Diocesan press release: Plans for the Diocese of Coventry during Vacancy-in-See
Following the announcement earlier this year that Bishop Christopher will be the new Dean of Windsor, he is now able to share the episcopal arrangements for the Diocese of Coventry during the Vacancy-in-See, which will begin in November 2023.
After working closely with Lambeth Palace over the summer he is delighted to announce that Bishop Ruth Worsley, Bishop of Taunton, has agreed to become Acting Bishop of Coventry during the vacancy. Bishop Ruth will be supported by Bishop Saju Muthalaly, Bishop of Loughborough, as an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese.
Bishop Ruth has been a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Bath & Wells for over seven years and has previously led the Diocese through a Vacancy-in-See period. Bishop Ruth will be based in the Diocese of Coventry for 4 days a week. Bishop Saju is currently ministering in our neighbouring Leicester Diocese as Suffragan Bishop and is able to give the equivalent of one day a week to the Diocese of Coventry…
And there is also this: Appointment of Bishop Ruth as Acting Diocesan Bishop.
Towards the end of the first press release there is also this:
Further Support
Following discussions with Bishop Ruth, Bishop Christopher has also invited Bishop Jonathan Meyrick, retired Bishop of Lynn, who lives in Oxford Diocese, to become an Assistant Bishop, and he has generously accepted. With Bishop Edward Condry, who is already active as an Assistant Bishop in the diocese, and Bishop Paul Thomas, Bishop of Oswestry and Assistant Bishop, we will have a strong team to support Bishop Ruth and Bishop Saju as they come to join us.Bishop Christopher has also moved to strengthen our Archidiaconal Team so that, working with the Diocesan Secretary, the Acting Diocesan Bishop would have a well-resourced engine room of support with which to work and minister.
For further details or if you would like contact our Archdeacons, please see our webpage here.
Process
Bishop Ruth will need to be made Acting Bishop of Coventry by an Instrument of Delegation under s.14 of the Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007. Bishop Saju will need to be made an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Coventry for the period of the vacancy. Neither action needs further consultation with the Diocesan Synod.
The Diocese of Bath & Wells has published this: Bishop Ruth seconded to the role of Acting Bishop of Coventry
15 CommentsMark Clavier The Living Church A House-Going Parson Makes a Church-Going People
Sorrel Christian ViaMedia.News Young Christianity Today
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Is Christianity losing its sense of morality or finding new vision?
a member of the Anglican Survivors Group ViaMedia.News Are Churches Safe?
67 Commentspress release 11 September 2023
Leading public law barrister to head review into Independent Safeguarding Board
A leading public law barrister is to head the independent review into the first phase of the Church of England’s Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB), it was announced today.
The Archbishops’ Council has instructed Sarah Wilkinson, a barrister from Blackstone Chambers, to undertake a review of the ISB Phase 1. She is an experienced public law practitioner who has represented the Government both as sole and junior counsel in a wide range of high-profile judicial review cases.
The Archbishops’ Council has asked Ms Wilkinson to establish a clear account of the events from the conception, design and establishment of the ISB until the announcement of the termination of contracts of members, establish and identify the reasons for the action to terminate, and identify lessons to be learned based on the findings.
She will complete her review by the end of November and the Council will aim to publish this report as soon as possible following the end of November. This review will also inform the work of Professor Alexis Jay on the future of safeguarding.
The review was announced at the General Synod in July by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and follows the statement issued by the Council on the future of the ISB.
Finding support
If you or anyone you are in contact with wish to talk to someone independently please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit www.safespacesenglandandwales.org.ukAlternatively, you may wish to contact the diocesan safeguarding team in your area or the National Safeguarding Team – email safeguarding@churchofengland.org
There are also a range of other support services available.
Link to Blackstone Chambers: Sarah Wilkinson
53 CommentsIn a letter to his diocese, the Bishop of Southwark has announced the death yesterday of the Bishop of Woolwich, the Rt Revd Dr Karowei Dorgu. Update: further details, including a tribute from the Archbishop of Canterbury, now at the Southwark website.
Bishop Christopher writes:
10 CommentsIt is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the death of Bishop Karowei Dorgu. Bishop Karowei died peacefully after a long struggle with his health on Friday 8 September in the presence of his family at King’s College Hospital.
There will be time for proper tributes to be paid to him in due course — but for now I wish to convey my deepest sympathy to his wife Mosun, son Timi, twin sister Collette and the whole family. I express my gratitude for Bishop Karowei’s friendship and inspirational ministry — latterly as Bishop of Woolwich — where he brought much joy in his passion for the Gospel and loving encouragement to all whom he encountered. It was a privilege to join the family at his bedside and anoint him in his last hours, and I am grateful that the Archbishop of Canterbury came to pray with the family. We have lost a dear friend, brother and colleague and we will miss him greatly. I commend Bishop Karowei and his family to your prayers. May he rest in peace.
