A sad loss to the diocese and the whole Church of England; few bishops have brought such previous experiences of diplomacy, academia and communications to a diocesan role. His contributions to broadcasting, diplomacy in integrating the three northern dioceses into a single unit, and pastoral care will be sadly missed. May good health and happiness contribute to a new period of ministry.
Judge not that ye be not judged?
If you read the profoundly Christian message from Pope Francis from his hospital bed, he speaks movingly of the imperfections in us all.
Nobody gets it right all the time.
The church community is so very often too good at sniping, back biting and finding fault in others.
Too many of us enjoy doing it.
….and others pass by on the other side.
What we see globally in the Anglican Communion is that a whole generation of Bishops mainly what some survivors and advocates call the old guard have a very poor record in safeguarding. We see this in Australia NZ Canada SA . The reasons are manifold but reflect poorly on systemic attitudes of protection of the Church, fear of exposure and deferential leadership styles based around hierarchy power and control. I imagine in the C of E with the UKs historical and contemporary class system and deference ( unelected Prelates sitting in the House of Lords ) and the elitist structures… Read more »
Yet again somebody speaks out on behalf of the survivor community and they are attacked. The attack is not because their information is wrong. They are told they should not speak out at all Are we learning nothing? Surely we are grown up enough to have a nuanced response to a person or an issue. Is it not possible that the bishop did great things in some areas but was weak in others? We need to be able to discuss that possibility and learn from it. It is not sniping and back-biting. Discussing such things in public is a mature… Read more »
You are absolutely right. Far too many ‘pass by on the other side’.
They leave survivors suffering alone, in many different ways telling them to be quiet and not tell the truth as they see it. They also often abuse the Bible, quoting verses out of context to justify their position.
I am wondering why there has not been any other amalgamation of dioceses following the Leeds example. Could it be that mega diocese might not be the best idea? If my memory is correct, Wakefield was included against its will, but I might be wrong about that.
The Dioceses Commission website still had when last I looked documents related to the creation of what became the (Anglicn) Diocese of Leeds: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/governance/general-synod/committees-and-commissions/dioceses-commission IIUC reasons for antipathy toward further ‘amalgamations’ focus on the ‘discomforts’ of disagreement, the interpersonal matters, rather than rational or ‘rationalisation’. The Commission’s preference, as much as it is not to express it (it has to be invited/ instructed to carry oiut work) is for dioceses to find ways to work more closely in ways short of the time-and- emotionally expensive’ complexities of ‘amagamations’. No biting of silver bullets. As others have observed, there is no… Read more »
I agree. One of the outstanding bishops of this era.
Anthony Archer
1 day ago
Probably one of the most challenging diocesan bishoprics to fill, at a time when the CNC is performing so badly. There are now ten vacant or soon to be vacant dioceses, almost certainly a record. One is Carlisle, where the Carlisle 2 process is currently underway. Another is Ely, where the Ely 2 process won’t happen until the end of this year. Another is Durham. St Eds and Ips, Worcester, and Canterbury are now timetabled, with Leeds joining at the end of the queue of the rest, St Albans, Liverpool, and Bristol. This doesn’t look good, especially when the cupboard… Read more »
Certainly a change in protocol is needed to stop such a backlog building up. One way would be to give the CNC a deadline of, say, 9 months and after that the most senior suffragan in the diocese is automatically nominated. I suspect that suddenly the CNC would find more diary days and be more likely to reach agreement.
It is worth remembering that the central members of the CNC, elected by General Synod, are unpaid volunteers. I’ve been off the CNC for a couple of years now, and I found the demands of the CNC tough when also holding down a very full time job, and that was before the current volume of vacancies and unfilled posts. As with Synod, some people have to take unpaid leave or use holiday time. Also the staff supporting the process are also overseeing other senior appointments like deans. I’m not saying our system of appointments doesn’t need reform – it does… Read more »
If it is possible to go without a permanent diocesan for more than nine months or so then I question whether we really need that diocesan at all. The Church either needs to face that head on or reform the CNC process to fill posts more quickly. There are a lot of alternatives but the present system is clearly broken.
I’m not sure that is an answer Kate, not all suffragans would be suited to becoming the diocesan… and what are you going to do if the ‘senior’ suffragan is 68… go through the process again in two years?
So is it that the “CNC performing so badly”, or have they also concluded that “the cupboard for talent is fairly bare”?
Alastair (living in Scotland)
23 hours ago
I always appreciate Bishop Nick’s Thoughts. However perhaps time for the Dioceses Commission to review the number of Bishops in Leeds Diocese? Not overlooking need for radical overhaul of number of Bishops. Modest research indicates the increase in the number of Bishops corresponds with a decline in number of communicants!
It’s not actually funny. I sometimes work as a data scientist, and the number of times I see a model which predicts some effect, based on zero causality, is disturbing. Just as bad are models which do not account for a chain of causality – A depends on B which depends on C which depends on D, and the only thing I can change (the decision variable) is D. Even very large companies waste billions of pounds on nonsense models.
Maungy Vicar
9 hours ago
A bad start when meeting with clergy went downhill and continued on that trajectory, sadly.
