The electronic voting results from this month’s General Synod are now available online and are linked below, with links to the order papers containing the relevant texts.
Electronic voting results
Inquiry into Allegations of Abuse within the Soul Survivor Network (Order Paper IV)
Living in Loving and Faith (Order Paper VII)
7 CommentsMorwenna Ludlow ViaMedia.News Celibacy and Conscience
Stephen Andrews The Living Church Wycliffe College and the Character of Anglicanism
Gavin Drake Church Abuse A look at Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell’s public “correction of the record”
140 CommentsThe Very Reverend Nicola Sullivan, Dean of Southwell, has announced her plans to retire later this year. Her last day at the Cathedral will be Sunday 29 September. Full details are on the Southwell Minster website.
3 CommentsFollowing today’s King’s Speech the Government released King’s Speech 2024: background briefing notes. Included in this is the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill. I have copied the relevant section of the briefing notes below the fold. The text of the 2015 Act is here.
26 CommentsPeter Carrell Anglican Down Under On Bible translations
Augustine Tanner-Ihm ViaMedia.News Where is the Colour? The CEEC Commissioning of Overseers: A Theological and Ecclesiological Critique
Joanne Woolway Grenfell Civil Society Safeguarding: How the Church of England is learning from past events
[This article is behind a paywall, but has been reproduced in full in a Church of England press release.]
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love The desolation of the Church of England
30 CommentsPress release from the Church of England
Meeting of the House of Bishops – July 2024
16/07/2024
The House of Bishops convened online on 15 July.
The House discussed the next steps for the LLF process following the motion passed by the General Synod earlier in the month, including plans for bishops to join the existing LLF Working Groups, form a new group to work on a bishops’ statement, and to explore the possibility of a residential meeting later in 2024.
They also considered how the Church can support and engage with the new Government, discussing the current strategic political challenges both in the UK and globally, and reviewing the #PrayYourPart election campaign.
The bishops passed votes to progress the implementation of a regional model for safeguarding and to review the Bishops’ regulations for Reader ministry, last updated 24 years ago. They also noted the annual report of the Standing Commission on the Five Guiding Principles.
2 CommentsUpdated to add two links below the Archbishop’s statement
The Ely CNC failed to nominate a bishop at its meeting last week. Details are in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement copied below. Readers may recall that the Carlisle CNC similarly failed to nominate a new bishop when it met last December.
Statement on Crown Nominations Commission process for next Bishop of Ely
15/07/2024
Very sadly, at the conclusion of a lengthy process of discernment, culminating in two days of interviews on 11 and 12 July, the Crown Nominations Commission considering the nomination of the next Bishop of Ely has not been able reach the level of consensus required to nominate a new Diocesan Bishop.
Over the course of the next months, the Crown Nominations Commission will need to reflect, and make a decision about which stage it wishes to re-commence the discernment process. This is not likely to be before the Spring of 2025. Together with the Archbishop of York and others, there will also need to be a period of reflection on the implications of this decision on the Church of England more generally.
I will be speaking with Bishop Dagmar Winter, the Bishop of Huntingdon, in order to understand from her the best way of supporting the Diocese of Ely and her episcopal ministry in the coming months.
Please continue to hold the Diocese of Ely and the discernment of the Crown Nominations Commission in your prayers.
Background information
A Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) considers vacancies in Diocesan Bishoprics in the Provinces of Canterbury and York, and candidates for appointments to them.
Under the Standing Orders of the General Synod, a nomination cannot be made to the Crown to fill a vacant see unless it has received the support of at least two-thirds of the total number of the voting members of the Commission (10 out of 14) in a secret ballot.
The voting members of the Crown Nominations Commission for a vacant see are the two Archbishops (or a Diocesan Bishop acting on their behalf), 6 members elected from the Vacancy in See Committee of the Diocese and 6 ‘Central Members’ elected from the General Synod. The Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments and the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary are non-voting members of the Commission.
Church Times Questions asked after Crown Nominations Commission fails to agree next Bishop of Ely
Diocese of Ely An update on the next Bishop of Ely
127 CommentsTheo Hobson The Spectator The C of E needs to talk about sex
Helen King sharedconversations Milestone Day or Groundhog Day?
