Press release from Lambeth Palace
Thursday 28th February 2013
Archbishop of Canterbury announces new Chaplain
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is delighted to announce the appointment of the Reverend Dr Jo Bailey Wells as his new Chaplain, based at Lambeth Palace. Her primary focus will be for the spiritual life at Lambeth Palace and for supporting the Archbishop’s pastoral and liturgical ministry.
Speaking about her new position, Dr Jo Bailey Wells said:
“I am honoured and delighted to be joining Archbishop Justin’s team at Lambeth as he takes on a heavy but exciting mantle. I look forward to supporting him personally and pastorally – above all by praying for his flourishing in that role – and so to facilitating the wider flourishing of God’s people in God’s church.”
The Reverend Dr Jo Bailey Wells was ordained in 1995. Her ministry thus far has focused on nurturing faith, mentoring vocations teaching Old Testament and training leadership – in Cambridge, in the United States and in South Sudan. Previous positions include Dean of Clare College Cambridge and most recently Director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina. She holds degrees from Cambridge, Minnesota and Durham and has written two books, God’s Holy People (Sheffield: 2000) and Isaiah: A Devotional Commentary for Study and Preaching (BRF: 2006).
Speaking about her appointment, the Archbishop said:
30 Comments“Jo is an outstanding speaker, scholar and pastor, with a very wide experience of the Anglican world. I am delighted that she has been agreed to come and work with me at Lambeth.”
Miranda Threlfall-Holmes has written this excellent response to the Consultation document on women bishops legislation.
Schrodinger’s Cat Theology? Response to Women Bishops Consultation
93 CommentsNeil Ormerod writes for ABC Religion and Ethics about The metaphysical muddle of Lawrence Krauss: Why science can’t get rid of God.
Frank Cranmer writes for Law & Religion UK about Doctrine and law – servants or masters?
Andrew Brown writes for The Guardian that I go to church not for God but for humanity.
Clarissa Tan writes in The Spectator that The west doesn’t need Feng Shui. “If you doubt that a building can affect your spirit, try going to church.”
Giles Fraser writes for The Guardian that The pope’s resignation has finally revealed that the papacy is simply a job.
Christopher Howse explains in The Telegraph Why we won’t get a bearded pope.
4 CommentsDavid Pocklington has published two articles at Law & Religion UK about the Consultation document on women bishops legislation.
Women in the episcopate consultation: the basics
Women in the episcopate consultation: an analysis
The second includes this comment.
The above analysis suggests that whilst the four propositions developed by the Working Group provide a broad framework within which to proceed, these need to be finessed further to maximize the benefit of the progress achieved to date. This would include.
- more formal declaration of the objectives a) to provide a clearer focus for the group’s work, and b) to give a signal to those outside the group of the expected outcome;
- minimization of “soft law” instruments within the “package” which is developed, which would rely [on] a combination of primary and secondary legislation coming into force at the same time;
- a statement on the expected time-scale, identifying key milestones and reviews of progress.
But do read all of them both.
1 CommentPress release from Lambeth Palace
Monday 18th February 2011
Archbishop’s new Director of Reconciliation
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is delighted to announce the appointment of Canon David Porter as Director for Reconciliation at Lambeth Palace. Canon David will work part time on the Archbishop’s personal staff, seconded by Coventry Cathedral where he remains Canon Director for Reconciliation Ministry – bringing first-hand knowledge of the Cathedral’s eminent and longstanding reconciliation work to Lambeth Palace and the wider Church.
The focus of Canon David’s role will be to enable the Church to make a powerful contribution to transforming the often violent conflicts which overshadow the lives of so many people in the world. His initial focus will be on supporting creative ways for renewing conversations and relationships around deeply held differences within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
Canon David brings extensive front-line experience in the area of reconciliation having served on the Northern Ireland Civic Forum, chairing its working group on peacebuilding and reconciliation, as well serving as a member of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council. Since September 2008 David has been the Canon Director for Reconciliation Ministry at Coventry Cathedral, England. An experienced community relations activist, peacebuilding practitioner and community theologian he has thirty years experience in regional, national and international faith based organisations.
Speaking about his new position, Canon David Porter said:
“How we live with our deepest differences both within the Church and our increasingly fractured world, is one of the major challenges to the credibility of Christianity as good news.”
“It is a privilege to be asked to take on this responsibility for Archbishop Justin and I look forward to working with him in serving the Church in making reconciliation and peacebuilding a theological and practical priority in its life and witness.”
