chariot racing and lion taming for the archbishop
The Archbishop of Canterbury will lead the St Albans Festival Pilgrimage on 24 June.
See the diocesan press release:
Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will make a special pilgrimage to St Albans to celebrate the life and death of Britain’s first martyr on June 24.
“We are delighted to welcome the Archbishop to St Albans” said the Very Revd Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans. “The pilgrimage is a very special re-enactment of the trial and execution of Alban using larger than life puppets. It will be a colourful, spectacular and wonderful thanksgiving for Alban.”
Dr John adds, “The pilgrimage has been growing in size in recent years and this year the Archbishop will even be able to see re-enactments of chariot racing and lion taming.”
Pilgrims from all over the UK and countries including Germany and Italy will congregate at the site of Alban’s trial in Roman Verulamium, not far from the Cathedral. They will set off on foot following the giant puppets of Alban, the persecuted priest to whom he gave shelter. Pilgrims will be accompanied by hundreds of red roses, a symbol of Alban, as they walk up the hill to the Cathedral.
Services to be held in the morning and the afternoon will provide the opportunity for prayerful contemplation of Alban’s sacrifice in which he allowed the priest he was protecting to flee his Roman persecutors by exchanging clothes with him. After a flogging, a trial and sentence of death, Alban continued to declare his Christian faith and was executed on the site of the Cathedral that bears his name.
Over 200 local children will be involved in the preparations for the event helping to create the chariots, the puppets and ornate decorations for the inside of the Cathedral.
For more details see the cathedral website.
1 CommentBBC interviews Bishop Gladwin
Today’s Sunday radio programme interviews John Gladwin about what really happened last week. 5 minutes long.
Go about 39 minutes forward using this link (better link on Monday).
New permanent link to this here.
Pentecost columns
Guardian Judith Maltby Face to Faith is about listening.
The Times Lavinia Byrne The Spirit is benign, subtle, toxic – and can be found in the back of a cab
Telegraph Christopher Howse The letters on the brick wall
And, from the Tablet an article by James Alison The wild ride
5 CommentsKenya and Chelmsford: press conference
Last Updated Saturday
Fulcrum has issued a statement in relation to all this, Kenya, Chelmsford and Communion: What are the issues?
The Archbishop of Kenya has issued this press statement.
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The Bishop of Chelmsford, John Gladwin, returned home from Kenya today, and held a press conference.
ACNS carries the press statement that he issued.
Ruth Gledhill attended the press conference and has written about it at some length on her blog, which also has pictures. She has titled the entry Gladwin: I blame the devil. She also has a shorter account on Times Online headlined Bishop stranded in Africa blames the devil.
The newspaper version of this report is Devil of a time for bishop in the bush.
Update East Anglian Daily Times Bishop plays down Kenyan ‘snub’
Update Saturday The latest from Nairobi in the Nation Fresh row over gay-rights bishop
Footnote: the Church of England Newspaper has published this report, written earlier in the week, which most oddly refers to the bishop repeatedly as Mr Gladwin.
Another footnote: in today’s Church Times Giles Fraser refers to the reporting on Bishop Gladwin in his opinion column.
And a third footnote: Anglican Mainstream has published a letter to the Church Times which will not appear on tthe latter’s public website for another week: Kenyan snub to Bishop: don’t blame conservatives.
36 CommentsKenya and Chelmsford update
John Richardson thought it would be helpful to give us chapter and verse of the things his diocesan bishop has done that he objects to: he spent time over the weekend listing them out, and you can read his list here:
Bishop John Gladwin on the issue of Human Sexuality.
Meanwhile his Anglican Mainstream colleague Chris Sugden has published an interpretation of “Listening” that can best be described as bizarre.
29 CommentsBible and Homosexual Partnerships
Jonathan Wynne-Jones wrote an article for the Sunday Telegraph which was headlined Bible supports homosexual partnerships, says bishop.
Other responses to the story were reported by Ekklesia.
The tone of the original story, and the reported reactions of conservatives make interesting reading in the light of a recent Fulcrum newsletter article on Homophobia by Andrew Goddard. The long version of his paper (recommmended reading) can be found here.