Nic Tall ViaMedia.News Cooking with Love and Faith
Hatty Calbus Surviving Church The Revitalise Trust and Safeguarding
Anon ViaMedia.News Persona non grata: an Unwelcoming Encounter at All Souls, Langham Place
114 CommentsSean Doherty ViaMedia.News Trust and Training
Phil Groves ViaMedia.News The Alliance and the Bishop of Oxford
Lorraine Cavanagh On Forgiving The Church
10 CommentsThis post will be updated as the meeting proceeds.
The Church of England’s General Synod is meeting this weekend. The timetable is here, the agenda is here and the papers are here.
Live video etc
All sessions are streamed live on YouTube and remain available to view afterwards. Links have been provided in advance.
There is an official X/Twitter account.
Official July 2024 list of members
Order papers
Business done
Official press releases
Press reports and comment
Church Times
Independent
The Guardian
89 CommentsThe Questions (and answers) for this weekend’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod were issued today. They can be found online here:
Questions will be taken on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. There are 221 questions, four fewer than at the last group of sessions.
2 CommentsGilo ViaMedia.News Beyond Jay: Here’s What the Response Group and Synod Need to Do for a Safer Church
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Which God?
27 CommentsUpdate I have added a statement from the lead safeguarding bishop below the fold.
Press release from the Church of England
Update from independent reviewer Keith Makin
02/07/2024
I can confirm that the representations process, as referenced in my last update on 14th May 2024, is progressing. Those named and criticised in the review report have been given the opportunity to comment on the extracts which are relevant to them. Once their responses have been received and considered and any amendments arising from this made, I will hand the report to the Archbishops’ Council for subsequent publication. This is unlikely to be until the end of the summer as my priority is to ensure that this final stage is carefully conducted, recognising the impact on all those affected. I confirm this will be done as soon as practically possible. At that point the date of publication will be decided by the Archbishops’ Council.
Support
Both the reviewers and the Church recognise that giving information to this review has the potential to be re-traumatising for victims and survivors. While support has previously been offered the NST has now secured the service of a specialist advocacy service. FearFree Support provides specialist support to victims and survivors of abuse, offering trauma informed and victim led bespoke support. Its director of services has identified an experienced independent advocate for victims and survivors to deliver this service and this information has been relayed to the survivors and victims.
Contact: kate.williams@fearfree.org.uk, mb 07442 968767/helpdesk 01225775276
There is an additional offer of therapeutic support for victims and survivors of Smyth from Yellow Door.
Yellow Door is an organisation that can offer evidence-based therapy to support victims and survivors of abuse and those that have experienced trauma.
Contact Yellow Door confidentially at reviewsupport@yellowdoor.org.uk.
Support for victims and survivors of other Church-related cases can be accessed here.
14 CommentsMartin Sewell Surviving Church The continuing Shambles of CofE Safeguarding
God Loves Women Guest Post: A Response to William Nye
[This refers to the two background papers GS 2361A and GS 2361B for a General Synod debate on reviewing abuse at Soul Survivor.]
Simon Friend ViaMedia.News Power Games: Redemptive Violence or Redemptive Love?
3 CommentsHelen King sharedconversations LLF: Moving Forward as One Church
Matthew Duckett Writing on the Walls of Nineveh Sermon for a Mass of Thanksgiving for a Civil Partnership
David W Congdon ViaMedia.News Essential Doctrines, Essential Hierarchies
David Runcorn Inclusive Evangelicals Is Genesis chapter 2 a definition of marriage?
Anon (on behalf of the Oxford Safe Churches team) ViaMedia.News Lovingly Hated
26 CommentsHelen King sharedconversations Removing the fiction: wrangling bishops
Susannah Clark ViaMedia.News The Whole of Who We Are
Giles Goddard ViaMedia.News Between Meaning and Despair: A Generous Faith
27 CommentsThe usual pre-Synod press release has been issued by the Church of England today and is copied below. Synod papers are available here and links will be added to my earlier post here.
Services for same-sex couples, independence in safeguarding, dignity of disabled children: Synod papers published
20/06/2024
Outline proposals on the wider use of prayers asking for God’s blessing for same-sex couples are published today ahead of the annual summer meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod in York next month.
Possible arrangements for the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith in standalone services alongside delegating episcopal ministry and a foundational work to provide a timetable towards a decision on clergy in same-sex civil marriages are also set out as part of broad package in outline proposals designed to help hold the Church together amid deep disagreements over questions of sexuality.