A sad loss to the diocese and the whole Church of England; few bishops have brought such previous experiences of diplomacy, academia and communications to a diocesan role. His contributions to broadcasting, diplomacy in integrating the three northern dioceses into a single unit, and pastoral care will be sadly missed. May good health and happiness contribute to a new period of ministry.
That is not what I’ve heard from survivors in his diocese.
Judge not that ye be not judged?
If you read the profoundly Christian message from Pope Francis from his hospital bed, he speaks movingly of the imperfections in us all.
Nobody gets it right all the time.
The church community is so very often too good at sniping, back biting and finding fault in others.
Too many of us enjoy doing it.
….and others pass by on the other side.
What we see globally in the Anglican Communion is that a whole generation of Bishops mainly what some survivors and advocates call the old guard have a very poor record in safeguarding. We see this in Australia NZ Canada SA . The reasons are manifold but reflect poorly on systemic attitudes of protection of the Church, fear of exposure and deferential leadership styles based around hierarchy power and control. I imagine in the C of E with the UKs historical and contemporary class system and deference ( unelected Prelates sitting in the House of Lords ) and the elitist structures… Read more »
Yet again somebody speaks out on behalf of the survivor community and they are attacked. The attack is not because their information is wrong. They are told they should not speak out at all Are we learning nothing? Surely we are grown up enough to have a nuanced response to a person or an issue. Is it not possible that the bishop did great things in some areas but was weak in others? We need to be able to discuss that possibility and learn from it. It is not sniping and back-biting. Discussing such things in public is a mature… Read more »
You are absolutely right. Far too many ‘pass by on the other side’.
They leave survivors suffering alone, in many different ways telling them to be quiet and not tell the truth as they see it. They also often abuse the Bible, quoting verses out of context to justify their position.
Go figure…
I am wondering why there has not been any other amalgamation of dioceses following the Leeds example. Could it be that mega diocese might not be the best idea? If my memory is correct, Wakefield was included against its will, but I might be wrong about that.
The Dioceses Commission website still had when last I looked documents related to the creation of what became the (Anglicn) Diocese of Leeds: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/governance/general-synod/committees-and-commissions/dioceses-commission IIUC reasons for antipathy toward further ‘amalgamations’ focus on the ‘discomforts’ of disagreement, the interpersonal matters, rather than rational or ‘rationalisation’. The Commission’s preference, as much as it is not to express it (it has to be invited/ instructed to carry oiut work) is for dioceses to find ways to work more closely in ways short of the time-and- emotionally expensive’ complexities of ‘amagamations’. No biting of silver bullets. As others have observed, there is no… Read more »
I agree. One of the outstanding bishops of this era.
Probably one of the most challenging diocesan bishoprics to fill, at a time when the CNC is performing so badly. There are now ten vacant or soon to be vacant dioceses, almost certainly a record. One is Carlisle, where the Carlisle 2 process is currently underway. Another is Ely, where the Ely 2 process won’t happen until the end of this year. Another is Durham. St Eds and Ips, Worcester, and Canterbury are now timetabled, with Leeds joining at the end of the queue of the rest, St Albans, Liverpool, and Bristol. This doesn’t look good, especially when the cupboard… Read more »
Certainly a change in protocol is needed to stop such a backlog building up. One way would be to give the CNC a deadline of, say, 9 months and after that the most senior suffragan in the diocese is automatically nominated. I suspect that suddenly the CNC would find more diary days and be more likely to reach agreement.
It is worth remembering that the central members of the CNC, elected by General Synod, are unpaid volunteers. I’ve been off the CNC for a couple of years now, and I found the demands of the CNC tough when also holding down a very full time job, and that was before the current volume of vacancies and unfilled posts. As with Synod, some people have to take unpaid leave or use holiday time. Also the staff supporting the process are also overseeing other senior appointments like deans. I’m not saying our system of appointments doesn’t need reform – it does… Read more »
If it is possible to go without a permanent diocesan for more than nine months or so then I question whether we really need that diocesan at all. The Church either needs to face that head on or reform the CNC process to fill posts more quickly. There are a lot of alternatives but the present system is clearly broken.
I’m not sure that is an answer Kate, not all suffragans would be suited to becoming the diocesan… and what are you going to do if the ‘senior’ suffragan is 68… go through the process again in two years?
So is it that the “CNC performing so badly”, or have they also concluded that “the cupboard for talent is fairly bare”?
I always appreciate Bishop Nick’s Thoughts. However perhaps time for the Dioceses Commission to review the number of Bishops in Leeds Diocese? Not overlooking need for radical overhaul of number of Bishops. Modest research indicates the increase in the number of Bishops corresponds with a decline in number of communicants!
Is that causation or correlation? This confusion has beset much discussion of church growth. Remember the margarine and divorce graph…
Or the ice cream sales and sun lotion sales graphs. If we increase ice cream sales, we will increase sun lotion sales!
That is a triumph of hope over meteorology!
It’s not actually funny. I sometimes work as a data scientist, and the number of times I see a model which predicts some effect, based on zero causality, is disturbing. Just as bad are models which do not account for a chain of causality – A depends on B which depends on C which depends on D, and the only thing I can change (the decision variable) is D. Even very large companies waste billions of pounds on nonsense models.
A bad start when meeting with clergy went downhill and continued on that trajectory, sadly.