The Bishop of Brixworth, the Right Reverend John Holbrook, has announced that he will retire on 30 September 2025. Details are on the Peterborough diocesan website.
28 CommentsMichael Hampson ViaMedia.News Common Worship and our Gender-neutral God
Martyn Percy Surviving Church The Church of England in Secular Cycles: A Case of Corporate Long-Covid?
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Rumours of angels and reports of abuse
Andrew Brown The slow deep hover Here Eye goes again
Charlie Bell ViaMedia.News Consensus, Compassion, Truth, and Grace
130 CommentsAs readers probably already know Justin Welby was interviewed by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on 30 March. You can listen to the interview here, and watch it here. There has been much reporting and comment on the interview; some is below.
Laura Kuenssberg BBC Justin Welby: I failed to act on abuse scandal as scale was ‘overwhelming’
Laura Kuenssberg and Sean Seddon BBC Welby: I forgive serial abuser John Smyth
Laura Kuenssberg BBC After Justin Welby’s failures, obscurity is perhaps not his to choose
Madeleine Davies Church Times Welby looks back at his Smyth decisions and resignation in BBC interview
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Justin Welby was too ‘overwhelmed’ by scale of abuse in C of E to take action
Ben Quinn and Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Justin Welby says he forgives serial abuser John Smyth
Tim Wyatt The New Statesman The confessions of Justin Welby
Angela Tilby Church Times BBC interview shows tragedy of Welby
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Welby and Kuenssberg
Rebecca Chapman The Spectator What was the point of Justin Welby’s reconciliation interview?
Tim Wyatt The Critical Friend The scandal of grace
Andrew Brown The slow deep hover Here we go again
Douglas LeBlanc The Living Church Welby’s Interview Prompts New Backlash
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Trusting our epiphany experiences
Abigail King Church Times Growing up in a vicarage stays with you
Bosco Peters Liturgy Passion, Palms, Passover, and other Problems
0 CommentsThe Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, will commission the Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Beverley Mason, as an Honorary Assistant Bishop. This will take place at the Chrism Mass in St Asaph Cathedral on Maundy Thursday. This is briefly mentioned in Bishop Gregory’s April ad clerum, which notes that Bishop Bev has a home in his diocese.
The diocese of Liverpool has issued a fuller news item, which is copied below.
10 CommentsBishop Bev is to be Made an Hon Asst Bishop at St Asaph at the Chrism Mass on Maundy Thursday
Bishop Bev has written: “I am humbled and deeply grateful to Bishop Gregory and colleagues in St Asaph for their warm welcome, love and affirmation. St Asaph has opened the door upon a new vista and I look forward with hope to a restored and renewed ministry in the Province of the Church in Wales. The Chrism Mass is a poignant reminder for all in Christian ministry of the very essence of our calling and vocation and of our re-covenanting with the God who has lived among us in our Lord Jesus Christ, who by his Cross and Passion, has redeemed the world. I pray this will be a time of blessing and renewal for all Christ’s Church.
I remain Bishop of Warrington as I continue to wait and push for a proper resolution to my unhappy situation. Today, it is 574 days since I exercised an episcopal ministry. It feels interminable – as I imagine it does for you. Thank you for your kind support, resilience and patience.
Please continue to pray for me – as I pray for you.”
Helen King ViaMedia.News Share and Share Alike? Living in Love and Faith and Funding the Church of England
Rachel Starr ViaMedia.News Behold the Men: Identifying Risks, Reconsidering Relationships
Mark Clavier Well-Tempered Can Something Good Emerge from the Crisis of Clergy Burnout?
Johanna Stiebert ViaMedia.News Marriage and the Bible: It’s Complicated
88 CommentsJo Winn-Smith OneBodyOneFaith Lent
Andrew Goddard Psephizo What is going wrong with the Canterbury appointment process?
Tim Wyatt The Critical Friend Beyond reproach
“The torturously complicated process to choose the new Archbishop of Canterbury is losing the faith of one half of the church”
Mark Clavier Well-Tempered Clergy Burnout and the Cure of Souls
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Is Truth Dead?
152 CommentsThe Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, has announced that he will retire on 30 November 2025. Further details are on the Leeds diocesan website: Bishop Nick announces his retirement with thanks to all in our diocese.
72 CommentsIan Paul Psephizo Is Church of England ministry sustainable?
Andrew Goddard Psephizo Is there progress on the appointment of a new Archbishop?
