New Year message to Voice readers
“The Bishop of Dover says we can live out the meaning of togetherness as we begin 2020”
Rose Hudson-Wilkin Vogue On Becoming Britain’s First Black Female Bishop
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Thinking about conservative Christianity and divisions
Giles Fraser UnHerd What’s the point of civil partnerships?
“Let’s not pretend that cancelling marriage will eradicate the power imbalances of sexual politics”
In the days immediately following Christmas Day, the Daily Telegraph published several articles by Gabriella Swerling and others about Jonathan Fletcher. They are all behind a paywall, but the Telegraph does allow you to read one a week if you register. Otherwise you are restricted to reading the first couple of paragraphs, but this will give a slight flavour of what they are all about.
Some other papers have reported on the Telegraph’s articles.
Mail Online Church of England vicar, 77, could face criminal probe after alleged abuse victims claim they endured naked ice baths, beatings and massages
Christian Today Criminal inquiry a possibility for vicar accused of spiritual abuse
Church Times Press: Jonathan Fletcher’s victims speak out
Church Times Lessons-learnt review is launched into Jonathan Fletcher
Patheos Victims of sadistic evangelical priest want police to investigate
Premier London vicar Rev Jonathan Fletcher could face criminal inquiry
And there has been comment.
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Peter Ball and Jonathan Fletcher. A toxic legacy?
Reacting to the Jonathan Fletcher story – the Great Silence
Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer Jonathan Fletcher presents the Church of England with a crisis of integrity
Kate Bowler Washington Post We are not divine. But we are loved. That is enough.
Paul Bayes ViaMedia.News A ‘Low & Dishonest’ Decade?
The Guardian reports on this and other New Year messages.