Updated
The questions, and answers, for this week’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod are now available here. Supplementary questions will be taken on Friday at 6.00 pm.
An extra item has been added to the agenda regarding the late Duke of Edinburgh, and this has resulted in changes to the timings of other items. The latest timetable is here.
Update
The timetable has been revised again to add a presidential address. This version is here.
16 CommentsStephen Parsons Surviving Church Principles and Anti-Principles. Finding Nolan in Church Life
ViaMedia.News Lisa’s Story
by Lisa (a pseudonym), who is a trans woman from the North of England.
The BBC asked the question “Is the Church [of England] Racist?” in its Panorama programme on BBC One last night. The programme can be watched on the BBC iPlayer (but probably only from within the UK), where there is this summary.
Panorama investigates allegations of racism in the Church of England. A year after the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, admitted that the Church was still ‘deeply institutionally racist’, and that he was ‘ashamed’ of its record, reporter Clive Myrie meets vicars, curates and theological trainees to understand the scale of the problem. He hears stories of racist abuse and claims of a culture that creates a hostile environment for Christians of colour. Some say they have been told to ‘turn the other cheek’ when they have raised complaints, others say they have suffered in silence for fear of further discrimination or losing their jobs.
The Church of England has issued this press release: BBC Panorama programme ‘Is the Church Racist?’
Media reports include these; some may be behind a paywall.
BBC News Clergy speak out over ‘racism in Church of England’
BBC News Justin Welby tells Church of England to stop using NDAs amid racism claims
Church Times Clerics fear to take racism complaints further in C of E, BBC’s Panorama reports
The Guardian Church of England clergy ‘paid off to keep quiet about racism’
The Telegraph Racially abused church staff ‘forced to sign gagging orders to buy their silence’
Metro Picture of banana sent to black worker ‘wasn’t racist’, church rules
Meg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel Implementing the IICSA recommendations
Cliff James Surviving Church Another review of Sex, Power, Control
ViaMedia.News Timothy’s Story
the first of a series of personal testimonies from LGBT Christians
Martin Warner Church Times An offer you can’t refuse? You can
“Moral judgements must be allowed to override financial ones”
Martyn Percy Meander Bread for the World
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Towards humility? Anglican conservatives after Jonathan Fletcher
Vaughan S Roberts Socrel Dead and Gone: does embodied storytelling have a post-pandemic future?
81 CommentsMeg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel Annual Report 2020 National Safeguarding Panel
Rosalind Lund Modern Church How Covid-19 may have Changed the Church Forever!
Linda Woodhead reviews ‘Sex, Power, Control: Responding to Abuse in the Institutional Church’ for Surviving Church
Katy Canty Church Times Sector ministries: alongside parish and people
“Sector ministries are reaching places pastorally that others cannot”
LGBTQ Faith UK Reclaiming Lambeth I.10
7 CommentsThe Papers for this month’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod are now available online.
Papers with a note of the day scheduled for their consideration are listed below the fold. Synod meets virtually on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 April. They can be downloaded as two zip files.
GS papers .zip folder
GS Misc papers .zip folder
The Agenda is here and the Report by the Business Committee (Guide to the April 2021 group of sessions) is here.
Synod members reading this might like to note that the deadline for the submission of questions is 12 noon on Tuesday 13 April 2021.
1 CommentDavid Ison ViaMedia.News Is God Inhuman?
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The Wimbledon/Fletcher understanding of Church. Training Camp or Hospital?
David Pocklington Law & Religion UK “Net zero” in 2030 – a courageous decision?
52 CommentsThe Rt Revd Peter Hill has announced that he will retire as Bishop of Barking on 4 August 2021. There are more details on the Chelmsford diocesan website.
32 CommentsSavitri Hensman Ekklesia C of E: siding with power or choosing resurrection?
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Sex, Power, Control – Changing Attitude, LLF and the House of Bishops
Janet Fife Surviving Church Smyth, Fletcher and Fife
Anglican Communion News Service Primates’ Easter Messages 2021
Christopher Wells continues his reflections on hierarchy for The Living Church
The Evangelical Edge
Sursum Corda
Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News Why Don’t You Just Leave?!
Anonymous Surviving Church A Bloody Shambles: Surviving Church Between Good Friday and Easter
Christopher Wells The Living Church Church Order: neither nostalgic no progressive
La Repubblica interviews the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby: “What I learnt from Covid, the threat of cancel culture and the truth on Harry & Meghan’s wedding”
61 CommentsPress release from the Church of England
Publication of detailed response to IICSA report
29/03/2021
The Church of England has today published its detailed responses to the recommendations of the IICSA report from October. As the report stated, the Church of England failed to protect some children and young people from sexual predators within their midst. While the Church will continue to apologise, the main focus is now recognising the distress caused particularly to victims and survivors and acting to improve its safeguarding structures and to change its culture.
The recommendations made by the Inquiry have been accepted in full. Our response document focuses on response to victims and survivors including redress, structure and independence, information sharing, revision of the Clergy Discipline Measure and external audits.
To successfully deliver these recommendations an IICSA safeguarding programme has been set up, with a governance structure to ensure the work is closely monitored. The Archbishops’ Council, who led the response to IICSA on behalf of the institutional church, will be responsible for ensuring the work is completed (with updates to the House of Bishops and General Synod).
