The Church of England has released statistics of attendances at cathedral services for 2010, with corresponding figures for each year back to 2000. The statistics include both Sunday and midweek services.
There is also a press release.
Attendance levels at regular weekly services in Church of England cathedrals have increased significantly again this year, by 7%, say the latest statistics from the Archbishops’ Council’s Research and Statistics Unit.
The rest of the press release is copied below the fold.
10 CommentsChristopher Howse writes in The Telegraph about A sun within him: Thomas Traherne’s Easter and about Nazareth near Sandringham.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has just published this address that he gave on 1 March 2011: Relations between the Church and state today: what is the role of the Christian citizen?
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Why being thankful is real belief in resurrection.
Maya Shwayder writes for the Harvard University Gazette about Debunking a myth. “In medieval Christianity, dissection was often practiced.”
Simon Barrow writes at Ekklesia: Wedded to a right royal theological confusion.
James Martin writes for the Huffington Post about The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done.
17 CommentsHere are just a few of the many sermons preached yesterday.
Bishop of Chelmsford [You can see a picture of the icon referred to by the bishop here.]
Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow
Catholic Archbishop of Westminster
Not a sermon, but it could be: Savi Hensman
2 CommentsJames Martin in The Huffington Post asks Why Did Judas Betray Jesus?
The Times has a series of articles to mark Holy Week. The Archbishop of York has written “Our destiny is sure, but Jesus never promised an easy journey” and placed a copy outside the paywall.
In The Vancouver Sun three Anglican priests (Peter Elliott, Ellen Clark-King and Chris Dierkes) born in different decades write about how they experience Holy Week from their own perspectives: Easter celebrates faith, hope and love.
Paul Handley writes in The Guardian: In this for the long haul. “Easter Day is all the more special for Christians who fail in self-denial during Lent.”
Martin Wainwright writes in The Guardian about Last Supper … or penultimate supper? Scientist challenges Maundy Thursday. “Cambridge professor Sir Colin Humphreys claims Last Supper took place on a Wednesday, not a Thursday.”
Christopher Pearson covers the same story in The Australian Search for the real man in the Gospels.
Humphreys himself writes in The Huffington Post: The Mysteries of the Last Supper and Jesus’ Final Days.
Two sceptical responses are by Mark Goodacre Dating the Last Supper a Day Early? and Andrew McGowan Christ our Passover: Making Sense of the Gospel Accounts of Jesus’ Death. Goodacre has several links to other articles.
In the New Statesman leading public figures and scientists explain their faith to Andrew Zak Williams: I’m a believer.
Aleks Krotoski in The Observer asks What effect has the internet had on religion? “Online, God has been released from traditional doctrine to become everything to everybody.”
The entire Fall 2010 issue of The Princeton Theological Review was devoted to articles on The Church after Google. You can download all 122 pages as a one megabyte pdf file.
Andrew Brown writes in The Guardian about Theological uncertainty. “Holy scriptures can demand that their believers do evil things. Would this be true if evil didn’t prosper?”
Timothy Beal writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Bible Is Dead; Long Live the Bible.
Michelle Boorstein writes in The Washington Post about Sign of the times: Updated Bible.
Simon Barrow writes for Ekklesia about The religious betrayal of God and its antidote.
Simon Jenkins writes for The Guardian that There’s no such thing as ‘big society’ – just many small ones, under steeples. “Churches are the obvious place for revived localism yet their potential remains locked behind regulatory clutter and spiralling costs.”
8 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury has marked Holy Week by launching a redesign of his website. The contents appear to be much the same as before. BUT everything has been moved, so old links to the site no longer work. All they do is take you to the home page.
If you use the rss feed to read news items from the site, that too has moved. There is a link to the new feed on the home page.
The only announcement that I can find of this redesign was made at 00:03 on Wednesday of this week on the Archbishop’s recently created Facebook fan page. Lambeth Palace did not announce it on Twitter.