17 Commentsmore about ECUSA/Windsor resolutions
Kendall Harmon has responded to my earlier comment that:
…it is far from clear to me exactly what alternative resolutions would be favoured by those in the AAC and NACDAP who remain fundamentally opposed to the actions of GC2003. I can find no clear statement of an alternative proposal from them.
with a copy of the text linked here, and:
This document can also serve as a response to Simon Sarmiento’s strange assertion that “it is far from clear†to him “exactly what alternative resolutions [to those of the special Commission] would be favoured by those in the AAC and NACDAP who remain fundamentally opposed to the actions of GC2003.†As the Anglican Communion Institute recognizes, that would be resolutions along the broad lines of the one above from January 2005 as well as four of the five 2005 resolutions of the Diocesan Convention of South Carolina.
Will somebody then be filing resolutions to this effect so that they will in due course appear here? It is the absence of any such submission as yet that I find puzzling. Perhaps I don’t understand the GC legislative process.
16 CommentsBBC on VGR, Kenya
The BBC’s Sunday radio programme has two items of interest for the last 14+ minutes of the programme. Using this link, go forward about 30 minutes, for the start:
- Interview by Jane Little with Gene Robinson
- Feature on Kenya and Chelmsford, including interviews with John Richardson of Chelmsford Anglican Mainstream, with Tim Wambunya of the Kenya Church Association UK, and with Ruth Gledhill.
Better, permanent links on Tuesday now here:
VGR interview 4 minutes
Chelmsford/Kenya interviews 9 minutes
ECUSA and Windsor: resolutions
The last report on TA about action at General Convention concerning the Windsor Report was here, on 1 May.
Since then, there has been much online discussion about the resolutions in the Special Commission report but it is far from clear to me exactly what alternative resolutions would be favoured by those in the AAC and NACDAP who remain fundamentally opposed to the actions of GC2003. I can find no clear statement of an alternative proposal from them.
Some alternative resolutions have been filed by dioceses:
Diocese of Rochester C004 Response to Windsor Report
Diocese of Alabama C014 Response to Windsor Report
Diocese of Florida C025 Affirmation of Windsor Report
Diocese of Upper South Carolina C037 Affirming Windsor Report
The AAC analysis is here:“Moving Slowly with Caution Isn’t Stoppingâ€
And the NACDAP statement is here: More Than Twenty Bishops Issue Position Statement
The Anglican Communion Institute has issued this: What it will take
But by far the most detailed analysis of the Special Commission resolutions can be found in this document from PEP: “What Should General Convention 2006 Do?†which can be downloaded from this page as a PDF document. This 17 page document is well worth reading even if you don’t agree with its viewpoint.
1 CommentSaturday roundup
Here’s a column from the Northern Echo:
At Your Service: Giving succour to flocks of all kinds
In The Times Roderick Strange writes Forty days is an eternity which reminds us of a transcendent dimension. Also Sholto Byrnes reports on An agnostic happy to nurse the ‘vice’ of religion.
Stewart Dakers reflects in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column about Christian Aid Week.
The Telegraph has Christopher Howse writing on intercessory prayer in Sun for the wedding, please.
0 CommentsZimbabwe: clerics seek help from Sentamu
From the IWPR a report by Trevor Grundy Zimbabwean Clerics to Seek Help from Archbishop of York
2 CommentsKenya and Chelmsford: Friday
Two Three more items:
Church Times Rachel Harden Kenya visit unravels over gays
The Times Ruth Gledhill OUT OF AFRICA: Bishop John Gladwin. Even allowing for this being in the features part of the paper, rather than the news columns, it seems a little odd to me to call Bishop John a “far-left liberal activist” and the comparison with Dr John Reid, who this week happens to be Home Secretary in the UK Government, escapes me entirely. But hey, it’s Friday.
And another comment piece, this one from the Nation in Nairobi, says Gay laws quite ambiguous.
8 Commentslatest from Lake Malawi
High Court throws out Anglican case …Let it be solved at church level is the headline of the cover story in the Malawi Daily Times.
