The Anglican Communion Office has released this List of Attendees at the current meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. It includes the names of members who are absent.
7 CommentsPress release from Number 10
Bishop of Oxford: Steven John Lindsey Croft
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
First published: 12 April 2016The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Steven John Lindsey Croft as Her Majesty’s Bishop of Oxford.
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Steven John Lindsey Croft, MA, PhD, Lord Bishop of Sheffield, in the Diocese of Sheffield for election as Bishop of Oxford in succession to the Right Reverend John Lawrence Pritchard, MA, MLitt, on his resignation on 31 October 2014.
Notes for editors
The Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft (aged 58) is from Halifax in West Yorkshire. He studied first at Worcester College, Oxford and then at St John’s College, Durham where he trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall. He served his title as Curate at St Andrew Enfield in London Diocese from 1983 to 1987. In 1987 he returned to Halifax to be Vicar of St George, Ovenden in the Diocese of Wakefield. From 1996 he moved to become Warden at Cranmer Hall, Durham, before taking up the role of Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions in 2004. Since 2009 he has been the Bishop of Sheffield.
At the heart of Bishop Steven’s ministry in Sheffield has been a desire to connect the Church across the Diocese more deeply together as one body with a common sense of mission and purpose and to enable the diocese to engage with mission in the wider community with confidence and hope. He has worked creatively with Anglicans of all traditions in a very diverse diocese as well as with civic and community leaders and the leaders of other churches and other faiths.
Bishop Steven became a member of the House of Lords in 2013. He is 1 of 2 bishops elected to serve on the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, and has been chair of the Ministry Council since 2012. In 2008 he was awarded the Cross of St. Augustine by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of his work with fresh expressions. He is the author of a number of books on Christian life and ministry and a novel for children. He writes a regular blog.
Bishop Steven is married to Ann. They have 4 adult children and 1 grandchild. He is a keen cook and bakes his own bread.
Sheffield diocesan website: Current Bishop of Sheffield announced as the next Bishop for the Diocese of Oxford
and A Letter from Bishop Steven
Oxford diocesan website: The Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft is the new Bishop of Oxford
The following statement was issued by the Anglican Communion Office this afternoon.
The Anglican Communion Office has released this statement in response to recent comments on events leading up to the Anglican Consultative Council meeting, ACC-16.
- Statements circulating about a failure to follow up on the decisions of the January 2016 Primates meeting at best give a false impression. The terms of the Primates decision about The Episcopal Church (TEC) have been followed through as far as is possible and legal. To say otherwise is misleading and wrong.
- The Archbishop of Canterbury has fulfilled his responsibilities and asked those members of interfaith or ecumenical bodies who are from TEC and whose appointment he controls, to stand down, and they have done so. In addition, as required, he has appointed a Task Group with representatives from across the communion.
- Archbishop Justin has refused to engage in any public response to statements and speculation by any party in advance of the ACC, having maintained personal and private contact with the Primates since their meeting. It has always been his intention to speak directly and in person to the ACC members, respecting their role and responsibilities.
- A TEC representative whose attendance at the ACC Standing Committee has been commented on as breaching the decision of the Primates, was elected to the Standing Committee several years before the Primates’ meeting. As the Standing Committee is a Trustee body under English law, they cannot be removed without legal cause, and neither the Primates nor the ABC, nor indeed the ACC, can override the law.
- Under the Constitution of the ACC, no-one who is a recognised delegate from a member Province can be prevented from being nominated to the Standing Committee. However during their first day in session, Archbishop Justin presented a report to the ACC of the Primates meeting. As promised he requested the ACC to work with the Primates for the welfare of the whole Communion.
- He said “As Archbishop of Canterbury (a separate Instrument) I have acted on the Primates’ decision in those areas for which I have responsibility. It is both my and the Primates’ desire, hope and prayer that the Anglican Consultative Council should also share in working through the consequences of our impaired relationships.”
- There have also been suggestions of criminal action including forgery and corruption in which the Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican Communion Office staff have been mentioned.
- It is the practice of the ACO to book the flights and cover the costs for all delegates attending ACC meetings, though some choose to cover their own costs. To imply that on this occasion this established practice is corrupt is disingenuous. Tickets were arranged well before any indications of non attendance by a small number of Provinces.
- The unsubstantiated public allegations of forgery against the members of the Kenyan delegation are scurrilous and untrue and are made in a manner against all biblical principles of appropriate behaviour.
Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon,
The secretary general of the Anglican Communion
Madeleine Davies writes about the statement and its background for the Church Times: Secretary-general defends ACC against its critics.
