On Monday, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke at the annual Lord Mayor of London’s Banquet. The full text of his speech is available here.
This was reported by Riazat Butt in the Guardian as Archbishop pays tribute to St Paul’s cathedral clergy for ‘holding balance’.
And Nick Spencer of Theos published Comment: St Paul’s protest has revealed pressures at the heart of the Church at politics.co.uk.
Earlier, the Church of England Mission and Public Affairs Council had published The Church and capitalism (press release, leading to PDF document.)
On Tuesday, Riazat Butt and Shiv Malik at the Guardian reported Occupy London camp given 24 hours to disband or face legal action
Activists camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral will be given 24 hours to remove their tents and equipment before high court proceedings are issued, the City of London corporation said on Tuesday.
Occupy London, which arrived in the churchyard on 15 October, last week rejected a request to scale back part of its camp to allow better fire engine access. The notice applies to tents standing on public highways.
St Paul’s is meeting on Wednesday to decide how to respond to the corporation’s decision. A spokesman said the cathedral was still “working towards a peaceful outcome”.
Stuart Fraser, policy chairman at the corporation, said: “We paused legal action for two weeks for talks with those in the camp on how to shrink the extent of the tents and to set a departure date – but got nowhere. So, sadly, now they have rejected a reasonable offer to let them stay until the new year, it’s got to be the courts. We’d still like to sort this without court action but from now on we will have to have any talks in parallel with court action – not instead…
Cathy Newman at Channel 4 News interviewed Stuart Fraser, see Talks break down between St Paul’s protesters and officials.
The protesters have issued this: Occupy London statement on renewed legal action from the City of London Corporation.
9 CommentsUpdated Saturday night to add Portsmouth results.
Updated Monday morning to add links to reports on diocesan websites of Oxford, Portsmouth and York.
In the final day of diocesan debates, Liverpool, Newcastle, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southwark, and York diocesan synods debated the draft legislation to allow women bishops today. In each case the main motion was
That this Synod approve the proposals embodied in the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure and in Amending Canon No 30.
The CEEC following motion was
This Synod
1. desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England
2. calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that those who are unable to accept the ministry of women bishops are able to receive Episcopal oversight from a bishop with authority (i.e. ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the Measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop.
1) Liverpool passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 40 8 0 Laity 26 12 2
The CEEC following motion was defeated with 16 votes in favour, 61 against and 8 abstentions.
The diocese has promptly published this report: Synod votes in favour of women bishops legislation.
2) Newcastle passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 34 10 1 Laity 28 7 1
There is a report on the diocesan website: Newcastle Diocesan Synod supports Church of England’s proposals for women bishops.
3) Oxford passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 4 0 0 Clergy 46 19 0 Laity 55 15 2
CEEC following motion was divided. Paragraph 1 was overwhelmingly carried. Paragraph 2 was defeated as follows.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 0 4 0 Clergy 19 53 1 Laity 15 52 1
The diocesan website has: Oxford votes for women bishops draft.
4) Portsmouth passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 1 0 0 Clergy 36 2 0 Laity 36 6 0
A following motion described as “positive” by our correspondent (a supporter of women in the episcopate) was lost – by 13 votes to 58 with 11 abstentions. A second “negative” following motion was also lost – by 13 votes to 66 with one abstention.
There is a brief report on the home page of the diocesan website.
5) Southwark passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 50 14 0 Laity 38 13 3
There were three following motions. Details are on the diocesan website: Southwark Diocesan Synod votes for the Women Bishops legislation.
6) York passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 3 2 0 Clergy 25 14 1 Laity 42 8 0
This following motion
This Synod calls upon the House of Bishops, in exercise of its powers under Standing Order 60 (b), to amend the draft…Measure in the manner proposed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York at the Revision Stage for the draft Measure
was carried by 62 votes to 24 with 6 abstentions. Details are on the diocesan website.
