The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Julian Henderson, has announced that he will retire in July, immediately after the Lambeth Conference. There are details on the diocesan website and in an open letter from the bishop to his diocese.
33 CommentsInclusive Church launched its booklet Something Worth Sharing on Disability and Church at General Synod last month. Here are the speeches from the launch.
Fiona Macmillan Perfectly and wonderfully made
Emily Richardson Pandemic Learnings
Tim Goode Dignity and Fullness of Life
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Poll shows CofE majority support equal marriage for LGBTQIA+ people
Janet Fife Surviving Church The Outsider. A Great Man of Faith and the Two Women in his Life
Angela Tilby Church Times Bishops’ unanimity is shameful
28 CommentsThe Dean of Carlisle, the Very Revd Mark Boyling, has announced that he will retire later this year. Details are on the diocesan website.
18 CommentsFergus Butler-Gallie The Guardian Bullying, evictions, contract disputes: no wonder we priests need a trade union
“Church of England clergy can no longer rely on goodwill alone. That’s why, increasingly, we are getting organised”
Will Moore ViaMedia.News Being Bisexual in Church — a Balancing Act
68 CommentsPress Release from the Ozanne Fondation
It starts with
Same Sex Marriage Research 2022
Same sex marriage – a clear majority of Anglicans believe same-sex marriage is right despite the church’s refusal to permit same sex marriage.
Fast changing attitudes within society and the Church of England have led to a broad acceptance of same sex marriage, with well over half (55%) of those identifying as Anglican and living in England believing same sex marriage is ‘right’. What is more, nearly three quarters (72%) of those under 50 believe that it is ‘right’, despite the Church of England’s official stance against same-sex relationships.
The Poll, commissioned by the Ozanne Foundation and conducted over by YouGov, repeated a question asked about people’s attitudes to same-sex marriage in 2013, 2016 and 2020. It shows a constant increase over time in the number of people who self-identify as Anglican believing same-sex marriage is ‘right’ (from 38% in 2013 to 48% in 2020 to 55% in 2022) and a marked decrease in numbers believing it is ‘wrong’ (from 47% in 2013 to just 29% in 2022).
An overwhelming majority of the British public now clearly support same sex marriage, with just a fifth opposed to it. This is a significant change in just 9 years.
and continues with details of the poll results and links to the full results.
The Church Times has this report: YouGov poll: more than half of Anglicans believe same-sex marriage to be ‘right’.
18 CommentsColin Coward Unadulterated Love The Ghana “Anti-Gay” Bill hearings continue with a presentation from IDNOWA
Hugh Williamson Church Times Priests on the payroll
“Hugh Williamson meets ministers whose places of secular work are their mission fields”
Josephine Stein Surviving Church Safeguarding: Value for Money?
Valerie Plumb ViaMedia.News Profile: Burn Out, Exclusion and the Church of England
26 CommentsDavid Brown Surviving Church Church Culture and the Roots of Bullying
Martyn Percy Modern Church Embrace the “Tutufication” of the Church of England Part 4
Tony Baldry ViaMedia.News Will They Ever Come Back…?
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love LGBTQIA+ Representation on NSG and House of Bishops
David Goodhew The Living Church Is Anglicanism growing or dying? new data
18 CommentsThree articles by Martyn Percy for Modern Church
Embrace the “Tutufication” of the Church of England Part 3
Coda
Some Critical Comment on “Bishops and Ministry Fit for a New Context”
Rebecca Chapman Church Times Synod is falling victim to process
“Rebecca Chapman expresses her unease at procedural moves and general discontent”
Phil Groves ViaMedia.News MI5, Exclusion & The Church of England
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The Independent Learning Lessons Case Review – Graham Gregory. Some comments
34 CommentsNews from the Church of England
Bishop of Kensington to lead new Centre for Cultural Witness
16/02/2022
The Bishop of Kensington, Dr Graham Tomlin, will step down in August 2022 to lead the new Centre for Cultural Witness, a project to underpin the Church’s work of being a Christian presence in every community, by exploring how the Church can communicate and share with others its profound and transforming story in its public witness.
39 CommentsNews from the Diocese of Canterbury
The Dean of Canterbury, The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, has announced that he will cease to be Dean at midnight on 16 May 2022, the eve of his 75th birthday…
The Church Times covers this story here.
51 CommentsRobert Springett ‘Save the Parish’: A response from Bishop Robert
Paul Bayes Thinking in Liverpool Farewell sermon, February 2022
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love NSG declines to define radical new Christian inclusion
Jeremy Marks ViaMedia.News Banning Prayer?
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church How Evil is to be found in our Institutions, including the Churches
3 CommentsWATCH A Report on the Developments in Women’s Ministry in 2021
Readers may find the tables in the downloadable pdf file easier to read.
Martyn Percy Modern Church Embrace the “Tutufication” of the Church of England Part 2
Giles Fraser UnHerd The Church’s war on the clergy
Ian Paul Psephizo Once again: should clergy be paid more?
Surviving Church A Maze with no Exit. Justice Denied in the Church of England
Eeva John Church Times A more excellent way to handle conflict
“The Church would deal with disagreement better if it were free from fear and full of love, says Eeva John, in a sermon preached in Great St Mary’s, the University Church, Cambridge, on 30 January”
Sorrel Shamel-Wood ViaMedia.News Another Injustice in the Church of England? Surely not!