3 CommentsThere are many General Synod resources on the Church of England website. Here are some that have been recently added or updated.
The verbatim Report of Proceedings: February 2011 is now available.
The verbatim report of the meeting of the House of Laity held on 7 February 2011 is also available.
The Agendas and Papers page now includes links to the General Synod Index. This is a classified list of General Synod papers, issued after each quinquenium, that now goes back to the first General Synod in 1970.
There is also a list of Synod papers in number order with links to online papers. It is not yet complete but is gradually being extended.
There is a forecast of the business for the July 2011 meeting of General Synod. There is a note here to say that the final agenda will be determined by a meeting of the Business Committee on May 25 2011.
There are up-to-date lists of private members’ motions and diocesan synod motions.
1 CommentJames Hannam writes for Patheos that Science and Christianity Can Get On Better Than You Think.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that Faith offers a tragic wisdom.
Jay Michaelson in The Huffington Post asks Who Are the Real Sodomites?
Christopher Howse writes in The Telegraph that St George gets his bank holiday.
Emine Saner interviews Robert Winston and Sam Harris in The Guardian: Is there any place for religious faith in science?
3 CommentsUpdated
The English House of Bishops has issued new Guidance on the marriage of persons from outside the European Economic Area which can be downloaded from here.
This page links to two documents:
In addition, reference is made in the first document to:
Here is the official press release: Bishops act to tackle sham marriages
And some press reports:
Alan Travis in The Guardian: Sham marriages targeted in Church of England crackdown
Tom Whitehead in The Telegraph: New rules for migrant church weddings
BBC: Church of England in ‘sham marriage’ crackdown
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Nicholas Roderick Holtam, BD, MA, FKC, Hon DCL, Vicar of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in the diocese of London, for election as Bishop of Salisbury in succession to the Right Reverend Dr David Staffurth Stancliffe, MA, DD, on his resignation on 30 September 2010.
Press Release from 10 Downing Street: Diocese of Salisbury
Statement on diocesan website: New Bishop of Salisbury Announced
Statement on the St Martin-in-the-Fields wesbite: Revd Nicholas Holtam appointed Bishop of Salisbury
18 CommentsBRIN (British Religion in Numbers) reports on a study of Self-Supporting Ministry in the UK.
In 2009 3,100 or 27% of all the Church of England’s diocesan licensed ministers were in self-supporting ministry (SSM), sometimes described as non-stipendiary ministry. Hitherto, comparatively little has been known about these SSMs and how they are utilized by the Church.
That omission is now rectified by research published in the Church Times of 1 April 2011 (pp. 5, 22-3) and 8 April 2011 (pp. 4, 22-3, 30). These articles, together with some of the raw data in chart form, can be downloaded from:
The study was undertaken by Rev Dr Teresa Morgan, Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at Oriel College, Oxford and herself in the SSM, in the parish of Littlemore.
Fieldwork took place during the autumn of 2010 by means of an online questionnaire, to which 890 SSMs in the UK (but mostly from England) responded, representing 28% of the universe.
SSMs were found to contribute a significant amount of time to their ministry, with one-quarter putting in more than 30 hours a week and a further one-fifth between 20 and 30 hours. Only 15% spent fewer than 10 hours a week on their ministry.
Moreover, the overwhelming majority regarded their ministry as a privilege and a joy and had received extensive pre- and post-ordination training.
Notwithstanding, many respondents gave the clear impression that they were ‘ignored, overlooked or under-used’ in the Church, ‘parked somewhere, and left’, and ‘sidelined’. Some commented that stipendiary ministers appeared not to regard SSMs as ‘proper’ clergy and treated them badly.
