Ian Paul How to save a diocese
Gillan Scott How to prevent the extinction of the Church of England
Jonathan Clatworthy Does the Church still need parishes?
Miranda Threlfall-Holmes Women in the Episcopate Bill gains Royal Assent
Sarah and Lindsey blogs at A Queer Calling When the Church’s “Welcome” to LGBT People Hurts
Neil Hodgson of the Liverpool Echo has been talking to Andrew Ware of church suppliers Hayes & Finch.
To pick up on the points made by Ian Paul about clergy age and Gillan Scott on young people, when I was an adolescent it was common to have young curates around, the age of an older sibling rather than a parent or grandparent. So as well as youth leaders, we had young role-models with a key role in ministry overall (just as it makes a difference to girls to now have women priests), which could encourage us in playing a part in the priesthood of all believers. Opening the door to older ordinands is great but actively discouraging those… Read more »
Re the articles by Ian Paul and Gillian Scott, demographics and reinvention: The two largest non-R.C. churches here are the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada, in that order. United Church infrastructure is collapsing across the country with amalgamations and closures. Likewise in the Anglican Church where the average age for stipendiary clergy across the country is over 50. In my diocese the majority of newly ordained folks are in their 50s and 60s. We have about 90 parishes with 25% of those on life support in a region of declining population. Some parishes will run… Read more »
Don’t let name of the “queer calling” blog mislead you unless you think mandatory celibacy for LGBT people is your idea of progress in the Church. That blog is one of several “Side B”/Celibacy blogs that endorse the “traditional” evangelical and/or Roman Catholic pathological theology of disordered “same sex attraction” and rejects any intimacy, sexual or otherwise, between members of the same sex. By invoking post-structural/queer theory (disingenuously in my opinion) they claim that celibacy is just another equal variant of non-normative sexuality and thus it actually subverts compulsory heterosexuality and homophobia. Of course, the type of mandatory celibacy they… Read more »
Re, when the church’s “welcome” hurts: On this issue it is interesting to compare similarities and differences in the flight of the bumble bee as it meanders through the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. Sometimes differences can over-shadow similarities. Ross Douthat, writing in today’s New York Times, describes decision making starting points that are not un-familiar to Anglicans, even when conclusions reached by Rome are more definitive, as he describes here, “The church’s attitude toward gay Catholics, for instance, has often been far more punitive and hostile than the pastoral approach to heterosexuals living in what the church… Read more »
One of the canards thrown at gay people is that they are all about sex. Try to talk about relationships and community, and opponents will reply with shouts of “Sodomy!” “Anal intercourse!” The response is, You don’t ask what straight couples do in bed; what gay couples do isn’t any of your business, either.”
This goes for willfully celibate couples, too. I don’t want to know what they don’t do. None of my business. (The chip on the above couple’s shoulder is so off-putting here, that I don’t wonder they have trouble feeling comfortable in more general gatherings.)