Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Conflicts of Interest and Church Discipline
Chris Phillips All Things Lawful And Honest Listening to the Laity
Meg Warner The Tablet Worship behind closed doors?
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«Above all, those who wrote to me have questioned the right of the Church of England to speak as the established Church any more, having abdicated its national role during the crisis: “it is a scandal that there has been no call for days of prayer, or the Archbishop speaking to the nation to encourage us”.»- Chris Phillips I would go further. Arrangements have been made for services to consecrate and install bishops but there has been no national memorial service for those who passed but whose families were unable to hold funerals. When people were gathering once a week… Read more »
The consecrations of bishops was held in a private chapel with about a dozen people present (including the new bishop and the consecrators). Such a gathering would not have satisfied me for a service of national prayer or thanksgiving. Maybe we can wait until we can gather in unity to hold such a service. I watched a couple conservative Anglican pundits on YouTube grumble about the requirements of closing churches. Then one of them mentioned that his own parish had voted 70% to 30% not to re-open at the present time. Clearly, each of us have different notions of… Read more »
Prior to the end of the last war, it was not uncommon for the Church to lead other churches in ‘national days of prayer’, which had the official blessing of the sovereign and the government. The last of these occurred on 6 July 1947 (approved by the atheist Attlee), before the doomed restoration of dollar/sterling convertibility on 15 July, which was a condition of the Keynes-Clayton loan of 1946. In the inter-war period they occurred in the wake of the formation of the national government and the Munich agreement, the latter (2 October 1938) being an act of thanksgiving… Read more »
«This is perhaps especially surprising when the bench is now dominated by self-proclaimed ‘evangelicals’ who prioritise ‘mission’.»
I agree with that. It was a (hopefully) once in a generation missional opportunity but it was squandered.
The right of the Church of England to speak as the established Church is very questionable for a much more fundamental reason. According to the British Social Attitudes Surveys, less than 14% of the population associate themselves with the C of E, and this reduces to 3% amongst the younger generation.
As you say, 14% of the entire population, en route to 3% over coming years, means a church in England, but Church of England?
My dear Friends in Christ reading your comments brings to the fore, what can be the weakest point in any Christian denomination, even my own the Roman Catholic Church, that the mission of the Church can be weak when its prayer is weak. In Anglican history within the 20th Century, there was a Franciscan Friar within the Church of England, Father William Sirr, commonly known as Father William of Glasshampton, who prior to embracing the Franciscan Religious had worked in an Anglican Parish as a Curate, and than after he embraced the Religious life, he was swept up in the… Read more »
I am fortunate to be 86 years old, and therefore remember the King calling for days of prayer. Part of my life, and upbringing. King George the sixth was one of my heroes. Now today her daughter speaks to the nation, with the response of her people. Sadly the bench of Bishops has remained, and still remains silent. Do they have a virus? In todays world it is so much easier for the church to speak to the people, and a national service would be appreciated. Perhaps the bishops need to speak to the Dean of Canterbury who through his… Read more »
Silence from the bishops indeed. As Chris Phillips wrote I hope that the Bishops will listen very carefully to what the Spirit is saying to the Church through the voices of ordinary people in pews across the nation…It is to be hoped that, in the light of the experience of the impact of the restrictions on people’s spiritual wellbeing, this freedom will not be so easily relinquished in future. I am not optimistic. I have tried, but failed, to find out whether there is an end date, by when all stipendiary clergy are expected to have reopened their churches and… Read more »
Reading Michaels comments on the tardiness of some clergy in moving to reopen their churches, I must write after much anquish of the silence of some clergy to even contact their regular members on the church roll, either by phone or e mail. Since the lockdown myself, nor my husband has had any communication either by e mail of phone from any member of our clergy team of our Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. At the start I wrote the Provost regarding a member of the congregation. My husband wrote the vice provost regarding advice from the Scottish Government a week… Read more »