Speaking about the appointment, Archbishop Justin said:
“I am delighted to welcome Canon David Porter, Canon for Reconciliation at Coventry, who will join my personal staff part time as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Director for Reconciliation. David brings a wealth of experience in reconciliation and peacebuilding from his work in Northern Ireland and through the Community of the Cross of Nails in Coventry. Conflict is an ever present reality both in the Church and wider society. Christians have been at the centre of reconciliation throughout history. We may not have always handled our own conflicts wisely, but it is essential that we work towards demonstrating ways of reducing destructive conflict in our world – and also to setting an example of how to manage conflict within the Church.”
Information about Canon Porter and the Coventry Cathedral Ministry of Reconciliation is below the fold.
9 CommentsElizabeth Oldfield for ABC Religion and Ethics asks Does the Anglican Church really need a new Theologian-in-Chief?
Angela Tilby starts a regular column in the Church Times with Private and public: heal the rift.
Also in the Church Times is this feature article by Anna Drew: Anyone fancy a bevvy?
In the comment is free section of The Guardian
Joy Bennett writes that Many churches don’t talk about sex beyond virginity, virginity, virginity,
Mark Vernon asks Is love more real when grounded in faith?, and
Giles Fraser writes that Prayer is not pious. Like art, it simply needs attention to that which is other.
Two writers in The Huffington Post offer advice for Lent.
Mark Sandlin Don’t Get Caught In The Lent Trap.
Megan Cottrell Why Do We Give Up Things For Lent?
Last week the House of Bishops decided to give eight senior women clergy the right to attend their meetings. They stated that the “eight members would be elected regionally from within bishops’ senior staff teams (that include deans, archdeacons and others)”.
This article is an attempt to compile a list of the eligible women.
1) At present there are four women deans.
Deans
| Dean of | |
| Catherine Ogle | Birmingham |
| June Osborne | Salisbury |
| Frances Ward | St Edmundsbury |
| Vivienne Faull | York |
2) This list of women archdeacons is extracted from Wikepedia. I know of some acting archdeacons omitted from the Wikipedia list, but they are all men. It is possible that some women are also omitted.
Archdeacons
| Archdeacon of | Diocese | |
| Nicola Sullivan | Wells | Bath & Wells |
| Christine Froude | Malmesbury | Bristol |
| Sheila Watson | Canterbury | Canterbury |
| Penny Driver | Westmorland and Furness | Carlisle |
| Annette Cooper | Colchester | Chelmsford |
| Christine Wilson | Chesterfield | Derby |
| Jackie Searle | Gloucester | Gloucester |
| Jane Sinclair | Stow and Lindsey | Lincoln |
| Rachel Treweek | Hackney | London |
| Cherry Vann | Rochdale | Manchester |
| Jan McFarlane | Norwich | Norwich |
| Karen Gorham | Buckingham | Oxford |
| Christine Allsopp | Northampton | Peterborough |
| Joanne Grenfell | Portsdown (designate) | Portsmouth |
| Jane Hedges | Westminster | Royal Peculiar |
| Ruth Worsley | Wilts | Salisbury |
| Jane Steen | Southwark (designate) | Southwark |
| Dianna Gwilliams | Southwark (acting) | Southwark |
| Audrey Elkington | Bodmin | Truro |
| Anne Dawtry | Halifax | Wakefield |
| Sarah Bullock | York (designate) | York |
| Suzanne Sheriff | York (temporary) | York |
3) It is not clear to me precisely who the “others” will be. Diocesan websites do not usually give a list of the members of the bishop’s senior staff, and the Church of England Year Book never does.
It might be thought that Diocesan Advisors in Women’s Ministry (DAWMs) (listed here) would all be members of the bishops’ senior staff, but I know that this is the case in only some dioceses.
4) Readers are invited to submit (via a comment) the names of any women clergy (other than deans and archdeacons) who are members of their bishop’s senior staff.
24 CommentsAndrew Adonis has published this open letter: Dear Justin Welby…
Winckworth Sherwood’s John Rees arranges confirmation of election of new Archbishop of Canterbury.
Kelvin Holdsworth has The 10 Commandments of Using Images on Church Websites.
Douglas Murray writes in the Spectator: Atheists vs Dawkins: My fellow atheists, it’s time we admitted that religion has some points in its favour.
The Church Times reports on (Tropical) fish for Lent — young to give up most.
Giles Fraser writes his last column for the Church Times: Goodbye: I am letting anger drop.
