Updated to add two links below the Archbishop’s statement
The Ely CNC failed to nominate a bishop at its meeting last week. Details are in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement copied below. Readers may recall that the Carlisle CNC similarly failed to nominate a new bishop when it met last December.
Statement on Crown Nominations Commission process for next Bishop of Ely
15/07/2024
Very sadly, at the conclusion of a lengthy process of discernment, culminating in two days of interviews on 11 and 12 July, the Crown Nominations Commission considering the nomination of the next Bishop of Ely has not been able reach the level of consensus required to nominate a new Diocesan Bishop.
Over the course of the next months, the Crown Nominations Commission will need to reflect, and make a decision about which stage it wishes to re-commence the discernment process. This is not likely to be before the Spring of 2025. Together with the Archbishop of York and others, there will also need to be a period of reflection on the implications of this decision on the Church of England more generally.
I will be speaking with Bishop Dagmar Winter, the Bishop of Huntingdon, in order to understand from her the best way of supporting the Diocese of Ely and her episcopal ministry in the coming months.
Please continue to hold the Diocese of Ely and the discernment of the Crown Nominations Commission in your prayers.
Background information
A Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) considers vacancies in Diocesan Bishoprics in the Provinces of Canterbury and York, and candidates for appointments to them.
Under the Standing Orders of the General Synod, a nomination cannot be made to the Crown to fill a vacant see unless it has received the support of at least two-thirds of the total number of the voting members of the Commission (10 out of 14) in a secret ballot.
The voting members of the Crown Nominations Commission for a vacant see are the two Archbishops (or a Diocesan Bishop acting on their behalf), 6 members elected from the Vacancy in See Committee of the Diocese and 6 ‘Central Members’ elected from the General Synod. The Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments and the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary are non-voting members of the Commission.
Church Times Questions asked after Crown Nominations Commission fails to agree next Bishop of Ely
Diocese of Ely An update on the next Bishop of Ely
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9 CommentsThis post will be updated as the meeting proceeds.
The Church of England’s General Synod is meeting this weekend. The timetable is here, the agenda is here and the papers are here.
Live video etc
All sessions are streamed live on YouTube and remain available to view afterwards. Links have been provided in advance.
There is an official X/Twitter account.
Official July 2024 list of members
Order papers
Business done
Official press releases
Press reports and comment
Church Times
Independent
The Guardian
89 CommentsThe Questions (and answers) for this weekend’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod were issued today. They can be found online here:
Questions will be taken on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. There are 221 questions, four fewer than at the last group of sessions.
2 CommentsGilo ViaMedia.News Beyond Jay: Here’s What the Response Group and Synod Need to Do for a Safer Church
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Which God?
27 CommentsUpdate I have added a statement from the lead safeguarding bishop below the fold.
Press release from the Church of England
Update from independent reviewer Keith Makin
02/07/2024
I can confirm that the representations process, as referenced in my last update on 14th May 2024, is progressing. Those named and criticised in the review report have been given the opportunity to comment on the extracts which are relevant to them. Once their responses have been received and considered and any amendments arising from this made, I will hand the report to the Archbishops’ Council for subsequent publication. This is unlikely to be until the end of the summer as my priority is to ensure that this final stage is carefully conducted, recognising the impact on all those affected. I confirm this will be done as soon as practically possible. At that point the date of publication will be decided by the Archbishops’ Council.
Support
Both the reviewers and the Church recognise that giving information to this review has the potential to be re-traumatising for victims and survivors. While support has previously been offered the NST has now secured the service of a specialist advocacy service. FearFree Support provides specialist support to victims and survivors of abuse, offering trauma informed and victim led bespoke support. Its director of services has identified an experienced independent advocate for victims and survivors to deliver this service and this information has been relayed to the survivors and victims.
Contact: kate.williams@fearfree.org.uk, mb 07442 968767/helpdesk 01225775276
There is an additional offer of therapeutic support for victims and survivors of Smyth from Yellow Door.
Yellow Door is an organisation that can offer evidence-based therapy to support victims and survivors of abuse and those that have experienced trauma.
Contact Yellow Door confidentially at reviewsupport@yellowdoor.org.uk.
Support for victims and survivors of other Church-related cases can be accessed here.
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[This refers to the two background papers GS 2361A and GS 2361B for a General Synod debate on reviewing abuse at Soul Survivor.]
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27 CommentsThe usual pre-Synod press release has been issued by the Church of England today and is copied below. Synod papers are available here and links will be added to my earlier post here.
Services for same-sex couples, independence in safeguarding, dignity of disabled children: Synod papers published
20/06/2024
Outline proposals on the wider use of prayers asking for God’s blessing for same-sex couples are published today ahead of the annual summer meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod in York next month.
Possible arrangements for the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith in standalone services alongside delegating episcopal ministry and a foundational work to provide a timetable towards a decision on clergy in same-sex civil marriages are also set out as part of broad package in outline proposals designed to help hold the Church together amid deep disagreements over questions of sexuality.
Prayers of Love and Faith are already in use as part of regular services in some churches such as a Sunday eucharist or evensong. But Synod will consider whether and how they might also be used as special services in their own right for a trial period as well as related questions.
The proposals are set out in papers detailing business for the upcoming meeting of Synod from July 5 to 9 at the University of York.
Legislation to be discussed includes first consideration of a measure to overhaul the Church of England’s national governance structures.
Synod will also have the opportunity to debate proposed models for greater independence in Church safeguarding. These follow independent reports by Prof Alexis Jay, the former chair of the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the barrister Sarah Wilkinson.