52 CommentsThe Anglican Consultative Council’s 16th meeting opened in Lusaka on Friday.
Madeleine Davies is in Lusaka for the Church Times and has so far sent these reports.
Discussion of ‘consequences’ as ACC sessions begin in Lusaka
Be united in joy, Welby exhorts his Zambian congregation
The Anglican Communion website has this page devoted to ACC-16. It includes links to ACC-16 Documents and to relevant items from the Anglican Communion News Service.
One such item is Archbishop Welby briefs ACC members on the Primates’ gathering and meeting.
[This is also on the Archbishop’s own website here.]
Mary Frances Schjonberg is reporting from Lusaka for the Episcopal News Service, including this item on yesterday’s Eucharist: ACC gets African Anglican liturgical welcome to Zambia.
There are photographs of the service here.
The ACC standing committee met earlier in the week and issued this report of its meeting. Included is this sentence, “The Standing Committee considered the Communiqué from the Primates and affirmed the relational links between the Instruments of Communion in which each Instrument, including the Anglican Consultative Council, forms its own views and has its own responsibilities.”
9 CommentsMark Clavier The Living Church Memory inscribed in stone
Jayne Ozanne ViaMedia Shared Confidences – Why “It’s Good to Talk”
Matthew Cooper Apollo Drastic reform is the only way to save England’s churches
37 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury issued this personal statement this evening.
In the last month I have discovered that my biological father is not Gavin Welby but, in fact, the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne.
This comes as a complete surprise…
Do read it in full.
The statement is also carried by The Telegraph: Justin Welby on his secret father: ‘What has changed? Nothing’.
The Archbishop’s mother, Lady Williams of Elvel, has issued her own statement, also in The Telegraph here.
The Telegraph carries several articles related to this story.
Charles Moore Winston Churchill’s right-hand man and an affair to shake the Establishment
Charles Moore A No10 hot house of drinking, affairs and Winston Churchill’s bedside meetings
Charles Moore and Gordon Rayner Justin Welby: DNA test reveals my secret father was Sir Winston Churchill’s private secretary
Leader article Justin Welby’s personal story of courage is better than a thousand sermons
Charles Moore and Gordon Rayner How 1950s law change averted crisis in Anglican Communion
BBC News has Archbishop of Canterbury learns real father was Churchill’s private secretary.
21 CommentsThe Bishops of the Church in Wales have today issued a pastoral letter and the text of some prayers, all of which is copied below. There is also a press release: Same-sex marriage statement.
A Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of the Church in Wales to all the faithful concerning gay and lesbian Christians.
One of the most contentious issues for Christians in our day has been the question of how the Church responds to those attracted to the same gender who seek the blessing of the Church upon the committed partnerships they form.
Over the last eighteen months, we have conducted a wide consultation in Governing Body and with the dioceses to explore whether the faithful of the Church in Wales felt it would be appropriate to acknowledge same sex unions in Church, by offering a Blessing, or even permitting the marriage of same sex couples in Church. Given that the civil law of the realm has now been changed to permit marriage of same sex couples, many see this as a natural next step.
The results of the consultation have been very varied: in some dioceses there was a strong voice for the status quo, in others a majority who wanted to see change. In the subsequent debate in Governing Body, it became clear that although a majority of members supported change, there was certainly no consensus, and any move to introduce changes in canon law would not meet the required two thirds majority of Governing Body, voting in houses, to enable such changes. Furthermore, any change to the teaching of the Church on Marriage, or the authorisation of any blessing of these unions in the life of the Church, would depend on legislation by bill procedure, which requires such enhanced majorities to take effect.
Since the conclusion of our consultation, the Primates of the Anglican Communion have also met in Canterbury in January of this year. The issue of the Church’s ministry to gay and lesbian persons was at the centre of their agenda, especially since The Episcopal Church (of the United States) has taken steps to amend their marriage canon to remove references to the gender of the couple.
The Primates condemned homophobic prejudice and violence and affirmed their commitment again to offer pastoral care and loving service irrespective of sexual orientation. They also rejected criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people. They recognised that the Christian Church, including Anglicans, has often acted in a way towards people on the basis of their sexual orientation that has caused deep hurt. They expressed their profound sorrow and affirmed again that God’s love for every human being is the same, regardless of their sexuality, and that the Church should never by its actions give any other impression.
Nevertheless, they also reasserted the understanding within the Anglican Communion as a whole that marriage is between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union. They indicated that they believed that any move away from this understanding is considered by many of them as a departure from the mutual accountability and interdependence implied through being in relationship with each other in the Anglican Communion.