70 CommentsThe Guardian republishes this article: From the archive, 11 November 1871: St Paul’s under scrutiny.
Giles Fraser writes in The Church Times about Peace, but not as the world gives.
Christopher Howse writes in The Telegraph about Calling upon God by his name. “The name of God means more than choosing the right four Hebrew letters.”
George Pitcher writes for the New Statesman that Bishop Chartres arrived at St Paul’s like Churchill at the Admiralty.
Frank Griswold writes for Faith and Leadership that Maybe this is the desert time.
Simon Jenkins (the one who used to be editor of The Times) writes for The Guardian: The ethical fluff of St Paul’s and Rowan Williams is a liberal cop-out.
This article has prompted letters galore: Simple sermon on ethics won’t do.
Press release from the Church of England: Archbishops question case for elected House of Lords.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York question the rationale for a wholly or mainly elected House of Lords in their submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Government’s Draft Bill and White Paper (the submission can be read on the CofE website).
Whilst welcoming the Draft Bill’s proposals to provide continued places for bishops of the established Church in a partly appointed House, the Archbishops ask that the appointments process also have regard to increasing the presence of leaders of other denominations and faiths.
The Draft Bill and White Paper proposes a House of Lords of 300 members, with either 80% or 100% elected by proportional representation. If the reformed House were to retain an appointed element, there would be places for Church of England bishops, though reduced to 12 from their current 26. Bishops would not be allowed to remain in a 100% elected House under the Government’s plans…
The full submission is available as a PDF file here.
15 CommentsFirst, there were several articles in the Church Times last week, that have only now become available to non-subscribers. Although events have moved on, I list them:
Richard Chartres Time for the Church to be heard
Arnold Hunt Lessons from history at St Paul’s
Paul Vallely Turn the debate back to the money
Andrew Brown Press: With the Express on their side
…FROM a PR point of view, there was a special difficulty with the whole story. The Church of England is widely misunderstood to be an organisation. Therefore, the man at the top is expected to be able to control his subordinates. Thus the wider Church, which largely disagreed with the Chapter’s line, was unable to say anything to criticise it.
But these difficulties are made to be overcome. The fact that the cathedral had outsourced its PR to the Revd Rob Marshall, a nice man but one based outside Hull, suggests that the Church is so used to being ignored that, when the country was, for a moment, interested in its opinions, it was almost entirely unable to handle it.
Now, turning to this week’s issue:
Ed Thornton Church support for camps is tested by protesters’ conduct
…Senior clerics this week expressed unease at the way that St Paul’s had initially responded to the protesters. The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nick Holtam, told Salisbury diocesan synod last Saturday that the threat to evict the protesters “showed the cathedral as willing to use the power of the City of London to protect itself, which is the very thing that worries the rest of us.
“Whilst it is not clear from the New Testament whether the Church is of, with, or for the poor, the Church isn’t credible if we don’t attempt something along one of those lines. St Paul’s seem not to have asked themselves that root question, and they lacked the instinct to respond to the great opportunity of a crisis.”The Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, the Rt Revd Nigel Stock, said this week that he “was not alone in being astonished that the decision was taken to close St Paul’s”. The decision to reopen the cathedral, and the high-profile resignations of the Dean and the Canon Fraser “increased the impressions of chaos”.
In an article published on his diocesan website, the Bishop of Coventry, Dr Christopher Cocksworth, wrote of the “irony of careful, professional, well-meaning advice on managing a potentially dangerous and threatening situation closing the doors on the gospel practices of hospitality, engagement and the patient building of trusting relationships.”