But he continues his Loose canon column in The Guardian with The key to forgiveness is the refusal to seek revenge.
Following yesterday’s decision by the House of Bishops to give eight senior women clergy the right to attend their meetings these reports have appeared in the press.
Madeleine Davies in the Church Times: Women dignitaries to be elected as Bishops’ ‘participant observers’
Sam Jones in The Guardian Church of England’s house of bishops to allow female clergy into meetings
John Bingham in the Telegraph Church of England to give women clerics ‘observer’ status in House of Bishops
BBC Women clergy to attend Church of England bishops’ meetings
WATCH has issued this statement.
8 CommentsWATCH (Women and the Church) welcomes House of Bishops’ Statement
WATCH welcomes yesterday’s statement by the House of Bishops endorsing ‘robust processes and steps’ towards preparing legislation to make women bishops in the Church of England ‘at the earliest possible date’. Any such legislation will need to be unequivocal in its affirmation of women as priests and bishops and provide an institutional environment in which women’s ordained ministry can truly flourish.
The news that eight senior women are to attend the House of Bishops’ meetings is also to be welcomed. The presence of women in this previously all-male group will be very helpful in preparing the House to receive its first female bishops and in the development of new enabling legislation.
The electronic voting results of the House of Laity meeting held on 18 January 2013 are now available. As usual these take the form of a pdf file, arranged by vote (for/against/abstain) and then alphabetically.
For convenience I have put the results into a spreadsheet arranged by synod number (which brings members together by diocese) and added absentees and vacancies. I have also provided a webpage version of the spreadsheet.
A verbatim transcript of the meeting is also available.
0 CommentsAs the intensive facilitated discussions on legislation to allow women to be bishops start today WATCH has published these two articles, from which I have extracted a few key paragraphs.
John Gladwin: Some comments on where we go from here on the legislation for opening the episcopate to women
The issue in front of us is not primarily doctrinal. That hurdle was jumped in the 1970’s and the church has not retreated from its clear commitment that there are no theological principles in our understanding of the tradition preventing women entering holy orders.
The issue is, therefore, fundamentally about the order of the church. The order of the Church of England is that if you are ordained deacon you may be ordained priest after one year and if you are ordained priest you may be ordained Bishop after 6 years and if you are over 30 years of age. Canon C2 sets out the refinements of this. Driving a permanent wedge between the priesthood and the episcopate is destructive of our tradition and order.
That is one of the reasons why the language of reception was used when women were admitted to the priesthood. The experience of this ministry would seal the issue. There can be no doubt that the period is reception is long passed. When the Archbishop Rowan suggested that, in theory, it was possible for the church to reverse its decision to ordain women into the priesthood, he very quickly had to retract. There is no doubt reception time is done.
Jane Charman: Gender discrimination in the Church of England – why it matters and our response
44 CommentsWithin the Church of England defending the rights of some individuals and groups to discriminate against women currently has a high priority and is connected in many minds with upholding freedom and diversity. By contrast witnessing to the equal dignity and worth of women in society has a low priority. It is not a moral imperative for us. Opponents of women’s ministry have worked hard to alter our perceptions in this way, to present gender discrimination as a respectable alternative position within the life of the Church and themselves as victims of intolerance. This reversal of values seems perverse and incomprehensible, even morally repugnant, to those outside the Church.
I voted for the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure last November, having persuaded myself that it was the best of the options available to us. I wanted to respect the views of others and make gracious provision for those who tell us they are struggling with this issue for theological reasons. I particularly wanted to find a way for the Church of England to break out of the current impasse and move forward with the pressing missional task that is before us.
I have come to understand that what I did was wrong. I was supporting a lesser good at the expense of a greater good. We cannot place the needs and wishes of a small number of our own members above our vocation to declare a gospel of justice and mercy for all human beings. We cannot achieve our goal of having women in the House of Bishops on such terms.
Updated
The Most Reverend Justin Welby became the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury at lunchtime today, when his election was confirmed at a ceremony in St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Archbishop of York gave this Welcome to Archbishop Justin Welby.
Update
St Paul’s Cathedral has this report of the ceremony, Justin Welby is made Archbishop of Canterbury at St Paul’s, with links to photographs and the order of service.
Update Tuesday
The Archbishop is now The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby following his appointment to Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council.
Christopher Howse writes in his Sacred Mysteries column in The Telegraph about Holding a candle in the Temple.