John Smith Psephizo The Hidden Limits of Class in the Church
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Living by intuitive, experiential, emotional faith
110 CommentsFergus Butler-Gallie Engelsberg Ideas Nicaea: the council that shaped the West
Church Times Lent faith series: Upending Church and family
Neil MacGregor begins a series of uncomfortable images for Lent with Christ Discovered in the Temple by Simone Martini.
Charlie Bell ViaMedia.News On Being Conservative
Jonathan Clatworthy The point of it all 1700 years of the Nicene Creed: why?
Ian Gomersall A Retired Rector’s Reflections At Home: Ash Cross
85 CommentsThe Church of England’s House of Bishops met yesterday and issued the following press release.
House of Bishops meeting March 2025
11/03/2025
The House of Bishops met online on March 11, 2025.
Bishops spent time discussing the recent meeting of General Synod in London, including reflecting on responses to the vote on safeguarding independence.
The House then discussed proposals for work by the Liturgical Commission – the body responsible for the Church of England’s worship – and commissioned future work.
The House considered the ongoing work of the Diocesan Finance Review and agreed that work should continue on ways to raise clergy stipends subject to recommendations to be developed by the Triennium Funding Working Group.
Bishops then discussed the process of discernment leading to ordination and agreed that Assessments for Psychological Wellbeing, already widely in use across the Church of England, should become a mandatory part of the Shared Discernment Process from later this year.
The House also spent time in groups, praying and reflecting on a passage from Isaiah 55.
16 CommentsGeorgia Ashwell Women and the Church The Theology of Taint and other misogyny in the Church of England
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church George Carey and the Safeguarding CDM. Time for a Fresh Look?
Duncan Dormor USPG The Church at a Crossroads
Bosco Peters Liturgy A Common Easter
121 CommentsA review of Winchester Cathedral identified “significant failings in leadership and management”, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, said today, when a summary of the review was published. The diocese issued this press release, and the summary is here. The Dean, the Very Revd Catherine Ogle, whose retirement in May this year was announced several months ago, has said that she will immediately hand over leadership responsibilities to Vice-Dean Canon Roly Riem.
There are a number of press reports.
Church Times ‘Significant failings’ found at Winchester Cathedral
Hampshire Chronicle Dean of Winchester Cathedral steps down following bullying review
Slippedisc Winchester in Turmoil as Dean Abruptly Quits
The cathedral website has this list of Winchester Cathedral Updates on Bishop’s Review.
58 Comments1 Bangor Cathedral
The Church Times and the BBC reported yesterday that the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andy John, who is also the Bishop of Bangor, has ordered a visitation of Bangor Cathedral because of safeguarding concerns.
There are also these earlier reports at Nation Cymru.
2 Anthony Pierce
In unrelated news, Anthony Pierce, a former bishop of Swansea and Brecon, was convicted last month of indecent assault on a child.
BBC
Church Times
There are two statements on the provincial website.
The electronic voting results from this month’s meeting of General Synod are now available online. These contain the names of voting members and how they voted.
David Lamming has compiled a spreadsheet summarising the outcomes of these votes which he has kindly provided to us. Some votes were counts of the whole Synod, but he has extracted the voting figures for each house.
The full text of motions can be found in the official record of Business Done.
Charlie Bell The Wheel Journal Power Struggles and Proxy Wars at the Church of England’s General Synod
Andrew Goddard Psephizo How will the next Archbishop of Canterbury be chosen?
Liz Shercliff Women and the Church Not Equal Yet – and how we can tell
33 CommentsRobert Wright Seen&Unseen Marsha de Cordova: the personal experiences driving her passionate politics
Lorraine Cavanagh Church Times Women in the Church: What do ‘micro-aggressions’ mean?
Kristin Breuss Women and the Church Why I Support the Not Equal Yet Campaign
138 CommentsGavin Drake Church Abuse In memory of Clive Billenness
Marcus Walker The Critic More than just a figurehead
“A new plan aims to strip the Archbishop of Canterbury of any real power or authority”
Helen King sharedconversations Living in parched places: February 2025 General Synod
Andrew Atherstone Law & Religion UK Wheat bread and fermented wine at Holy Communion? The origins of Canon B17
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Jesus and human flourishing or Trump, enemy of Christian humanism
Neil Patterson ViaMedia.News When Will the Bishops Think Properly About Same-Sex Marriage?3>
40 CommentsThe Dean of Wakefield, the Very Revd Simon Cowling, announced this morning that he will be retiring on 31 July this year. Details are on the Leeds diocesan website.
8 Comments