The Dean of Hereford, the Very Revd Michael Tavinor, has announced that he will retire on 28 February 2021.
Hereford Cathedral press release
Statement from the Bishop of Hereford
Today’s Church Times has two safeguarding stories.
Oxford admits failings in spiritual-abuse case
“THE Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, has apologised for “shortcomings” identified by an independent review of his diocese’s handling of a case of spiritual abuse. These failings “contributed to the distress of the survivors”, he said…”
You can read the full report and information about how the diocese is responding here.
Elliott condemns PR response to his safeguarding review
32 Comments“THE author of a strongly critical safeguarding review of the Church of England has condemned the revelation that the National Safeguarding Team (NST) responded to his recommendations by initiating closer ties between insurers, communications officers, and legal staff…”
All the papers for the meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod on 24 September are now available online.
Timetable
Note from the Chair of the Business Committee, September 2020
Guide for Synod Members, September 2020
GS 2174 Agenda
GS 2176 General Synod (Remote Meetings) (Temporary Standing Orders)
GS 2176X Explanatory Note
GS Misc 1252 Note from Chief Legal Adviser
It should be noted that GS 2176 and GS 2176X and the timetable are revised versions of the papers originally published last month.
12 CommentsUpdate Saturday
A working party of the Ecclesiastical Law Society has been reviewing the operation of the Clergy Discipline Measure and has issued an interim report today. ELS members have been sent the following in an email; this is also available online. There are links to the report and an executive study below.
ELS WORKING PARTY ON THE CLERGY DISCIPLINE MEASURE 2003 – INTERIM REPORT
Members will be aware that earlier this year the ELS established a Working Party, under the leadership of Peter Collier QC, to review the operation of the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003. The Working Party has now produced its Interim Report which scopes out the issues to be addressed and provides an indication of direction of travel for reform. It is an impressive piece of work and merits careful reading in full, although an Executive Summary has also been produced.
The Interim Report indicates where further work is to be done in coming months, and this will be the subject of detailed consultation in due course in the expectation that a comprehensive Final Report will then follow. A notification inviting submissions will be circulated in due course.
The views stated in the Interim Report are not necessarily those of the ELS or its Trustees. The opinions expressed are those of the Working Party, whose membership is recorded in the Report. It represents an informed and expert consideration of a subject of pressing concern and considerable importance to the Church of England today. I commend it to you for study and comment, and in doing so I express the thanks of the Society to Peter and all the members for devoting their time and talents to this project.
Mark Hill QC
Chairman, Ecclesiastical Law Society
Download the ELS Working Party (CDM 2003) Interim Report
Download the ELS Working Party (CDM 2003) Executive Summary
Update
Church Times CDM review: lawyers press for an immediate change
3 CommentsStephen Parsons Surviving Church Reflections on Church Management and Structure. Time for Change?
Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News A Tribute to Colin Blakely, Co-Founder of Via Media
14 CommentsWilliam Davage All Things Lawful And Honest By Law Established
“In the wake of suggestions that ordinations should take place without a celebration of the Mass, and that the common Eucharistic cup should be replaced with individual glasses, William Davage asks how these canonical irregularities came to be proposed in the first place.”
Stephen Lynas bathwellschap Bring it on home to me
“Today we did a ‘first’: the General Synod clergy held our own Zoom meeting”
Rachel Mann Church Times Honesty will supply a rich legacy
Paul Devonshire Surviving Church CDM. A Kafkaesque Nightmare
35 CommentsPress release from the Church of England
House of Bishops meeting Friday 4 September 2020
04/09/2020
A meeting of the House of Bishops took place today Friday 4 September 2020 via Zoom.
In its first meeting following the Summer break, the House heard more about the shape and structure of the various workstreams which come under the auspices of the Emerging Church initiative. These are now well established and making good progress, with several due to report at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.
Specific updates were given from the chairs of the Governance group, the Vision and Strategy group and the Transforming Effectiveness group. The House looked ahead to the detailed discussion of the Vision and Strategy workstream which will take place at a virtual meeting attended by the College of Bishops and others, led by the Archbishop of York later this month.