St Paul’s had, though, managed to realign itself, he said, “through some brave decisions, some courageous public contrition, and decisive leadership from the Bishop of London”. This helped to “open up an opportunity for real debate on the matters that really do count”.
and also
We shan’t listen to advice, say bankers
…Seventy-six per cent of those surveyed in the report disagreed — most of them strongly — with the statement: “The City of London needs to listen more to the guidance of the Church.” In addition, 47 per cent said that they “never attend a religious service or meeting, apart from special occasions”, and 38 per cent said that they did not believe in God…
Leader Restoring a human scale to the City
0 CommentsTHERE are perhaps other interpretations, but it is reassuring that 76 per cent of the bankers interviewed for the St Paul’s Institute do not think that they should listen more to the guidance of the Church. Had they thought otherwise, and the present injustices of the City been practised by sermon-listening citizens, it would have pointed to a much more fundamental problem than the Church’s being just a bit feeble at putting its arguments across. Now, at least, its task is clear: to develop the sort of knowledge that professionals in the financial sector will respect, and use it to argue the case for the imposition of the checks and balances that will bring the City back in touch with some sort of moral code…
The Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod (GRAS) has published a table (the “Furlong Table”) showing how far the Church of England is from gender equality in 2000, 2005 and now 2010.
The 2010 table is below the fold, and below is the accompanying press release giving an explanation and GRAS’s commentary on the figures.
PRESS RELEASE 9.45am
THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2011
GRAS (GROUP FOR RESCINDING THE ACT OF SYNOD)
The Furlong Table 2010
Figures show that The Church of the England is a Third of the way to Gender Equality
The Furlong Table was first produced for GRAS, and is named in honour of the late Monica Furlong, who first suggested that these statistics be gathered. The table uses official Church of England statistics and published data. It combines the percentage of women employed as clergy in each diocese with a score indicating the percentage of women in senior posts. The first table was published in 2000, with an update in 2005. The 2010 statistics have just become available, and so we can now reveal movement in women’s employment and deployment in the Church of England over a full decade, from 2000 to 2010.
A perfect score in this table would be 100, representing 50% of senior clergy and 50% of all other full time stipendiary clergy in a diocese being female.
On average, the Church of England is a third of the way to gender equality: the average score across all dioceses is 34.9. This remains disappointing, but is a significant improvement on the position in 2005, when the average score was 25.8. Since 2000 the average score has nearly doubled, from 18.6 to 34.9, so things are moving in the right direction.
The top-scoring diocese in 2010 was St.Edmundsbury & Ipswich. Their score of 60.7 represents them being nearly two thirds of the way to gender equality, and a more than doubling of their score (up 117%) from 2005.
Most dioceses have improved their scores from 2005. Winchester, the most improved diocese, has increased its score by 135% from 13.5 to 31.8.
Five other dioceses can be congratulated on over 100% improvement: Canterbury, Birmingham, Exeter, Portsmouth and (from a very low starting point!) Chichester.
There are signs of some complacency amongst dioceses that were highly ranked in 2005. Oxford, which topped the table in 2005, has increased its score by a respectable 15%, but the 2nd and 3rd ranked in 2005, St.Albans and Ely, have each improved by less than 1%.
As the Church of England moves towards the final vote on women bishops in July 2012, these figures confirm that there is a great pool of untapped talent among the female clergy.
The diocesan synod of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich has debated the Anglican Covenant, and voted against the motion put to it by the General Synod, i.e.
“That this Synod approve the draft Act of Synod adopting the Anglican Communion Covenant”.
The voting was as follows:
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 9 29 4 Laity 8 33 9
The papers provided in advance for this debate can be found here.
More details of the meeting will be posted on the diocesan website soon.
4 CommentsUpdated again Monday evening
A High Court judge has ruled that a Roman Catholic bishop may be held vicariously liable for the acts of one of his priests, even though the priest is an office holder rather than an employee. There are reports that the ruling will be appealed.*
The full text of the judgment is available here (PDF).
A good explanation of the case by Adam Wagner at UK HumanRights Blog Bishop can be vicariously liable for priest’s sex abuse, rules High Court
Press reports:
Guardian Riazat Butt Catholic church can be held responsible for wrongdoing by priests
BBC High Court rules Catholic Church liable over priests
Independent Jerome Taylor Catholic church liable over priests
Channel 4 News Catholic church liable for priests charged with abuse
Updates
Neil Addison has written about this case at Religion Law Blog under the headline Catholic Bishops and Vicarious Liability for Priests.