123 CommentsDavid Mitchell The Guardian Having a laugh in church? God forbid
“A cathedral’s plan to host standup comedy has been criticised, but if it keeps places of worship relevant I’m a believer”
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Unfinished Business at Christ Church Oxford
Archbishop Cranmer Christ Church’s magic £millions make the Dean’s safeguarding risk disappear
Andrew Lightbown ViaMedia.News Why I’m ‘Crossing the Severn’…
8 CommentsNews from the Diocese of Southwark
The Bishop of Kingston, The Rt Revd Dr Richard Cheetham, announced today that he will be concluding his term of office on 17 October 2022, the 20th anniversary of his consecration. He is one of the longest-serving stipendiary bishops in the Church of England…
38 CommentsThis post will be updated as the meeting proceeds.
The Church of England’s General Synod is meeting this week. The timetable is here, the papers are here.
Live Video
All sessions are streamed live on YouTube and remain available to view afterwards.
Tuesday afternoon
Wednesday morning
Wednesday afternoon
Thursday morning
Thursday afternoon
Order Papers
OP1 – Tuesday 8 February PM
OP2 – Wednesday 9 February AM
OP3 – Wednesday 9 February PM
Erratum to Order Paper 3
This erratum also contains an error – the word “update” should be deleted from the first line of paragraph (b).
OP4 – Thursday 10 February AM
OP5 – Thursday 10 February PM
Business done
Official press releases
Archbishop of Canterbury’s presidential address to General Synod
Lack of action on racial justice is ‘chilling’, Lord Boateng tells Synod
Archbishop Justin’s remarks in racial justice debate
Racial Justice: update to Synod on racial justice work
Synod approves legislation to help churches meet carbon-reduction target
Unanimous backing from Synod for call to protect child survivors of trafficking
Synod invites engagement on ideas to simplify Church of England’s governance
structures
Synod invites engagement on ideas to simplify National Church Institutions governance structures
Synod unanimously condemns persecution of Christians around the world
Farewell to the Bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes
Press reports
Church Times
The strong thrive, the weak suffer: Welby challenges the pandemic narrative
Lord Boateng holds Synod’s feet to the fire over Church’s racism record
C of E safeguarding yet to come good, says new Independent Safeguarding Board
Full steam ahead for cleaner church boilers, General Synod agrees
Archbishop quizzed about selection of Appointments Secretary
New border proposals undermine current anti-slavery legislation, Synod hears
Bishop Seeley tells Synod of short- and long-term financial pressures
BBC
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby criticises delay in removing slavery plaque
The Telegraph
Justin Welby suggests Cambridge college should remove slavery-linked donor plaque
The Living Church
C of E Synod: Financial Woes, Safeguarding & Boilers
Members’ blogs
Andrew Nunn
Looking out
FOMO
Old boiler
The last lap
Give us our Archbishop back?
Helen King
General Synod, February 2022: what felt most bizarre
Jo Stobart
General Synod (February 2022)
The Church of England’s General Synod meets from Tuesday to Thursday of this week. There are links to the papers here and to the Questions here. Safeguarding is on the agenda for Wednesday and there are several questions on this topic – see our article here.
Other news and comment includes:
David Pocklington Law & Religion UK “Net zero” and the faculty jurisdiction
The Telegraph Your net zero push could force churches to close or leave our parishioners shivering, Welby is warned
Helen King sharedconversations February 2022 General Synod – before it starts
Gavin Drake General Synod Update February 2022
Church Times General Synod to focus on race, trafficking, and persecution
The latest Letters to the Editor include three on the proposed changes to the membership of the Crown Nominations Commission.
Martyn Percy Modern Church Twenty-Tutu (2022) is the Year for Leaving Oz Behind – Embrace the “Tutufication” of the Church of England
The first of a series of reflections in the lead up to Lent
Laudable Practice The Prayer Book’s theology of eucharistic consecration: Why individual cups should be rejected
Alan Wilson and Rosie Harper ViaMedia.News Who is Joe Rogan, Anyway?
Church Times In my end is my beginning
Fergus Butler-Gallie conducted a funeral with unexpected resonances
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Emotional Atrophy – a problem for the Church?
This has been overtaken by events, but may still be of some interest.
Angela Tilby The Tablet Christ Church, Oxford – scandal at the cathedral
The Questions (and Answers) for next week’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod were published today. The Question sessions (on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons) will be devoted to supplementary questions.
Questions Notice Paper February 2022
Question 34 Noticeboard Information
Question 35 Noticeboard Information
Question 36 Noticeboard Information
Question 99 Noticeboard Information
Rosalind Hughes The Episcopal Café A Song of Anna
Alice Goodman Prospect Magazine Clerical life: Curing clergy burnout
“After Christmas, the things I’d been holding together in the parish had all come loose”
Church of England press release Statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for LGBT+ History Month
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Departure of Tim Dakin from Winchester. Some thoughts
Ozanne Foundation Safeguarding survey shows only a third of UK adult LGBT+ Christians say they feel ‘safe to be out’ in their local church
Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News Collateral Damage – Do Church Leaders Care?
Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Lament for the Filling-in of Statistics for Mission
19 CommentsMeg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel Annual Report 2021 National Safeguarding Panel
Andrew Goddard Psephizo Can the C of E ever bridge its differences on sexuality?
Pete Broadbent Mixed Ecology
“2030 Vision: People Strategy: Models of Church and Models of Ministry”
Janet Fife Surviving Church The Liberty: A meditation on Romans 8:19-21
‘One day the whole creation will know the glorious liberty of the children of God.’
James Walters Church Times Anglican Communion requires a rotating presidency
“Abandoning a colonial paradigm requires more than tinkering the CNC’s composition”