What this all means is that we, as Bishops of the Anglican Communion, mindful of the results of our consultation and the Statement of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, and of all our members, including those who are gay and lesbian, do not feel that we can support at this time a move to change the discipline of the Church in Wales with respect to the teaching on marriage, nor can we permit the celebration of public liturgies of blessing for same sex unions.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge the gay and lesbian members of our Church as part of our family, and we wish to address them directly:
“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We recognise that you have often been persecuted and ostracized by the Church for your sexuality, that you have been mistreated by the Church, and forced into secrecy and dissimulation by the attitudes of prejudice which you have faced. We deplore such hostility, and welcome and affirm the words of the Primates that condemn homophobic prejudice and violence. We too commit ourselves to offering you the same loving service and pastoral care to which all humanity is entitled, and we commit ourselves to acting to provide a safe space within the Church and within our communities in which you can be honest and open, respected and affirmed.
While as a Church we remain unable to bless the committed partnerships you form in marriage or in civil partnership, yet we commit ourselves as bishops to work for a Church in which you can be fully affirmed as equal disciples of Jesus Christ or seekers after truth. We will pray with you and for you, that together we may seek God’s blessing on our lives, and for faithful discipleship.”
Since 2005, the Bench of Bishops has acknowledged that there are a range of views with respect to homosexuality, which have to be recognized as “honest and legitimate differences” within the diversity of opinion in the Church in Wales.
Given that diversity in the Church in Wales, and our commitment to affirm the place of gay and lesbian disciples within the Church, we believe that it is appropriate to offer prayers in response to the pastoral need of those gay and lesbian persons who are making profound commitments to friendship or partnership. With this pastoral letter, we offer prayers which we believe are suitable for those who are marking a committed relationship. Whilst we do not prescribe their use, where they are found suitable or helpful, we are happy to commend them.
The issues around human sexuality that are being debated in the Church will not go away, and the pain and tensions experienced in the debate are not over. We do believe however that we are called to live in love and charity with one another, whatever our experience or convictions on this issue, and we call upon all followers of Jesus Christ to respond with grace and as much accommodation as possible to all our brothers and sisters in Christ, including those who are gay or lesbian.
May the Lord bless his Church with such love and understanding that we may always walk in his ways of mercy.
39 CommentsFrom the Southwell and Nottingham diocesan website today:
New Dean of Southwell announced
The Venerable Nicola Sullivan, currently Archdeacon of Wells, in the Diocese of Bath & Wells, will be the new Dean of Southwell, it was announced today…
5 CommentsSam Keyes The Living Church Food of life, food of death
Giles Fraser The Guardian The resurrection isn’t an argument. It’s the Christian word for defiance
Some Easter sermons
Archbishop of Canterbury
Bishop of Liverpool
Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh (dawn service)
Archbishop of Dublin
And some from Holy Week
Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church
20 Commentscontinued from here.
Updated again Wednesday 6 April
Another major report has been issued: Major new report calls Anglicans to Intentional Discipleship and Disciple-Making
The full report is online here.
And the Introduction is available separately here.
There have also been several articles seeking to undermine the meeting from various conservative sources:
And the group of conservative American Episcopalians called Communion Partners has issued this: An Easter Report from the Communion Partners of the Episcopal Church.
Meanwhile, ENS reports: Anglicans, Episcopalians head to Zambia for consultative council.
Update 4 April
Mouneer Anis has announced that he is not attending ACC-16 in Lusaka, see the full text of his letter here: Breaking—Bishop Mouneer Anis decides not to attend the 2016 ACC Meeting in Lusaka (h/t Kendall Harmon) And there is a PDF of the original.
Update 6 April
The Primate of Kenya has published this letter: Statement on Anglican Consultative Council 16, Lusaka (h/t George Conger)
18 CommentsThe first annual report from the Independent Reviewer appointed under the Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests (Resolution of Disputes Procedure) Regulations 2014, Sir Philip Mawer, has been published and is available here.
It includes, at Appendix 3 (scroll down) a Note on the Legal and Canonical Status of the Provincial Episcopal Visitors.
Earlier material concerning the House of Bishops Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests can be found on the CofE website here.
Forward in Faith has commented on this report.
Previous TA articles relating to earlier reports can be found here on Chrism Masses, and then here on All Saints Cheltenham, and also on the consultation paper discussed in the report, and on the Notes issued as the outcome of that.