Likewise, many SSMs reported a degree of stagnation in their ministry since ordination. 46% had held only one post since ordination, and 41% reported no change in their ministry during this time. Just 13% had lead responsibility for ministry in their parish or chaplaincy. 59% exercised no significant ministry beyond the Church. Almost one-quarter claimed to have received no ministerial development review. Lailonni Ballixxx getting pounded hard Mouth Fuck and Black Cock Inserted Deep Hot Naked Teen Chatting On Webcam Tattooed skinny teen gets screwed hard Veronica Rodriguez fucked after deep throat Hunk is stimulating babes needs with his rubbing Sporty MILF Gets Gangbanged Busty Jasmine Black tertures tattooed Paige Delight https://www.pornjk.com/tags/xxnx/ Natural titted blonde gets fucked and creamed Sexy chick having a meaty cock for her twat Natalie gets pussy pounded by huge cock Horniness groundbreaking study Cute teen Alex Mae punished and smashed Two Horny Girls Making Out Beautiful Kharlie Stone bangs in her tiny pussy
Morgan is critical of the Church for its lack of strategy with regard to SSM and especially of the failure of dioceses to consider SSMs in their planning processes. She dismisses the raft of alleged impediments to the effective use of SSMs often cited by Church leaders, arguing that her survey has empirically disproved them.
The two reports in the Church Times are
Unpaid, unregarded, and under-used
Equipped and ready for action
although the second of these is only available to subscribers until Friday.
11 CommentsDavid Lose in The Huffington Post asks Is the Bible True?
James McGrath writes for Religion at the Margins about The Veil That Prevents Fundamentalists from Understanding the Bible.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that The Bible is not like moral sayings.
Here’s an early Easter message from the USA: The Presiding Bishop’s Easter message.
Harriet Baber writes in The Guardian that Religion is not really about ethics. “As a compendium of moral doctrine the Bible doesn’t come off well. Its relevance lies in its teaching of the nature of God.”
Her article is one of several answers to this week’s The Question: What would you add to the Bible?
updated Friday morning to add Church Times article and Guardian editorial, and again to add Times interview, and in the afternoon another Guardian article.
It was announced yesterday that the astrophysicist Martin Rees had been awarded the 2011 Templeton Prize.
The Guardian covered this story extensively.
Ian Sample: Martin Rees wins controversial £1m Templeton prize
Templeton Prize 2011: Full transcript of Martin Rees’s acceptance speech
Ian Sample interviewed Martin Rees on Tuesday before the announcement that he had won the Templeton Prize. This is a full transcript of the interview: Martin Rees: I’ve got no religious beliefs at all – interview.
The Guardian also has these comment articles
Mark Vernon: Martin Rees’s Templeton prize may mark a turning point in the ‘God wars’
Jerry Coyne: Martin Rees and the Templeton travesty
Michael White: Martin Rees and the Templeton prize: why are the atheists so cross?
Dan Jones: The Templeton Foundation is not an enemy of science
and this editorial: Martin Rees: Prize war.
But there was other coverage.
Michael Banks at physicsworld.com: Martin Rees wins £1m Templeton Prize
Daniel Cressey in Nature: Martin Rees takes Templeton Prize
Steve Connor in The Independent: For the love of God… scientists in uproar at £1m religion prize
Chris Herlinger in The Huffington Post: Martin Rees, British Astrophysicist, Wins Templeton Prize
Ed Thornton in the Church Times: Non-believing churchgoer is winner of Templeton Prize
Hannah Devlin and Ruth Gledhill of The Times interview on YouTube: Martin Rees, winner of The Templeton Prize, on God, life, the universe (21 minutes)
Maggi Dawn writes for Ekklesia about Recovering ‘Refreshment Sunday’. The article is also on her blog under the title Mothers Day (AKA Refreshment Sunday).
Brett McCracken in Relevant asks Is Church Worth It? “Many of us have been hurt by church. But what if sticking with it actually matters?”
Giles Fraser in the Church Times explains Why I did not march on Saturday.
Becky Garrison writes in The Guardian that Trans clergy are finally gaining greater acceptance. “As we approach Transgender Faith Action Week, progress can be seen in attitudes to trans people within the church.”