Robert McCrum writes this profile in The Observer: Justin Welby: from mammon to man of God.
Giles Fraser writes in The Guardian that There’s no shame in suicide. And there’s no glory, either.
Andrew Brown in The Guardian asks Is gay marriage really about sex?
2 CommentsFollowing the consecration of Glyn Webster, an election has been held to elect his successor as prolocutor [ie chair] of the lower house [ie clergy] of the Convocation of York.
The Venerable Cherry Vann, the Archdeacon of Rochdale, was elected unopposed.
Amongst other things the prolocutor is an ex officio member of the Archbishops’ Council.
4 CommentsMadeleine Davies writes in the Church Times: Women-bishops summit next week. She reports that ““Intensive” facilitated discussions are to be held on Tuseday and Wednesday next week by the working group on women bishops”.
The chair of the working group has sent a statement to all General Synod members (GS Misc 1041), and this is copied below.
GS Misc 1041
GENERAL SYNOD
Women Bishops: Working Group on new legislative proposalsPlease see below a statement which the Chair of the Working Group has asked to be circulated to Synod members.
William Fittall
Secretary General
31 January 2013Synod members will have seen that, on 11 December, the House of Bishops established a working group drawn from all three Houses of Synod to advise it on the preparation of fresh legislative proposals to be brought before the Synod in July. The Archbishops announced the names of the ten members of the Group on 19 December.
We held our first meeting on 3 January and met again yesterday. At our first meeting we decided to invite 15 people to join us for intensive facilitated discussions on 5/6 February. We sought nominations for some of these places from interested groups and issued some invitations to named individuals.
We thought long and hard about the best arrangements and came to the conclusion that an event of this kind, at which we could do intensive and focused work with the help of outside facilitators, would be what was most productive at this stage of the process.
After our conversations conclude at the end of Wednesday afternoon the Working Group will be meeting the Archbishops and other members of the House of Bishops Standing Committee that evening in preparation for a special meeting of the House of Bishops on Thursday 7 February.
It will be for the House to decide what should happen thereafter in the light of the conversations that have happened. My expectation is that the House will issue a statement and give the working Group a fresh mandate for the next phase of its work. I would also hope that, shortly thereafter, there will be an opportunity to circulate a consultation document enabling all Synod members to make a contribution. Given the timescale to which we are working we shall probably need to seek responses by the end of February.
The ten of us who have been appointed to serve on the Working Group – 4 bishops, 3 clergy and 3 laity – are very conscious of the weight of expectation and responsibility placed on us. Do pray for us and for all those involved in the various discussions during the week of 4 February
+Nigel St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
We reported on the establishment of the working group here and here; the second link includes a list of the group’s members.
10 CommentsJustin Welby and his wife were interviewed at the Trent Vineyard Church in Nottingham on Sunday. The church website has this description
John Mumford talks to Archbishop of Canterbury Elect, Justin Welby, and his wife Caroline. They discuss their faith, the ‘journey to Canterbury’, and their hope for the Church.
and there are links to audio and video of the hour-long interview here.
Ed Thornton reports on the interview for the Church Times as Welby told CNC: ‘appointing me would be absurd’.
8 CommentsAs well as the Bishop of Liverpool, another diocesan bishop has announced his retirement this month. This is Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Exeter, whose announcement came on 6 January.
Exeter and Liverpool therefore join the queue of dioceses (behind Blackburn, Manchester, Durham, and Bath & Wells) awaiting consideration by the Crown Nominations Commission. In addition, if and when reorganisation of the three West Yorkshire dioceses is finally agreed, the new diocese will also have to join the queue. There is only one unallocated slot in the CNC’s programme for 2013, so at least one out of Exeter and Liverpool will have to wait twelve months or more for their new bishop to be chosen, and then probably several more months before he actually takes up his post.
I maintain a list of vacant diocesan sees.
Suffragan bishops also announce their retirements, most recently Christopher Morgan, the Bishop of Colchester, and I keep a list here.
9 CommentsI reported on the launch of the Enough Food For Everyone If campaign last week. Here are a few reports on and reactions to the launch.
Liz Ford in The Guardian Anti-hunger campaign ‘If’ launches with call for G8 to act
Ed Thornton in the Church Times There is one direction: ending world hunger
Luke Harman for Christian Aid IF campaign launches
Zahid Torres-Rahman in The Guardian Business should be part of solution in enough food for everyone campaign
Leni Wild and Sarah Mulley in the New Statesman Is the new IF campaign trying to ‘Make Poverty History’, again?