The RC Bishop of Portsmouth, Crispian Hollis, issued a statement, available here as a PDF, or over here, which inter alia made clear that no decision had yet been taken about whether or not to appeal this decision.
27 CommentsUpdated again Thursday morning
The Guardian has published a news report by Riazat Butt concerning an article published on 28 October in the Church of England Newspaper.
Anglican newspaper defends ‘Gaystapo’ article.
An Anglican newspaper has defended the publication of an article that compares gay rights campaigners to Nazis, saying the author has “pertinent views”.
The column, by former east London councillor Alan Craig, appeared in the 28 October edition of the Church of England Newspaper, one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Although it is independent of the institution bearing the same name, it carries adverts for Church of England jobs and is read by its clergy…
The full text of the original article can be found here.
Although the formatting is hard to decipher, you can see some of the CEN letters to the editor which are referred to in the article, by going here.
See also this article on the Anglican Mainstream website, whose trustees etc. are listed here. This extract from the article by Alan Craig is not linked or credited to the CEN.
Updates
Alan Wilson has written at Cif belief Hitler and the ‘Gaystapo’ have no place in gay rights debate
Nick Baines has written Allo Allo?
50 CommentsThe report from St Paul’s Institute that was recently delayed is now published.
See Value and Values: Perceptions of Ethics in the City Today
Download the full report from here. (PDF, 1.6 Mb)
From the press release:
Professionals in the Financial Services sector believe that City bond traders, FTSE Chief Executives and stock brokers are paid too much, teachers are paid too little and that there is too great a gap between rich and poor in the UK, according to a survey carried out by ComRes on behalf of St Paul’s Institute.
Marking the 25th anniversary of the financial ‘Big Bang’, the survey also indicates that the majority of Financial Services professionals do not know that the London Stock Exchange’s motto is ‘My Word is My Bond’ and many think that deregulation of financial markets results in less ethical behaviour…
From the Notes:
3 CommentsBecause the report was completed preceding the Occupy London encampment outside the cathedral it makes no mention of it and contains contributions from both the former Dean and Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral. We are releasing the report in its original and unaltered form. The report was always intended to help develop a context for serious engagement that moves beyond colloquialisms about the financial sector and towards an understanding of true opinion and the culture of ethics in the City today.
Independent Matt Thomas, Brian Brady We are paid too much, bankers confess in St Paul’s survey
Mail Jonathan Petre and Lawrie Holmes St Paul’s Cathedral funded by 80 wealthy City asset-strippers
Yorkshire Post John Sentamu Our unequal, unjust society… the richest are getting richer and the poorest lose all hope
Telegraph Ken Costa St Paul’s initiative: ‘It’s time for radical change’
Joan Bakewell My verdict on the St Paul’s protest
Observer Yvonne Roberts Is capitalism broken… and what is the world going to do to fix it?
Guardian Richard Coles St Paul’s, the church’s reality check
4 CommentsThe report below will be updated as more details become available.
Updated Sunday evening to add Derby votes, and again to correct the bishops’ votes and to add to the Chester details.
Updated Wednesday morning to add Coventry breakdown from WATCH website and Derby abstentions and Bradford votes and following motions.
Updated Wednesday evening to correct Coventry breakdown.
Updated again Wednesday evening to clarify what actually happened to the following motion at Coventry
Updated Sunday 13 November to add link to updated Coventry press release.
Bradford, Chester, Coventry, Derby, and Lincoln diocesan synods debated the draft legislation to allow women bishops yesterday. In each case the main motion was
That this Synod approve the proposals embodied in the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure and in Amending Canon No 30.