Christopher Howse has two Sacred mysteries columns in The Telegraph this week: Why did the king sack El Greco? and Mary’s feet on the dusty ground.
8 CommentsMartin L Smith at Episcopal Café asks What are bishops for?
Bruce Kaye, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, asks Does Fresh Expressions misrepresent the Gospel?
Mark Vernon gives his answer to last week’s The Question (Who is in hell?) in The Guardian: Rob Bell’s intervention in the often ugly world of American evangelicalism. “In its treatment of hell, the pastor’s book holds two Christian truths in tension: human freedom and God’s infinite love.”
Fred Clark writes on his slacktivist blog about The paradox of pitchforks, a devilish problem.
Craig McQueen at the (Scottish) Daily Record writes about How the King James Bible still influences the way we speak 400 years after it was written.
Meanwhile Giles Fraser has a Thought for the Day about the King James Bible and this comment article in the Church Times: In praise of Shakespeare, not Jesus?
Chris Arnot reports in the Education section of The Guardian that Religious leaders are out of touch with issues of sexuality, survey reveals. “Results also indicate young people are finding it difficult to combine their religion with their sexuality.”
A newly published paper A mathematical model of social group competition with application to the growth of religious non-affiliation by Daniel M Abrams, Haley A Yaple and Richard J Wiener has prompted these two responses.
Wendy M Grossman in The Guardian: I’ve no faith in this idea that religion is dying out
The Church Mouse: Mathematicians predict religion will become extinct in secularised nations
Siobhan McAndrew at BRIN (British Religion in Numbers) has just published some interesting statistics.
Church Attendance in England, 1980-2005
Christian and Secular Youth Organisation Membership, 1951-2006
Places of Worship in England and Wales, 1999-2009
There are some brief details of the Appointments Committee of the Church of England (and an out-of-date up-to-date list of members) on the Church of England website here, and I have copied this below the fold.
But much more useful and interesting is the paper GS Misc 963 Appointments 2010-2015 which “provides details about the work of the Appointments Committee of the Church of England and sets out some of the appointments to be made in the quinquennium”. Although dated October 2010 (and presumably issued to General Synod members then) it has, I think, only just appeared on the Elections and appointments page of the CofE website.
2 CommentsFrom the Lichfield Diocesan Website
Lichfield Diocese approves Anglican Communion Covenant
Date 19/03/11
The Lichfield Diocesan Synod has become the first in the Church of England to approve the Anglican Communion Covenant with overwhelming votes in favour in all three houses (bishops, clergy and laity).
The vote at today’s meeting in Longton Hall near Stoke on Trent is in response to the General Synod’s decision to refer the matter to the dioceses. All 44 dioceses in the Church of England are being asked to “approve the draft Act of Synod adopting the Anglican Communion Covenant.” Last week the diocese of Wakefield voted to reject the motion; and the diocese of Hereford voted to refer the matter to deanery synods for wider discussion.
An attempt to adjourn the debate in Lichfield diocese so it could be referred to deanery synods was rejected with 47 voting in favour of an adjournment and 60 voting against.
Before the debate, members heard from the Revd Dr Andrew Goddard, lecturer in ethics at Trinity College, Bristol, who introduced the Covenant and outlined some of the arguments for and against it.
The idea behind an Anglican Communion Covenant – the closest thing to a constitution for the worldwide Anglican Communion – was first proposed in the Windsor report of 2004, following developments in relation to same-sex partnerships in North America. It was envisaged that the Anglican Covenant would “make explicit and forceful the loyalty and bonds of affection” which govern the relationships between the churches of the Anglican Communion.
A text of the Covenant was sent to all the Provinces of the Anglican Communion for their approval in December 2009. Each Province has different governance structures and it is expected to be a number of years before all the Provinces complete the process for acceptance or rejection. The Anglican Consultative Council will discuss progress at its meeting expected in November 2012.