Diarmaid MacCulloch ViaMedia.News Love Came Down at Christmas – For Some
Theos Is the UK a Christian Country?
“We asked a range of experts and thinkers how they would answer the question: Is the UK a Christian country?”
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love A Brief Evolutionary Context for today’s Global and Christian Crises
38 CommentsLiving in Love and Faith – first facilitated group conversation held
08/09/2023
The first meeting of the ‘Living With Difference’ group – who have been invited to be part of a series of three facilitated conversations around the Prayers of Love and Faith – was held on Thursday September 7.
The members of the group are:
Notes to Editors:
The group will aim to reflect the spectrum of views held and work to offer back to the Bishops an understanding of how their proposals can be taken forward, reflecting the issues raised in the conversations. The group will meet for three full days, in London, on September 7, 12 and 28.
This is scheduled to feed into meetings of the College of Bishops in September and the House of Bishops in October.
28 CommentsSee previous report here.
Today, there have been two announcements:
The full texts of both are copied below the fold.
The Telegraph has this report (£): Soul Survivor’s Mike Pilavachi ‘used spiritual authority to control victims’, report finds
47 CommentsColin Coward Unadulterated Love What is the Christian story today?
Helen King sharedconversations Being back in the room
14 CommentsBishop David Hamid, suffragan bishop of the Diocese in Europe and one of the longest serving bishops in the Church of England, has announced his plans to retire in February 2024. Details are on the diocesan website.
5 CommentsTheo Hobson The Spectator The time is ripe for a liberal revival of the Church of England
Giles Fraser UnHerd Has the Church stopped working?
Kelvin Holdsworth What’s in Kelvin’s Head The Friends of St Eucalyptus
152 CommentsToday’s Church Times contains two news reports which relate to the continuing discussions leading up to the November General Synod meeting.
Reference is made in the above to an article by Helen King, which we first linked to on 19 August: The autumn of Living in Love and Faith. This contains a list of meeting dates for many groups in the forthcoming weeks.
1 CommentPress release from 10 Downing Street. Further coverage at Birmingham diocese and at Ridley. The new bishop will be consecrated on 30 November 2023.
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr Michael Volland for election as Bishop of Birmingham.
Appointment of Bishop of Birmingham: 31 August 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr Michael Volland, Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, for election as Bishop of Birmingham, in succession to The Right Reverend David Urquhart, following his retirement.
Michael was educated at Northumbria University, King’s College London and Durham University and trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He served his title at Gloucester Cathedral and was ordained Priest in 2007.
In 2009, Michael was appointed Director of Mission at Cranmer Hall, Durham, and additionally served as Chaplain to Durham Army Cadet Force from 2012 and as Team Leader and Mission Priest for the East Durham Mission Project and also Area Dean of Easington from 2014. In 2015, Michael was appointed Director of Context-Based Training and Pastoral Tutor at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and in 2017 he took up his current role as Principal of Ridley Hall. Since then he has also served as President of the Cambridge Theological Federation and Chair of the Theological Education Institutions Principal’s Steering Group.
Updated Thursday and Saturday
The Times today has a front page story, headlined Britain is no longer a Christian country, say frontline clergy. It begins like this:
Times survey shows priests’ desire for dramatic shifts in doctrine
on issues such as sex, sexuality, marriage and the role of women
Key moments
Britain can no longer be described as a Christian country, three quarters of Church of England priests believe, according to a landmark survey conducted by The Times.
The most wide-ranging poll carried out among frontline Anglican clergy, and the first survey of Church of England clerics conducted in almost a decade, has found a strong desire among rank-and-file priests for significant changes in church doctrine on issues such as sex, sexuality, marriage and the role of women to bring it into greater line with public opinion…
The full story is behind a paywall, but…
The Church Times now also has a report on this, Times clergy poll finds almost 50-per-cent support for same-sex weddings.
ALMOST half (49.2 per cent) of the C of E clergy respondents to a new poll would officiate at same-sex weddings if they were permitted to do so, and 59 per cent would bless gay relationships. Almost two-thirds said that the Church should no longer teach that sex belonged only in marriage…
Update Thursday
A second tranche of results has been published: Most Church of England priests support gay conversion therapy ban
Key points
- Greater support for assisted dying, but majority still in opposition
- Anglican bishops should share their Lords seats with other faith leaders
- A lack of faith in reaching net zero
More than two thirds of Church of England priests back the government’s plan to introduce a ban on conversion or so-called “gay-cure” therapy, with less than a fifth against it, a Times survey has found…
Meanwhile, there is a critique of the survey here: What do Anglican clergy think about ‘Christian’ Britain, sexuality, and clergy morale?