0 CommentsGuy Elsmore Modern Church Can liberals embrace the Growth Agenda? Part 1 of 3
Andrew Lightbown Disability & Easter – thoughts prompted by a Govt. Minister
Daniel Bond Politics Home Justin Welby: “The EU debate is not all about us. It’s about our vision for the world.”
Ysenda Maxtone Graham The Spectator The price of a cathedral – and how deans pay it
Linda Woodhead and Lucy Winkett Prospect The Duel: Should the Church of England be disestablished?
Clerk of Oxford ‘This doubtful day of feast or fast’: Good Friday and the Annunciation
The Salisbury diocesan website reports Bishop Sceptical on Fixed Easter with reference to the Bishop of Salisbury’s Chrism Mass Sermon, Maundy Thursday 2016.
The Anglican Communion News Service has compiled a number of Easter Messages from Anglican primates.
Phil Groves Anglican Communion News Service How do you stop terrorism?
Fiona Gibson Ship of Fools Judging by numbers
114 CommentsPress release from Number 10
Suffragan Bishop of Dorking: Jo Wells
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
First published: 24 March 2016The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Canon Jo Bailey Wells for election as Suffragan Bishop of Dorking.
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Canon Jo Bailey Wells, MA, PhD, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Suffragan See of Dorking in the Diocese of Guildford. She succeeds the Right Reverend Ian James Brackley, MA, on his resignation on 30 September 2015.
Notes for editors
The Reverend Canon Dr Jo Bailey Wells (50) was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and then at University of Minnesota, USA. She trained for ordained ministry at St John’s College, Durham.
She was Chaplain of Clare College, Cambridge from 1995 to 1998 and Dean from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2005 Jo served as a lecturer in Old Testament and Biblical Theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. From there she moved to North Carolina to be Director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies and Associate Professor of Bible and Ministry at Duke Divinity School. On her return to the UK in 2013 she took up the role of Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, based at Lambeth Palace. Since 2015 she has also served as Canon Theologian at Liverpool Cathedral.
Jo is married to the Reverend Dr Sam Wells, who is Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. They have 2 children. Her interests include art, architecture and textiles. Jo has spent a significant portion of her annual leave over many years in East Africa, most recently in supporting Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul in theological education in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan.
The Guildford diocesan website has Bishop of Dorking announced.
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s website has Archbishop of Canterbury’s Chaplain to be new Bishop of Dorking.
A document has been published by the Anglican Inter Faith Network, see this ACNS press release: Theological resources on persecution published for ACC-16.
The report itself is available as a PDF: Out of the Depths – Hope in a time of suffering.
The ACC-16 web page also links to a report on the work of Anglican and Episcopal women at UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Here is the Statement from the Anglican Communion delegation at UN-CSW60.
And there is this report of a related event: Communion women can help change sisters’ fate, says Anglican leader.
Anglican Ink has published the text of two letters:
21 CommentsIt was reported this week in both the Church Times and The Times that a settlement has been reached in the case of Professor Julie Macfarlane. This case was reported earlier here: Church of England criticised by survivor of sexual abuse.
Both these news articles are behind their respective paywalls. But the Church Times article says that Dr Macfarlane has agreed to accept £40,000 damages, and a further £40,000 to cover her legal costs.
It also says that A key part of the agreement is a “protocol-review meeting” with interested parties “to agree a protocol for the handling of claims for damages made by victims and survivors of abuse against a body within the Church of England”.
The meeting is to take place before 30 April, and “all endeavours” will be made to ensure that the protocol is in place before 30 June.
Update Tuesday
The full text of Church Times article is now available for all to read.
The George Bell Group has sent a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also issued a press statement: George Bell’s naming as a paedophile is challenged today by a group of lawyers, academics, politicians and senior Church figures. The statement is copied in full below the fold.
The core members of the George Bell Group are listed here.
The full text of the report is published here as a web page, and also as a PDF file.
36 CommentsSimon Butler ViaMedia Why R & R is Good for the Health of the Church
Laurie Goodstein interviews Presiding Bishop Michael Curry for the New York Times: Episcopal Church’s First Black Leader, a Gay Marriage Backer, Focuses on Race.
Church Times Interview: Rowan Williams, theologian, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge
6 CommentsUpdated again Friday midday
The Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse (IICSA) has begun hearings into church-related cases. For general background on why this government-initiated inquiry exists, see here and also here.
More about the Anglican aspect of this inquiry can be found here: Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church and this file contains the Definition of Scope.
The purpose of yesterday’s hearing is explained here: Preliminary hearings for the Anglican Church and Rochdale and here: Preliminary Hearing Note.