In the Church of England, the House of Bishops agreed in May 2010 to commend the Covenant to the General Synod and a draft Act of Synod was debated by the General Synod in November last year and referred to diocesan synods. If a majority of dioceses agree to the draft Act of Synod it will return to the General Synod for final approval, possibly in 2012.
The Anglican Communion is not a single church or a federation of churches but a collection of 44 different churches made up of 34 Provinces, four United Churches, and six other churches, spread across the globe; with an estimated 80 million Christians.
The tensions in the Communion which arose as a result of the liberalising actions of the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada in the area of sexuality highlighted that there were no formal structures or agreements for handling disputes when they arise. The Covenant is designed to balance the need to define how the churches of the Communion formally relate to each other without creating a formal constitution or federation; continuing to hold the Communion together through mutual relationships.
The Diocese of Lichfield has formal mission partnerships with the Dioceses of West Malaysia, Kuching and Singapore in South East Asia, Matlosane in South Africa and Qu’Appelle in Canada. Churches within the diocese enjoy individual relationships with churches across the Communion.
The result of the vote in the Lichfield Diocesan Synod were:
| House | For | Against | Abstain |
| Bishops | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Clergy | 39 | 11 | 1 |
| Laity | 57 | 9 | 1 |
| Total | 100 | 20 | 2 |
The audio of the Synod debate will be available on the Lichfield Diocesan website on Monday afternoon: lichfield.anglican.org/chadnet/synod.
69 CommentsThis week The Question at The Guardian’s Comment is free belief is Who is in hell?
There are answers from John Richardson, Mary Finnigan and Roz Kaveney.
Andrew Brown has also written on the topic in his Comment is free belief blog: Hell and linoleum. “What would it feel like to believe that anyone really deserved eternal conscious torment? Is it even humanly possible?”
Andrew Brown also writes about Hooker on grief and hell. “Can wicked and stupid people ever be truly happy? One of the founders of Anglicanism thought they could not.”
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times: I believe in death — not immortality
Theo Hobson writes in The Guardian that Gay-friendly Christianity has become a self-righteous subculture. “The Christian gay rights lobby adopts the narrative of ‘accepting who you are’ and diverts the religion towards a flabby liberalism.”
Samira Ahmed at the Three Faiths Forum asks Do they mean us? “Who‘s included and excluded in news coverage and how to make it better.”
Hymns Ancient and Modern was first published 150 years ago. To mark the occasion the Church Times published a series of articles last week which are now available to non-subscribers.
Hymns A&M: National treasure — not royal appointment
Hymns A&M: Savaged by the red tops
Hymns A&M: Let’s make it official
Hymns A&M: A candle in the darkness
Christopher Howse has also marked the anniversary in The Telegraph: A&M: the C of E in words and music.
Giles Fraser also writes in today’s Guardian Unanswered questions on Japan’s suffering. “In the face of great tragedy, we can admit we do not understand without losing our faith.”
35 CommentsUpdated to include Committee for Ministry of and Among Deaf and Disabled People result.
The Church of England has released more results of elections to General Synod boards and committees. I have listed the names of the successful candidates with links to the detailed results below the fold.
0 CommentsA new edition of the Church Representation Rules of the Church of England has been published: Church Representation Rules 2011. The previous edition was dated 2006, and since then changes have been made to the rules by the Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007 and the Church Representation Rules (Amendment) Resolution 2009.
I have listed below the fold a summary of these changes.
It is important to note that there is no fully up-to-date copy of the Rules available online.
The Rules originated as Schedule 3 to the Synodical Government Measure 1969, but they have been amended many times since then. Although the online text of the Measure is updated to incorporate amendments, there is a timelag, and the notes at the beginning of the online text of Schedule 3 list changes dating back to 2003 that have not yet been made.
It should also be noted that the rules in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are not necessarily the same as in England.
266 Comments