Maria Caspani for AlertNet IF campaign to end hunger seems a bit iffy
1 CommentThe Rt Rev James Jones has announced that he will retire as Bishop of Liverpool on his 65th birthday in August.
The bishop has released this letter.
7 CommentsUpdated
The 18 January issue of the Church Times carries an eight-page supplement: “women bishops theological debate” with this introduction:
CLEARING the way for women to be consecrated bishops in the Church of England is unfinished business after the defeat in the General Synod last November. In the pause before the fine detail is discussed yet again, we thought to answer readers’ questions about what exactly were the theological objections. We commissioned four main pieces, for and against women bishops, from Evangelical and Catholic viewpoints (encountering a few refusals along the way). We invited the contributors to consult whom they wished, and most filed in time for us to show the pieces to the others, to allow emendations and additions. There are also a few other pieces we thought illuminating. These are, of course, not definitive. As Edward Dowler suggests in the final piece, there are vaster areas of theological reflection about authority and gender with which the Church ought to engage. But, for the time being, we hope that these pages might provide a useful insight into the most pressing issues in the debate.
There is also this related editorial: An issue of unity,
The nine articles themselves are behind the Church Times paywall and so only available to subscribers. But versions of two are available elsewhere: An Ordinary Radical Event is an extended version of the article by Judy Stowell, and Veni Sancte Spiritus – but please don’t tell us anything we’d rather not hear is an earlier version of that by Edward Dowler.
Rachel Weir, the chair of WATCH, has responded to this CT supplement with Last year’s words belong to last year’s language … And next year’s words await another voice…..
In an eight page feature, nine articles are printed only three of which take a positive line on the ordination of women (and only one is actually written by a woman). Many of the rest seem to assume that having women as priests/leaders in the church is an interesting hypothesis to which they would not themselves subscribe!
There is clear bias of content here but there also seems to be a wilful blindness to the fact that women are already ordained as priests in the Church of England. The theological ‘rightness’ of this reform was decided back in 1975 when General Synod decided that there is ‘no fundamental objection to the ordination of women as priests’ and that decision was enacted in 1994 in the first ordinations.
…
So why is it that the Church Times is running a series of articles this week that seem to be trying to re-open the debate?
The offense to women clergy is extraordinary. Since 1994, over 5,000 women have been ordained and have served faithfully in ministries throughout the land. Many already exercise considerable authority and ‘headship’. The Church of England simply couldn’t survive without her women priests.
Another response comes from Miranda Threlfall-Holmes who writes about Loyal Anglicans : A historical view.
60 CommentsA few years ago, the Church of England’s General Synod passed a resolution declaring that both those who agree and those who disagree with the ordination of women are ‘loyal Anglicans’.
Since then, this phrase has been repeatedly quoted by those who disagree with women’s ordination. Look here, the argument runs. We are loyal Anglicans – Synod has agreed – and we cannot be called disloyal just because we don’t support the church’s decision to ordain women. You have to let us have everything we feel we need to flourish. Separate bishops. Separate dioceses, preferably, but failing that certainly separate Chrism masses, separate ordination services, separate selection conferences. It isn’t disloyal or separatist to ask for these things, we are assured: how can it be, when we know everyone involved is a ‘loyal Anglican’?
Let’s leave aside, for a moment, the illogicality of basing your argument on a declaration that both sides are loyal, and then using that declaration as an excuse for disowning your opponents as invalid innovators who are not loyal to the inheritance of faith.
Instead, I want to consider the phrase ‘loyal Anglicans’ as a historian. Because from a historical perspective, this phrase ‘loyal Anglicans’ is a very richly evocative phrase.
It is hardly going too far to say that the entire basis of Anglicanism is loyalty. Loyalty to the Crown over the Pope, mainly. And secondly, loyalty to a prescribed way of doing things rather than to our own ideas.
…
But if Synod’s statements are to be taken as the grounds for argument, there is no getting away from the fact that Synod has said that women can be ordained. That women can and should become bishops, that there are no fundamental theological objections to women’s ordination. And since Synod has declared women can be ordained, there is no grounds for refusing to accept that your (male) bishop is a loyal Anglican, let alone demanding an alternative one with whom you can agree.
We should stop the creeping separation that we have allowed to infiltrate the Church of England since the Act of Synod. Let’s all go to the same Chrism masses, the same ordination services. Let’s enact unity, rather than talking about it. Or let’s stop, please, claiming to be loyal.