1) Bradford passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 1 0 0 Clergy 22 9 1 Laity 22 14 3
The synod also passed two following motions.
This Synod desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the C of E and therefore calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) measure to ensure that those unable on theological grounds to accept the ministry of woman bishops are able to receive episcopal oversight from a bishop with authority (ie ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the Measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop
voting: for 41; against 18; abstentions 5
This Synod deplores the exemption in the Measure from the Equalities Act, and requests the HoB to produce a Code of Practice or other measure which does not require the Cof E to continue legal discrimination against women
voting; for 51; against 4; abstentions 12
Our correspondent points out that these two motions are incompatible.
2) Chester passed the main motion in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 2 Clergy 46 21 3 Laity 50 15 3
This following motion
This Synod
1. Desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England; and therefore request the General Synod to debate a motion in the following form:
“That this synod [ie the General Synod] call upon the House of Bishops, in exercise of its powers under standing order 60(b), to amend the draft Bishops and Priests[Consecration and Ordination of Women] Measure in the manner propose by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York at the Revision Stage for the draft Measure
was voted on by houses, and failed because the vote was tied in the house of laity.
Details are on the diocesan website.
3) Coventry has issued this press release. This gives the votes on the main motion as 71 votes in favour, 6 votes against, 5 abstentions, but there is no breakdown by houses.
Coventry has issued (on 13 November) an updated version of the press release with full details of the votes in each house on the main motion.
WATCH gives this breakdown by houses, but there is clearly a mistake somewhere as the total of votes in favour is only 47.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 35 2 4 Laity 34 4 1
There was extensive debate on a following motion, to which an amendment was proposed. The amended motion eventually read as follows:
This Synod:
• Desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England;
• And supports efforts being made by the Diocese to achieve reconciliation; and therefore,
• Calls upon the House of Bishops to ensure that sufficient provision is made within the Code of Practice for those who cannot in conscience agree with the Measure.
• Calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that those unable on theological grounds to accept the ministry of women bishops are able to receive episcopal oversight from the bishop with authority (i.e. ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the Measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop
Each of the four sections was voted upon separately.
The first three were carried by substantial majorities. The fourth one was rejected: 17 votes in favour, 58 votes against, 3 abstentions.
There were two following motions
This Synod:
• Desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England;
• And supports efforts being made by the Diocese to achieve reconciliation; and therefore,
• Calls upon the House of Bishops to ensure that sufficient provision is made within the Code of Practice for those who cannot in conscience agree with the Measure.
was carried by a substantial majority.
This Synod calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that those unable on theological grounds to accept the ministry of women bishops are able to receive episcopal oversight from the bishop with authority (i.e. ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the Measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop.
was rejected: 17 votes in favour, 58 votes against, 3 abstentions.
4) Derby passed the main motion.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 18 7 1 Laity 27 10 3
The CEEC following motion was defeated.
That this Synod
1. Desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England; and therefore
2. Calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that those unable, on theological grounds, to accept the ministry of Women Bishops are able to receive episcopal oversight from a Bishop with authority (i.e. ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the Measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 0 2 Clergy 8 18 Laity 12 27
5) At Lincoln the main motion in favour of the legislation was passed in all three houses.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 2 0 0 Clergy 39 9 3 Laity 40 5 2
There were two following motions, which were both defeated.
This Synod
1. Desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England; and therefore
2. Calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that those unable on theological grounds to accept the ministry of women bishops are able to receive Episcopal oversight from a bishop with authority (ie ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 0 1 1 Clergy 18 27 5 Laity 13 38 4
This Synod calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that the Measure contains only a single clause permitting the ordination of women to the episcopate in the Church of England.
For Against Abstentions Bishops 0 1 1 Clergy 5 38 8 Laity 3 41 10
The diocese has issued a press release.
18 CommentsKeith Ward writes in The Guardian that Religion answers the factual questions science neglects.
Also in The Guardian Theo Hobson writes An uncertain calling and asks “Should I dismiss my many doubts about ordination, or just keep shouting from the sidelines?”