The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally in her capacity as Chair of the Recovery Group updated the House regarding the progress made by churches across the country in re-opening Church buildings following the lifting of the lockdown restrictions. Bishop Sarah also reviewed the national picture of the online church services and other events which have been taking place in many hundreds of communities during the lockdown.
The current position of the Church of England with respect to the distribution of Holy Communion and the use of the Common Cup during Covid was then discussed with further reflection, discussion and work on this matter planned for future meetings.
A forward look towards Autumn and the remainder of 2020 was then given on a range of subjects including the publication of LLF resources, safeguarding matters, the Archbishop’s Commission on Racism and the Autumn Synod.
27 CommentsLGBTQ Faith UK Hidden in plain site. Church clarity diocesan style
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The search for truth in the Smyth/Fletcher enquiries.
23 CommentsJames Hadley All Things Lawful And Honest Irregular & Unlearned
“In the light of attempts to hold irregular ordinations without the Eucharist, the Rev’d Dr James Hadley suggests it may be a sign of the lack of depth in current theological thinking and formation in the Church of England”
Gilo Surviving Church The bigger the mitre the larger the parachute!
“Fear of reputational damage is causing reputational damage”
Mary Harrington UnHerd England will miss our Church when it’s gone
“Without the steadying influence of Anglicanism, our politics could descend again into extremism”
Updated Thursday afternoon
Are individual cups at Holy Communion legal in the Church of England?
Mrs Mary Durlacher asked a question about this at the online meeting of General Synod members in July and was told that the answer is “no”.
Mrs Mary Durlacher (Chelmsford) to ask the Chair of the House of Bishops:
Q68 Will the House of Bishops reconsider the prohibition of use of small individual cups as a valid ‘common sense’ pro tem way of sharing the Communion wine while current constraints remain?
The Bishop of London to reply on behalf of the Chair of the House of Bishops:
A The Legal Advisory Commission has stated “it is contrary to law for individual cups to be used for each communicant” and that “the doctrine of necessity cannot be appealed to in order to justify the use of individual cups even in circumstances where there is a fear of contagion from the use of a common cup. … the Sacrament Act 1547 makes provision for cases where a necessity not to deliver a common cup arises: in such a case the normal requirement that the sacrament be delivered in both kinds is disapplied by statute. Even if a shared cup cannot be used for medical reasons, the use of individual cups remains contrary to law … . In such cases reception should be in one kind only.” The House cannot authorise or encourage a practice which would be contrary to law.
The reply refers to this Legal Advisory Commission paper and to the Sacrament Act 1547. Also relevant is this Church of England advice Holy Communion and the distribution of the elements issued on 1 in mid-July 2020 after the Synod meeting.
Mrs Durlacher subsequently instructed a group of six barristers to prepare a legal opinion. They disagreed with the Bishop’s reply and concluded that there was nothing in law to prevent the use of individual cups at the administration of Holy Communion. Their opinion is here: The legality of the use of individual cups for communion wine.
Ian Paul has published a number of relevant articles on his Psephizo blog.
Andrew Goddard Can we receive both bread and wine during the pandemic?
Andrew Atherstone Receiving Communion in individual cups: round two
Ian Paul Did Jesus use multiple cups at the Last Supper?
This has now been picked up by the secular and church press.
The Telegraph Row over Communion wine as lawyers challenge CoE ruling it is against Covid guidelines
Church Times Barristers challenge Bishops’ legal advice against individual communion cups
It has been pointed out (by Matt C on Twitter) that, even if legal, “Individual communion cups are not covered by either List A or List B of the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules” (and so their introduction would require a faculty).
Update
I have corrected the date of issue of the Holy Communion and the distribution of the elements paper above. The paper issued on 1 July was this COVID-19-Advice-on-the-Administration-of-Holy-Communion-v3-1.7.2020, although that has been subsequently updated. The current version is version 5.1.
