Helen De Cruz has interviewed H E [Harriet] Baber as part of a series on Philosophers and their religious practices: The SCP is my Church.
The Guardian Homes in old churches – in pictures
Madeleine Davies Why journalists can’t afford to ignore religion
Helen Pidd of The Guardian has been talking to the Bishop of Stockport: Libby Lane: ‘Whatever the Church’s failings, I really think this is where God has put me’.
Silly question, I am sure, but I read through the de Cruz interview and still don’t know what “SCP” refers to. Its meaning seems important for the piece. Where did I miss the definition?
It’s here jnwall
http://www.societyofchristianphilosophers.com/
Libby Lane says: “I repent of the times that my church has made those people feel less than others, and to feel they don’t belong within the church.” No she doesn’t, because when asked about extending to them what was extended to her, she reads the rule book and dodges the question. So she falls into type.
The original Methodist church in our (historic) township is now a private residence. I haven’t seen inside, being unacquainted with the present owners – however, I’ve heard it’s very special. And the grounds afford great privacy.
Ah, yes. Of course. Thanks for your gracious guidance.
“Lane concedes that not having a big gob may have got her the gig. “There has been a recognition that, intentionally or not, there has been a wisdom in choosing somebody who doesn’t provoke a great deal of pre-determined response, because people don’t know what I stand for,” – Bp Libby Lane Interview –
Perhaps, now that Bishop Libby has intimated that she could not approve of Same-Sex Marriage; perhaps the Church is pleased with her not so ‘sotto voce’, which may have a detrimental effect on her part in her diocesan ‘Conversation’ about Sex and Gender.
About those “homes in old churches”: well, they’d certainly be great places for a house-church! ;-/
Re +Libby Lane on SSM: disappointing, but not surprising. Since she makes waves merely by her second X chromosome, she’s predictably reluctant to make additional waves re her (public) views. I hope (and trust) she’s for sacramental equality when among her brother (for now!) bishops.
Several of us did say, at the time of Libby Lane’s consecration that this was part of the Lambeth/Bishopthorpe strategy to put ‘people like us’ in the House and College of Bishops (i.e. not Osborne, Hedges, Faull etc) precisely because they would not be trusted to toe the line on the ordination of LGBT clergy. No offence to Libby: she is who she is. But her comments reflect how ‘safe’ the appointment was.
Of all people, Lane knows what it’s like to be discriminated against because of who she is; of all people, she knows the importance of solidarity and support; of all people, she knows how much it hurts to be denied it.
For her to hide behind rules to exclude LGBT people is a disgrace. She shames herself and her office.
Those who fought so long and hard to equalize consecration in England have every right to turn to Lane and say, “If we fought for people like you, it was a wasted effort.”
I’m afraid I think James A is right about the ‘people like us’ policy/prejudice. The evidence is growing. Since the perpetrators ‘know’ they are right about everything, it’s difficult for them to see that they are doing wrong in this matter. All the more important therefore for other people to keep pointing it out.
I wouldn’t put it as strongly as James B, but it is depressing. Again all the more important to keep the pressure up.
I think the Guardian Reporter was being most uncharitable when describing those who uphold the Traditional Doctrine of the Church as “Dinosaurs”. Personally, I would never be so disrespectful as to describe His Holiness Pope Francis and His All Holiness, Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch, as “Dinosaurs”
Well, Father David, the ‘Traditional Doctrine of the Church’ did declare homosexuals ‘personae non grata’. Do you really want to preserve that degree of out-dated ‘tradition’?
James A and John have the situation perfectly sized-up. It’s all about promoting within “The Class of ’92” at Cranmer Hall with more than one eye on the Gafcon Primates and other conservative lobbying groups. How could the Wash House and the CNC have been so wantonly irresponsible in allowing the Church of England to sleep-walk in to this scenario? Those of you who have been hoping for +Lucy Oxon on this blog are obviously living in some kind of parallel universe, blissfully oblivious to the Welby-Sentamu project, which is about drawing sharper lines and telling us that the generous,… Read more »
Well, Father Ron, I see no mention of anything to do with what you refer to in any of the Christian Creeds.
So Will, what suggestions do you have with regard to halting Pope Justin’s project to mould the Church of England into his own image and likeness?
Will Richards, the church sleepwalked into this ’cause the old guard was packed with complacent patricians, who thought they could ignore evangelicals who took a page out Dutschke’s book and staged a long march through the institution. By the time the blue bloods woke up, it was too late, and evangelicals ran the place. I don’t blame evangelicals for this. They have every right to try and exert influence in the church. They pack in the numbers and raise the money. He who pays the piper … Harder to understand, by far, are the so-called liberals who’ve spent decades appeasing… Read more »
@Father David asks about my suggestions for curtailing Pope Justin’s accumulation of power which the Church has not given him. I never thought I would see myself writing this, but this year’s General Synod elections are going to be crucial (not least because it wouldn’t surprise me if Bishops are being encouraged to prime the ‘right sort of people’ to stand). But, as Jo Spreadbury’s brave revelations demonstrated at February’s Synod, if the Archbishops are controlling the CNC to such a degree to ensure that Jeffrey John is never elected as a bishop, it must be fairly easy for them… Read more »
This liberal has never appeased evangelicals. I hope and pray for some women bishops who are more ready to stick out their necks and support gay and lesbian people and their longings
This liberal has never appeased evangelicals. I hope and pray for some women bishops who are more ready to stick out their necks and support gay and lesbian people and their longings
The day the CNC actually recommends, and follows through with, the election of Dean Jeffrey John to the Bench of Bishops in the Church of England, will be the day I really believe the Church of England has entered into the modern world, with grace and dignity.