And members will scrutinise legislation to create a national redress scheme for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse.
There is also a private member’s motion calling for an inquiry into allegations of abuse and cover-up within the Soul Survivor network.
Synod will debate a motion brought by the Diocese of Liverpool on the human dignity of disabled children. The motion challenges the assumption that “bringing a disabled child into the world is a tragedy to be avoided” and calls for more support and advice for families during pregnancy and after birth.
The Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, the lead bishop for the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith process, said: “Working closely with people from across our different traditions and theological convictions over several months to develop these proposals I have been struck again and again by an enduring commitment to the unity of God’s church, even amid deep differences over questions of sexuality.
“There is much still to work out in detail but I believe these proposals provide an outline of how we might move forward together.
“It will require realism, give-and-take and a recognition that, as Christians, we hold a variety of views on these questions, all of which are held with integrity and all of which deserve respect.”
More information
Read papers and more information for the July 2024 General Synod Sessions in York
8 CommentsPress release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more on the diocesan website.
Appointment of Dean of Worcester: 17 June 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Dr Stephen Edwards, Interim Dean of Worcester, to be appointed as Dean of Worcester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 17 June 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Dr Stephen Edwards, Interim Dean of Worcester, to be appointed as Dean of Worcester in succession to The Very Reverend Peter Atkinson following his retirement.
Background
Stephen was educated at Lancaster University and trained for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge. He served his title in the parish of Colwyn Bay, in the Diocese of St Asaph, Wales and in 1997 he was ordained Priest. From 1999 he served as Priest-in-Charge of Bryn-y-Maen.
In 2002, Stephen was appointed Priest-in-Charge at St Agnes Birch-in-Rusholme, with St John with St Cyprian Longsight, in the Diocese of Manchester. From 2012 he served as Team Rector of Wythenshawe and in 2013 he was additionally appointed Area Dean, Withington.
In 2019 Stephen was appointed Residentiary Canon at Worcester Cathedral and he took up his current role as Interim Dean in 2023.
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“A culture of low remuneration and overwork can be addressed only by more funding at a national level”
One of the papers just released for next month’s meeting of the General Sunod of the Church of England is this one. As a GS Misc paper it is provided for information and not for debate.
This is an interim report from the House of Bishops Transparency Group. There are four recommendations, listed below, which the covering page states have been approved by the House.
Recommendation 1:
Minutes of all meetings of the House of Bishops should be published on the relevant section of the Church of England website once they have been approved at the subsequent meeting. These should be minutes rather than transcripts.
Recommendation 2:
The House of Bishops will adopt a “maximum transparency” approach so that the analysis and information that the House has had to make decisions will be made available. In particular formal legal advice from the Legal Office or written advice from the Faith and Order Commission and other such groups should be provided to the General Synod as an annex to the relevant GS paper. The agenda for each House of Bishops meeting will be published with the circulation of papers. Papers to the House of Bishops should continue not to be published.
Recommendation 3:
The House of Bishops should continue to meet without public attendance, and should amend its standing orders to be honest that it is doing so, removing the fiction of public participation in Standing Order 13.
Recommendation 4:
The House of Bishops will propose changes to Canon H 3 and potentially other legislation to provide for acting diocesan bishops to vote at meetings of the House and General Synod. In advance of that chairs might ask acting diocesan bishops informally to indicate how they would have voted were they eligible to vote.
Updated 20 June to include a full list of papers
The Church of England’s General Synod will meet in York from Friday 5 to Tuesday 9 July. A few of the papers, listed below the fold, are now available online. I will update the list when more papers are released next week.
10 CommentsThe Church of England’s House of Bishops met today and issued the following brief press release.
House of Bishops Meeting – June 2024
12/06/2024The House of Bishops met in London on June 12.
The bishops heard updates on the developing proposals from the Living in Love and Faith Programme Board and working groups which represent a variety of theological convictions, traditions and views on sexuality and marriage.
Following a wide-ranging debate, the House of Bishops voted clearly in favour of the proposals being explored further and discussed by Synod which meets in York next month.
Earlier in the day the full College of Bishops met and heard directly from members of the LLF working groups who reflected a strong desire from across the range of views to remain together as one church despite differences.
The rather fuller Actions & Decisions from two earlier meetings of the House are now available online.
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117 CommentsThe Church Commissioners issued their report for 2023 yesterday alongwith a press release, which is copied below.
Church Commissioners for England endowment fund delivers 4.1% return in 2023
03/06/2024
The Church Commissioners for England, which manages the Church of England’s endowment fund, delivered a 4.1% return in 2023, marking the fifteenth year of positive returns, with the fund valued at £10.4bn at the end of 2023.
“Managing the endowment fund in a way that generates sustainable funding to support the mission and ministry of the Church of England, now and for the long-term, is our core purpose – and 2023 was another successful year with that in mind,” said Alan Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner. “In 2023, in addition to paying pensions of £120.6m, we made £223m in charitable expenditure, up 19.4% from £186.8m in 2022, with more than two-thirds of that going towards supporting dioceses and, through them, local churches.”
The in-perpetuity endowment fund delivers long-term financial support for the Church’s ministry, contributing around 20% towards the total annual running costs of the Church of England.
The Church Commissioners has provided the Church with over £3.5bn in funding since 2009, with £1.2bn to be distributed during the current 2023-2025 triennium – a 30% increase on the previous triennium, thanks in large part to the excellent investment returns generated by the Commissioners’ Investment team. The fund has delivered positive returns while building a reputation as a global leader in responsible investment.
The annual report is available for download here.
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