Nicholas Hills, the Administrative Secretary in the Central Secretariat at Church House Westminster, has sent a summary of last week’s General Synod business to diocesan secretaries and archdeacons. The Diocese of Liverpool has published a slightly abbreviated version on its website. The original letter is also available.
Although as usual the detailed reports in the Church Times are only available to subscribers, this article by Madeleine Davies is free to all: Not on the agenda for Synod, Green remains hot topic.
The Madeleine Davies article raises a number of important points: I’d like to start with: ‘The Sub-Dean of Westminster, the Ven. Andrew Tremlett, wrote on Facebook last Saturday in defence of the “important and timely” report, and of Lord Green. He suggested that the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” had given way to “guilt by association”.’ I entirely agree with the principle of “innocent until proven guilty”, but there is another principle involved: that of acquainting yourself with the facts before alleging that someone is being smeared by “guilt by association”. Tha facts are that HSBC pleaded guilty to… Read more »
Andy Lightbown has replied to the Church Times article here http://wp.me/p31VCC-1h9
Indeed, it is not the tenor of the critics of the report that is questionable, it is the way they were attacked as if their expertise in the very field in question somehow disqualified them. It was if they were beeping dismissed as failed hacks who need to be replaced by inspired teaching from novel sources. The key failure here, apart from the way the report group was made up, was in the delivery of the message, it seemed incomplete and with skill could have been tied to the faith and order report. Lord Green is a sensible man, his… Read more »
It may also be helpful to know that on 18th February, following a raid on the Geneva premises of HSBC, the Swiss authorities issued a statement from the prosecutors which said: “Following the recent revelations related to the HSBC Private Bank (Switzerland), the public prosecutor announces the opening of a criminal procedure against the bank… for aggravated money laundering.” http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/swiss-authorities-raid-hsbc-geneva-office-money-laundering-inquiry-1488453 The report in the International Business Times goes on to state: ‘In addition, the US Department of Justice stated that HSBC’s “blatant failure to implement proper anti-money laundering controls facilitated the laundering of at least $881m in drug proceeds through… Read more »
Andy Lightbown hits the nail on the head when he quotes the Benedictine Rule for the important disposition of authority in the (Church) community: “when any business of importance is to be considered in the monastery, the abbot or abbess should summon the whole community together and, the community should be summoned for such consultation because it often happens that the Lord makes the best course clear to one of the younger members.” Andy’s question here, further explains the predicament: “Benedict endorses and actively seeks out the ‘wisdom of youth’. Does the Church?” – begs the right sort of question… Read more »