11 CommentsColin Coward Unadulterated Love Campaigning to create a Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community
David Ford Church Times Dare to think boldly about funding ministry
“Stop the competition for scarce resources: stipendiary posts should be allocated according to need”
Richard Peers ViaMedia.News It’s A Sin: The Myth of Homogeneity
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The Patronage Legacy of Jonathan Fletcher
39 CommentsJames Hadley All Things Lawful And Honest Episcopal Soft Power
“The Rev’d Dr James Hadley finds the bishops’ protestations that there is no central plan to do away with the parish system disingenuous. Soft power, stealth, patronage and spin, allied with episcopal groupthink and the control of cash is just as powerful as a synodically agreed central policy.”
Emma Percy Modern Church Blog Queer Eye for a Fearful Church
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Towards a new Mission Statement for the Church of England
Timothy Goode ViaMedia.News ‘Oi Vicar, Why Don’t You Heal Yourself?’
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules
3 CommentsGiles Fraser UnHerd When conversion is abusive
“We all want others to change — but at what cost?”
Sarah Mullally ViaMedia.News We May be Winning the Fight Against the Virus, but We Risk Losing Something Else…
Andrew Village and Leslie Francis Church Times Eucharist in a time of lockdown
“Different practices have emerged”
The Spring 2021 issue of the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal is devoted to articles on safeguarding. You can download a pdf copy here.
17 CommentsPress release from the Church of England
House of Bishops Meeting – Wednesday 17 March 2021
17/03/2021
The House of Bishops met on Wednesday March 17 2021 remotely via Zoom.
The House engaged further with a number of issues including reviewing the work to date of the Governance Review Group and a consideration of the draft report and recommendations of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Task Group.
The Bishop of Manchester, in his capacity as Chair of the Coordinating Group of the Emerging Church Groups, updated the House on the revised Terms of Reference of the Committee and the workstreams that are feeding into the work of the Coordinating Group.
This was followed by an update from the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich who updated the House on the ongoing work of the Transforming Effectiveness workstream which is looking at how resources are best deployed across the Church.
The Bishop of Leeds then addressed the House in his capacity as Chair of the Governance Review Group. The Governance Group is reviewing the shape of the national governance structures and functions of the Church of England and is tasked with suggesting possible changes to simplify and improve the functioning and effectiveness of those structures.
The House considered (in regional groups and in plenary) the work the Governance Review Group had done to date. A final report from the Governance Review Group will be presented to the Co-Ordinating Group in the summer and further discussion and implementation planning will follow in the autumn.
The House was then addressed by the Bishop of London in her capacity as Chair of the Recovery Group who updated the House about the work of the Group and how the Church will respond to the various phases of the planned relaxation of the lockdown. The Bishop of London also spoke to plans for 23rd March and the One Minute Reflection to mark one year of lockdown measures.
The House was then given an update (up to the end of February) by the interim Director of Safeguarding on establishing an independent oversight structure for national safeguarding.
The House then held its first discussion on the draft report of the Archbishops’ Anti -Racism Task Force which will be publishing its report on 22nd April. The House was invited to consider the working draft of the Report and to give its views about the suggested implementation timetable and details of the Racial Justice Commission. The House was addressed by Revd. Arun Arora and Revd. Sonia Barron, authors of the draft report.
The House broke out into groups to discuss the draft with Archbishop of Canterbury speaking to the report in the final plenary session and suggesting some ways forward on the draft recommendations. The House noted the draft report and agreed to relay feedback from the meeting to the report’s authors.
The meeting concluded with a blessing by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
27 CommentsRosie Harper ViaMedia.News Families – Love ‘Em, Hate ‘Em
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church When a Church fails to care. Facing institutional dishonesty
Robert Gilbert ViaMedia.News Pandemics, Parishes & the ‘National Church’
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Finding confidence in a radical vision of faith, sexuality and gender
3 CommentsNews from the Diocese of London
Bishop of Willesden to retire
The Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, has announced his intention to resign as from 30th September 2021. Bishop Pete has volunteered to stand down a year before his normal retirement date.
The Bishop of London is exploring with him another role, which would see him facilitating some of the transition and implementation work for the Diocese of London’s 2030 Vision. This will enable the potential appointment of a new Bishop of Willesden and provide an opportunity for the Diocese’s senior team in London to become more diverse.
Bishop Pete has been Bishop of Willesden since 2001. Before that, he served as Archdeacon of Northolt, as a Vicar in Harrow and as a Polytechnic Chaplain in Islington.
The Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, said:
“It’s been a joy and a privilege to serve the churches and people of North West London this past twenty years. I look forward to the next stage, helping the Diocese of London with our 2030 Vision – making it possible for every Londoner to encounter the love of God in Christ.”
The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, said:
“Pete has shown extraordinary, untiring commitment to the Church in London for over 40 years. Half of those have been as Bishop, where he returned to serve the part of the capital he grew up in. Pete will leave the see of Willesden with a legacy that will live on. I’ve been particularly grateful personally for his support since I came to London, and I look forward to continuing our work together as we deliver our Diocesan 2030 Vision.”
A consultation has begun to help guide the appointment to the See of Willesden, ending on 12th April. Click here to view the consultation paper.
20 CommentsColin Coward Unadulterated Love Changing Attitude resumes campaign for full equality of LGBTIQ+ people
Joanna Winn-Smith OneBodyOneFaith Living in Love and Faith
Nicholas Henshall ViaMedia.News Are ‘Leaders’ Biblical?
Richard Moy A Reasonable Enthusiast The Myth of Episcopal Oversight in the UK Church
35 CommentsThe Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Revd Peter Hancock, is to take early retirement on medical grounds as he continues his recovery from treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia.
More details are on the diocesan wesbite.
7 Comments