Update Saturday
A third tranche of results: Only 13% of Church of England priests back the Tories
Also questions about support for the Archbishop of Canterbury
And there is a note on methodology
79 CommentsHow we polled the priests
The Times worked closely with academics and polling experts to devise the survey, which was sent to a random sample of 5,000 priests with English addresses from Crockford’s Clerical Directory of Anglican clergy. It received 1,486 responses and results were analysed from the 1,185 in active ministry.
The Times followed the same methodology used by YouGov and the University of Lancaster for the last survey of Church of England priests in 2014 and received a similar number of responses. The age and sex of our respondents tallied extremely closely with the overall breakdown for the church’s entire body of active priests.
Paul Roberts Inclusive Evangelicals Can you be Evangelical and not agree with the CEEC?
Mark Michael The Living Church When Rights Conflict: Sex Abuse Reporting & the Confessional
136 CommentsRichard Scorer and Martin Sewell have written at Surviving Church: Why Prof Jay must impose an external Safeguarding Regulator on the CofE
This week, the Lucy Letby case has brutally exposed the lack of regulation and accountability of NHS managers (link to Lucy Letby: NHS managers must be held to account, doctor says – BBC News). Whereas clinicians are subject to professional scrutiny and accountability by independent regulators, NHS managers are not, even when (as in the Letby case) they may have prioritised the reputation of a hospital over patient safety. This is a feature they share with those in leadership and managerial roles in religious organisations. Both NHS managers and Bishops are amongst the dwindling band of professionals still not subject to independent regulation. This urgently needs to change, and as far as religious bodies are concerned, Professor Jay’s taskforce on independent regulation of safeguarding in the Church of England has an opportunity to set this change in motion…
Do read the whole article.
24 CommentsPress release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more on the Bristol diocesan website. He will be consecrated on 30 November 2023.
Appointment of Suffragan Bishop of Swindon: 24 August 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Neil Warwick for appointment to the Suffragan See of Swindon, in the Diocese of Bristol.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 24 August 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Neil Warwick, Archdeacon of Bristol, for appointment to the Suffragan See of Swindon, in the Diocese of Bristol, in succession to The Right Reverend Dr Lee Rayfield, following his retirement.
Neil was educated at Nottingham University and trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He served his title at St Lawrence, Towcester, in the Diocese of Peterborough, and was ordained Priest in 2006. Neil was appointed Vicar of Earley St Nicolas, in the Diocese of Oxford, in 2009.
In 2019, Neil took up his current role as Archdeacon of Bristol, in the Diocese of Bristol.
77 CommentsHelen King sharedconversations The autumn of Living in Love and Faith
Karen O’Donnell ViaMedia.News Bodies at Prayer
David Newman Inclusive Evangelicals Evangelical unity and diversity
David Runcorn Inclusive Evangelicals How contraception has changed marriage
80 CommentsI did not notice any earlier announcement, but Worcester Cathedral has the news today that their Dean, the Very Reverend Peter Atkinson, will officially retire on Friday 25 August.
18 CommentsPress release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more on the Truro Cathedral website.
Appointment of Dean of Truro: 17 August 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Simon Robinson, Residentiary Canon and Interim Dean at Truro Cathedral, for appointment as Dean of Truro.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 17 August 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Simon Robinson, Residentiary Canon and Interim Dean at Truro Cathedral, for appointment as Dean of Truro, in succession to The Very Reverend Roger Bush, following his retirement.
Simon was educated at Warwick University and trained for ministry on the Southern Theological Education Training Scheme. He served his title in the Parish of Freshford, Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse in the Diocese of Bath and Wells and was ordained priest in 2013. Simon was appointed Vicar of the Parish of Minehead in 2015. In October 2022, Simon took up his current role as Interim Dean and Canon Missioner at Truro Cathedral.
44 CommentsUpdated Wednesday
This website is now live: Future of Church Safeguarding
The Future of Church Safeguarding Programme (the Programme) has been set up to recommend a model for fully independent safeguarding within the Church of England.
As part of the Programme we will gather a range of views to better understand what needs to be improved or what is already working well in Church safeguarding processes – processes in place to protect people from harm.
We also want to hear opinions about how to achieve a safeguarding body that is independent, fair and impartial.
The Programme operates entirely independently from the Church, and is led by Professor Alexis Jay OBE, who previously chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
Professor Jay expects to complete her report for The Archbishops of Canterbury and of York by the end of December 2023 and will publish the report herself to ensure full transparency.
The website contains much additional information about how this programme will operate.
Updates