76 CommentsCharlie Bell Anglicanism.org Defining ecclesiology – alarming developments in the Church of England
Do read the full article, which is here.
Edward Dowler All Things Lawful And Honest Safety First
“It sometimes feels like the Church’s and Government’s response to COVID is governed by thinking that is not much more complex than the axiom ‘Safety First’. Edward Dowler explores what principles might undergird a more theologically robust and pastorally honest response to our present crisis.”
Rowan Williams New Statesman Covid and confronting our own mortality
“The pandemic has forced us to confront the issue of death: how do we think about dying, and what does it mean for how we live?”
Kevin Makins Experimental Theology Church is Gross
12 CommentsInterview by Benjamin Wayman for Christianity Today
Rowan Williams: Theological Education Is for Everyone
“To do theology is to rediscover the strangeness of the Christian framework.”
Anna And Noah Sutterisch Earth & Altar Becoming Humble Skeptics: Rejecting Anglican Identity
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Thinking about bullying in the Church
71 CommentsThe outline timetable for the meeting of General Synod on 24 September has been issued, and is copied below. Papers for the meeting are here. There may be a revised draft of the measure; if so it will be issued on or before 9 September.
Synod members have been told that “The meeting will start at 10.30am and we would ask those attending to be available until 7pm. It is expected that the business will finish before 7pm but we need members to be available so that we are quorate for the final vote. We appreciate that this may mean that some members will need to book overnight accommodation.”
GENERAL SYNOD: September 2020 Timetable
Thursday 24 September
10.30 am – 2.45 pm
10.30 am – 10.45 am Opening worship
10.45 am – 11.45 am Draft General Synod (Remote Meetings) Measure First Consideration
11.45 am – 12.00 pm Adjournment
12.00 pm – 1.45 pm Draft General Synod (Remote Meetings) Measure Revision in Full Synod
3.15 pm – 7.00 pm
3.15 pm – 4.30 pm Draft General Synod (Remote Meetings) Measure Final Drafting and Final Approval
*6.55 pm Prorogation
Closing worship
Please note that all timings are indicative. It was decided to offer a longer envelope than it is anticipated the business will take in order to enable maximum flexibility
Morning session expected to finish by 1.45pm.
Afternoon session expected to finish by 4.30pm
Deadline for receipt of amendments to the Measure: 5.30pm Friday 18 September 2020
All Things Lawful And Honest We don’t need no education
“Angela Tilby asks challenging questions about the capacity of the Church of England’s theological institutions to prepare adequately ministers who love, know and understand both the Scriptures they preach, and the Church they serve.”
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Time for Disclosure instead of Silence- Jonathan Fletcher
Meg Munn Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel Further Discussions on Redress
28 CommentsChurch Times Lambeth Conference: Early steps on the path to unity
“One hundred years ago, Anglican bishops made a bold ecumenical move. Mark Chapman describes its impact”
Ben Thompson Earth & Altar The Church of England as a model of pluralistic unity for the “One Holy Catholic Church”
Laudable Practice Thoughts on Mitregate
57 CommentsPress release from the Prime Minister. The Anglican interest is in the second paragraph.
Prime Minister announces Appointments Secretary
The Prime Minister has announced that he has appointed Mr Richard Tilbrook to be his Appointments Secretary.
Published 13 August 2020
From: Cabinet Office and Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
The Prime Minister has announced that he has appointed Mr Richard Tilbrook to be his Appointments Secretary following the retirement of Edward Chaplin CMG OBE at the end of last year.
Mr Tilbrook will work with the Archbishops’ Appointments Secretary on the consultations for diocesan bishop and Crown deanery appointments, attending meetings of the Crown Nominations Commission as appropriate.
Mrs Helen Dimmock in the Cabinet Office remains responsible for parochial appointments where the Crown or Lord Chancellor is patron.