Pierre Whalon writes for The Huffington Post about The Halloween Horror: One Year Since Baghdad Cathedral Attack.
Deirdre Good writes for the Daily Episcopalian about Jesus and Abba.
12 CommentsTwo reports from New Zealand:
AnglicanTaonga Maori quash Anglican Covenant
The Anglican Covenant is all but dead in the water as far as this church is concerned. This follows a crucial vote by Tikanga Maori at its biennial runanganui in Ohinemutu today.
The Covenant will still come before General Synod in July, but a decision to accept it requires a majority vote in all three houses – lay, clergy and bishops – and by all three tikanga.
Today’s runanganui decision effectively binds all Maori representatives on General Synod to say no…
Bosco Peters writes at Liturgy Maori reject Anglican Covenant
13 CommentsIn order for people to understand the significance of this news, you need to comprehend the decision-making processes of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Like other Anglican Churches, a decision made (for example at General Synod) needs the agreement of all three houses – bishops, clergy, laity. But in our Church, at General Synod level, it also needs the agreement of all three Tikanga (cultural streams)…
Today’s Church Times has extensive coverage, some of which will not be available to non-subscribers until next week.
Ed Thornton Dean goes, Chartres steps in, as St Paul’s turns 180 degrees
Also Cameron comes out in support of Dr Williams
And scroll down that page for Ed Beavan Protesters are tired but sympathetic.
Giles Fraser Sitting on a fault-line at St Paul’s
Leader St Paul’s: going in the right direction
There is also comment elsewhere:
Economist Bells and yells
Telegraph Martin Beckford, and Victoria Ward Giles Fraser: Church risks being ‘spiritual arm of heritage industry’
And Nick Baines has written Playing the game.
9 CommentsWe have previously reported on the proposals of the Dioceses Commission on the four Yorkshire dioceses of Bradford, Ripon & Leeds, Sheffield and Wakefield, and their boundaries with the Diocese of York in July and last December.
The Dioceses Commission has now begun the formal consultation phase of its proposals for the Yorkshire dioceses with the publication of a Draft Dioceses of Bradford, Ripon and Leeds and Wakefield Reorganisation Scheme. The Commission’s report, draft scheme and associated documents can be read at www.diocom.org/yorkshire.
There is also this press release, Formal consultation begins on reorganisation of West Yorkshire dioceses, which is copied below the fold.
5 CommentsAmended Monday morning
The Government Equalities Office has published its response to the consultation held on this subject. The written ministerial statement is recorded here.
The document includes a copy of the draft regulations which will be laid before parliament shortly.
Download the full document via this link (PDF 776k)
Note The document published at the above link on 2 November was replaced by a revised version on 4 November. The GEO press office has confirmed that this was to correct a minor error.
From the Introduction:
1.1 Following a listening exercise held last year by Lynne Featherstone MP, Minister for Equalities, with a range of faith and lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) groups, the Government announced on 17 February 2011 its intention to remove the legal barrier to civil partnerships being registered on religious premises by implementing section 202 of the Equality Act 2010.
1.2 Making this change will allow those religious organisations that wish to do so to host civil partnership registrations on their religious premises. This voluntary provision is a positive step forward for both LGB rights and religious freedom.
1.3 The Government published a consultation document on 31 March 2011, seeking views on the practical arrangements necessary to implement this change. The consultation ran until June 23 2011. This document provides a summary of the responses received during the consultation.
1.4 1,617 responses to the consultation were received. Of these, 343 responses were on the official pro forma which addressed each question in turn and 1,274 were responses by email or letter. Of those submitting the official pro forma, 145 were from organisations and 198 from individuals.