0 CommentsKenya and Chelmsford: Thursday
Update
Another report from Nairobi:
Nation 26 May Envoy sent to resolve gay row
The latest report from Nairobi:
Nation 25 May Request for sermon by gay rights bishop turned down
Today’s London reports:
Jonathan Petre Telegraph Kenyan hosts abandon bishop due to his liberal views on gays
Maxine Frith Independent Bishop of Chelmsford left stranded in Kenya in row over gay rights
Xan Rice in Nairobi and David Pallister Guardian Kenya’s Anglicans snub bishop over liberal view of homosexuality
And Fulcrum has this article: The Chelmsford Diocese/Mt Kenya link must not be allowed to die
Update Church of England Newspaper has Kenya Archbishop pulls the plug on Bishop Gladwins visit
Reuters Wangui Kanina Kenyan Anglicans reject UK bishop linked to gay group
Yorkshire Post Paul Whitehouse Bishop stranded over gay dispute
Ekklesia English bishop rejected in Kenya over gay row
EADT24 Bishop’s trip stopped over views on gays
more about Kenya and Chelmsford
Ruth Gledhill has a report in today’s Times Bishop is abandoned in deepest Africa
and now also this blog article: Kenya cancels guest programme for Chelmsford.
A further article has appeared in the Nairobi press:
Nation Anglicans disown bishop over gay claims
The Chelmsford Anglican Mainstream website is here. Their first press release announcement complaining about their bishop’s association with Changing Attitude is here: Bishop of Chelmsford new patron of ‘Changing Attitude’
Further reports are now published:
BBC Gay support bishop’s Kenya snub
Telegraph Gay-friendly bishop marooned in Africa
See also Dave Walker’s cartoon blog entry
21 Commentswhat is going on in Kenya?
There has been a series of news reports from the Nairobi newspapers in the last few days about the visit of a delegation of Chelmsford Diocese to the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Nation
21 May Anglican gay lobby patron visits Kenya or this copy. Also this copy.
22 May Bishop denies gay lobby links or this copy. Also this copy.
East African Standard
22 May I have no gay links, says UK clergyman or this copy.
23 May ACK still opposed to gay marriages or this copy.
A series of press releases published on the Changing Attitude website sheds some light on the matter:
22 May John Gladwin falsely accused of lobbying for homosexuality in Kenya
22 May Archbishop of Kenya unable to “advance the lined-up activities†for Bishop Gladwin’s visit to Kenya (Anglican Church of Kenya press release)
23 May The Bishop of Chelmsford and the Anglican Church of Kenya (Diocese of Chelmsford press release)
23 May Senior Kenyan Anglican holds different views on homosexuality from the Archbishop
Also this copy of the second item above.
The explanation for all of this can be found in the following:
STATEMENT BY CHELMSFORD ANGLICAN MAINSTREAM
Faithful Cities
Today, the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain published Faithful Cities.
The website for this is at the Commision on Urban Life and Faith.
There has already been some press coverage of this:
Reuters Anglicans angered over destitute asylum-seekers
Press Association Narrow the poverty gap urges Church
BBC Church anger over asylum poverty
Earlier, Ruth Gledhill had this in Saturday’s Times Archbishop in call for action on age of false celebrity and this blog entry today.
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke in the House of Lords last Friday on a related theme.
0 Commentsmore Anglican Covenant news
The Anglican Communion Office has published a document today.
See covering note: Towards an Anglican Covenant
And the actual document The Proposal for an Anglican Covenant
And in the Telegraph a letter No two-tier approach from Gregory Cameron is published, in response to the original news article.
0 Commentsweekend opinions
No cinema reviews here.
In The Times Stephen Plant Hope for the hereafter nourishes the urge to live better in a grime present
In the Telegraph Christopher Howse The lives and souls of the nation
In the Guardian Alec Gilmore writes in Face to Faith about religious liberty.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about The subtle sin of lay presidency
23 CommentsAnglican Covenant news
This week, stories about the Windsor proposal for an Anglican Covenant resurfaced:
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Archbishop backs two-track Church to heal divisions
Ruth Gledhill That Petre ‘covenant’ story
Living Church Steve Waring Anglican Covenant Unlikely in Less than Five Years
Jim Naughton had this comment.
6 Comments