Prayers of Love and Faith are already in use as part of regular services in some churches such as a Sunday eucharist or evensong. But Synod will consider whether and how they might also be used as special services in their own right for a trial period as well as related questions.
The proposals are set out in papers detailing business for the upcoming meeting of Synod from July 5 to 9 at the University of York.
Legislation to be discussed includes first consideration of a measure to overhaul the Church of England’s national governance structures.
Synod will also have the opportunity to debate proposed models for greater independence in Church safeguarding. These follow independent reports by Prof Alexis Jay, the former chair of the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the barrister Sarah Wilkinson.
And members will scrutinise legislation to create a national redress scheme for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse.
There is also a private member’s motion calling for an inquiry into allegations of abuse and cover-up within the Soul Survivor network.
Synod will debate a motion brought by the Diocese of Liverpool on the human dignity of disabled children. The motion challenges the assumption that “bringing a disabled child into the world is a tragedy to be avoided” and calls for more support and advice for families during pregnancy and after birth.
The Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, the lead bishop for the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith process, said: “Working closely with people from across our different traditions and theological convictions over several months to develop these proposals I have been struck again and again by an enduring commitment to the unity of God’s church, even amid deep differences over questions of sexuality.
“There is much still to work out in detail but I believe these proposals provide an outline of how we might move forward together.
“It will require realism, give-and-take and a recognition that, as Christians, we hold a variety of views on these questions, all of which are held with integrity and all of which deserve respect.”
More information
Read papers and more information for the July 2024 General Synod Sessions in York
8 CommentsPress release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more on the diocesan website.
Appointment of Dean of Worcester: 17 June 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Dr Stephen Edwards, Interim Dean of Worcester, to be appointed as Dean of Worcester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 17 June 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Dr Stephen Edwards, Interim Dean of Worcester, to be appointed as Dean of Worcester in succession to The Very Reverend Peter Atkinson following his retirement.
Background
Stephen was educated at Lancaster University and trained for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge. He served his title in the parish of Colwyn Bay, in the Diocese of St Asaph, Wales and in 1997 he was ordained Priest. From 1999 he served as Priest-in-Charge of Bryn-y-Maen.
In 2002, Stephen was appointed Priest-in-Charge at St Agnes Birch-in-Rusholme, with St John with St Cyprian Longsight, in the Diocese of Manchester. From 2012 he served as Team Rector of Wythenshawe and in 2013 he was additionally appointed Area Dean, Withington.
In 2019 Stephen was appointed Residentiary Canon at Worcester Cathedral and he took up his current role as Interim Dean in 2023.
2 CommentsHelen King sharedconversations Transparency, trust and bishops
Neil Elliot NumbersMatter From Creation to Revelation: why seven is the most special number
Philip North Church Times It is time for a new deal for underpaid clergy
“A culture of low remuneration and overwork can be addressed only by more funding at a national level”
One of the papers just released for next month’s meeting of the General Sunod of the Church of England is this one. As a GS Misc paper it is provided for information and not for debate.
This is an interim report from the House of Bishops Transparency Group. There are four recommendations, listed below, which the covering page states have been approved by the House.
Recommendation 1:
Minutes of all meetings of the House of Bishops should be published on the relevant section of the Church of England website once they have been approved at the subsequent meeting. These should be minutes rather than transcripts.
Recommendation 2:
The House of Bishops will adopt a “maximum transparency” approach so that the analysis and information that the House has had to make decisions will be made available. In particular formal legal advice from the Legal Office or written advice from the Faith and Order Commission and other such groups should be provided to the General Synod as an annex to the relevant GS paper. The agenda for each House of Bishops meeting will be published with the circulation of papers. Papers to the House of Bishops should continue not to be published.
Recommendation 3:
The House of Bishops should continue to meet without public attendance, and should amend its standing orders to be honest that it is doing so, removing the fiction of public participation in Standing Order 13.
Recommendation 4:
The House of Bishops will propose changes to Canon H 3 and potentially other legislation to provide for acting diocesan bishops to vote at meetings of the House and General Synod. In advance of that chairs might ask acting diocesan bishops informally to indicate how they would have voted were they eligible to vote.