1.5 All responses were gratefully received and individually considered by the Government Equalities Office.
1.6 A copy of the draft regulations to implement the proposals consulted on is included as part of this document and reflects the many useful and constructive responses received during the consultation period. These regulations will be laid before Parliament shortly so that they are able to come into force by the end of 2011, subject to the will of Parliament…
The official Church of England response to the consultation was reported previously, see Registration of Civil Partnerships in Religious Premises from June.
At that time, the official press release said:
“That means that there needs to be an ‘opting in’ mechanism of the kind that the Government has proposed. In the case of the Church of England that would mean that its churches would not be able to become approved premises for the registration of civil partnerships until and unless the General Synod had first decided as a matter of policy that that should be possible.”
Yesterday the following official Church of England response was issued:
We will study the draft regulations as a matter of urgency to check that they deliver the firm assurances that have been given to us and others that the new arrangements will operate by way of denominational opt-in. If Ministers have delivered what they said they would in terms of genuine religious freedom, we would have no reason to oppose the regulations. The House of Bishops’ statement of July 2005 made it clear that the Church of England should not provide services of blessing for those who register civil partnerships and that remains the position. The Church of England has no intention of allowing Civil Partnerships to be registered in its churches.
The Church of England website has this page: Civil Partnerships.
20 CommentsIn addition to the piece already linked below, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Time for us to challenge the idols of high finance, here are some more articles on the economic issues involved. (h/t Fulcrum)
Ken Costa wrote in the Financial Times about Why the City should heed the discordant voices of St Paul’s. An edited version is available here..
Luke Bretherton wrote The Real Battle of St Paul’s Cathedral: The Occupy Movement and Millennial Politics.
And we linked here earlier to Occupy London is a nursery for the mind by Madeleine Bunting.
In addition to those recommendations, today there is also:
Jonathan Bartley Occupy LSX and the Church: Why the danger isn’t over
And for some other comments, see also:
Dan Milmo Occupy protesters should target governments not City, LSE chairman says
Sunny Hundal The Church of England should be a natural ally for Occupy protesters
Alan Green Outside St Paul’s Cathedral sits a mess, but it’s a holy mess
2 CommentsGuardian
Alan Rusbridger St Paul’s seeks new direction and suspends legal action
Editorial St Paul’s protests: faith in the City
Peter Walker St Paul’s and Corporation of London halt legal action against Occupy camp
Stephen Bates Big tent church: clerics across England lean on side of the angels
Riazat Butt What do clergy who have resigned do next?
Telegraph
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams calls for new tax on bankers
George Pitcher Murdering St Paul’s Cathedral
3 CommentsLambeth Palace has published the full text of an article written for the Financial Times by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
See Time for us to challenge the idols of high finance.
7 CommentsIt’s sometimes been said in recent years that the Church of England is still used by British society as a sort of stage on which to conduct by proxy the arguments that society itself doesn’t know how to handle. It certainly helps to explain the obsessional interest in what the Church has to say about issues of sex and gender. It may help to explain just what has been going on around St Paul’s Cathedral in the last couple of weeks.
The protest at St Paul’s was seen by an unexpectedly large number of people as the expression of a widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment that shows no sign at all of diminishing. There is still a powerful sense around – fair or not – of a whole society paying for the errors and irresponsibility of bankers; of messages not getting through; of impatience with a return to ‘business as usual’ – represented by still soaring bonuses and little visible change in banking practices.
So it was not surprising that initial reactions to what was happening at St Paul’s and to the welcome offered by the Cathedral were quite sympathetic. Here were people – protesters and clergy too, it seemed – saying on our behalf that ‘something must be done’. A marker had been put down, though, comfortingly, not in a way that made any very specific demands.
The cataract of unintended consequences that followed has been dramatic. The Cathedral found itself trapped between what must have looked like equally unpleasant alternative courses of action. Two outstandingly gifted clergy have resigned. The Chapter has now decided against legal action. Everyone has been able to be wise after the event and to pour scorn on the Cathedral in particular and the Church of England in general for failing to know how to square the circle of public interest and public protest….