Media reports focus on the claim by Richard Scorer that one alleged victim of Peter Ball wrote to the then Archbishop of Canterbury in 1992 and was ignored. Lord Carey has said he had no recollection of receiving any such letter.
Telegraph Lord Carey might have delayed investigation into church sex abuse for 20 years, inquiry hears
Guardian Archbishop did not pass abuse claims to police, Goddard inquiry told
BBC Goddard Inquiry: Focus on CofE handling of abuse claims
Mirror Ex-Archbishop of Canterbury allegedly helped delay sex abuse probe into bishop for 20 years
Updates
Gavin Drake Church Times Justice Goddard opens IICSA investigation into the Anglican Church
Ruth Gledhill Christian Today Sex abuse public inquiry begins investigation into Church of England
David Henke and Tim Wood Exaro CoE finds one million pages of documents about child sex abuse
1 CommentUpdated Wednesday morning
See earlier announcements by Uganda and by Kenya.
A letter from the Primate of Nigeria has now been published: Church of Nigeria Statement on the Lusaka ACC Meeting 15 March 2016
This statement is now also available at the GAFCON site, and the text is copied below the fold (bold emphasis in the original).
Ruth Gledhill reports for Christian Today in Nigeria pleads for ‘special status’ for conservative Anglican Christians over homosexuality.
63 CommentsUpdated again Wednesday morning
The Church of England has today published portions of the report that was commissioned in September 2015 into a particular case of alleged sexual abuse by a member of the clergy.
The materials published by the church do not disclose the names of any of the persons involved. However, the Guardian newspaper carries a report by Harriet Sherwood which names the perpetrator and states that the Guardian has seen the full report. The Guardian has also interviewed the survivor in this case.
The Church Times has also seen the full report, see below.
…Elliott examined the case of “Joe” – described in the report as “B”, and whose identity is known to the Guardian – who as a 15-year-old was subjected to a “sadistic” assault in 1976 by Garth Moore, a leading figure in the church, the chancellor of three dioceses and vicar of St Mary’s Abchurch in the City of London. Moore, who died in 1990, is described in the report as “A”…
…The Guardian understands that among those told of the abuse were three bishops and a senior clergyman later ordained as a bishop. None of them are named in the report by Ian Elliott, a safeguarding expert, but the survivor identified them as Tim Thornton, now bishop of Truro; Richard Holloway, former bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal church, now retired; John Eastaugh, former bishop of Hereford, now dead; and Stephen Platten, former bishop of Wakefield and now honorary assistant bishop of London…
…In a statement, Thornton said: “I remember having several conversations with [Joe], mainly about his faith. But I am sorry to say that I simply do not recall the conversation that he has referred to. Had I been party to a conversation of that nature, I would either have referred him to somebody who would have been well placed to help him, or would have told somebody myself about such a serious disclosure.”
A statement from the diocese of London said Platten had apologised to Joe for his “lack of detailed recollection of their conversations in the 1980s” and “regretted he was unable to help further”.
Holloway said he did not recall any disclosure: “I have no memory of it, but I’ve no reason to challenge it. I had many pastoral conversations with many people…”
…Last month, Paul Butler, the bishop of Durham, who leads the C of E’s safeguarding work, privately apologised to Joe for the church’s response to his disclosures. He said he had no doubt that Joe had been abused by Moore, and there were likely to be other survivors who have not yet come forward. He ended his handwritten letter, seen by the Guardian, with: “I am … deeply sorry for the hurt I have caused you.”
But there has been no apology from Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, to whom Joe reports writing 18 letters after the church began examining his case. He had one reply, from a correspondence secretary, assuring him that “the archbishop would hold him in his prayers”…
Links to the officially published material:
Report by Tim Wyatt in the Church Times Abuse case turns spotlight on to flawed C of E safeguarding practices
…The report will not be published in full, although the conclusions and recommendations will be published by the C of E. Bishop Mullally said that this was because of pastoral concerns, although Joe has told the Church Times that wants the detail of the review to be made public…
…Joe said he was optimistic that the report would lead to real reform, but still had reservations. He had asked for a female bishop to lead the implementation of the recommendations because he had wanted a new broom to sweep the Church clean.
“I wanted someone to look at this with fresh eyes,” he said. “It needed to be somebody who wasn’t part of the layers of complicity and loyalty, who didn’t carry all that baggage.”
Although he has not yet met Bishop Mullally, he said he had heard positive things about her. But this is more reminiscent of popular y8 games and not what is mentioned above. “I have the sense that she could kick the Church out of its complacency…”
Earlier material from the Church Times
Earlier material from the Guardian
Other media reports:
21 Comments