Mr Tilbrook is Clerk to the Privy Council and has been acting as the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary since January, having previously served as Deputy Appointments Secretary. His earlier civil service career was spent at the Government Communications Headquarters, in the Department for International Development and in the Cabinet Office, where he oversaw the operation of the honours system for a number of years. He is also responsible for advising the Prime Minister on the appointment of Lord-Lieutenants.
Mr Tilbrook is a communicant Anglican, worshipping at St Andrew’s, Naunton, in the Diocese of Gloucester. A classicist, he is an alumnus of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and the Royal Grammar School, Guildford.
27 CommentsJonathan Bish All Things Lawful And Honest Tune in, or Turn Off
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church The Peter Principle. Incompetence and the Church
9 CommentsThe two Archbishops have called a special session of General Synod on Thursday 24 September 2020. The only business expected will be a draft measure to allow Synod to meet remotely in November (and subsequently) if necessary. The Archbishops wrote to all synod members last month to explain why this measure is necessary and can only be taken at an in-person meeting; their letter is copied below.
It is hoped that most members will not exercise their right to be present, but arrangements will be made to ensure that enough do attend to provide a quorum in each of the three houses.
Subsequently the text of the draft measure and explanatory notes have been published.
GS 2175 Draft General Synod (Remote Meetings) Measure – First Consideration
GS 2175X General Synod (Remote Meetings) Measure – Explanatory Notes
Letter from the Archbishops
22 July 2020
To: All Members of General Synod
Ref: Special Session of General Synod on 24 September 2020
Standing Order 2(6)(b), provides that in circumstances of special urgency or importance, the Presidents of the General Synod may summon a special session.
We consider that such circumstances exist. It is not practically possible at present to hold a group of sessions in the usual way and we do not know when it will be again possible to do so. Nor is it currently possible, under the Synod’s Constitution and Standing Orders, for the Synod to transact business remotely. There is important business which the Synod must transact before the end of this year. This includes the approval by the General Synod of the Archbishops’ Council’s budget for 2021, which is a statutory requirement under the National Institutions Measure 1998, and the approval of Fees Orders for 2021. Other business the Synod needs to address without delay includes amending safeguarding legislation to take account of recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the giving of final approval to the Cathedrals Measure.
For those reasons, we need legislation that will enable the Synod to meet and transact business remotely should it still not be possible by November for it to meet in the usual way. The Government has not been able to make time for this in Parliament. We therefore need to legislate by Measure and are summoning a special session of the General Synod for this purpose on Thursday 24 September 2020.
This meeting will be held physically at Church House, London. Although no Synod member can be denied admission to this meeting, we will in practice hope to work with the three Houses to ensure that only a quorum-plus of members need attend to ensure compliance with social distancing requirements.
The only business we envisage being on the agenda for the special session is a draft Measure to enable the Synod to meet and conduct business remotely. It is proposed that all stages of the Measure would be taken at the special session. We do not expect to have any other business at this meeting, even urgent business outlined above. These items will be taken to the November Group of Sessions.
Members will receive further details, including the draft Measure, from the Synod Office in due course.
Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of York
Presidents of the General Synod
Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Not Going into a Church for Private Prayer
Giles Fraser UnHerd The neoliberal revolution within the Church
“The ancient institution has been asset-stripped by an expanding bureaucracy of management-speak types”
Paul Bradbury His Light Material Is pioneer ministry a ‘neoliberal destruction’ of the parish system?
Janet Fife Surviving Church Bethel Sozo Part 2 Being Sozoed
Part 1 is here.
Kelvin Holdsworth Every Eucharist is a Virtual Eucharist
Religion Media Centre Holiness and desire: how the C of E can keep the conversation open
38 CommentsGiles Fraser The Telegraph Is the Church of England determined to kill off the parish church?
There are some letters in response to this article in today’s Telegraph.
Silvia Gosnell Institute of Sacred Music Inside!
Andrew McGowan Journal of Anglican Studies Communion and Pandemic
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Human evil -individual and corporate
Ian Paul Psephizo Bishops should throw away their mitres
109 Comments