Update 1: Synod members reading this might like to note that the deadline for the submission of questions is a week earlier than normal; it is 12 noon on Wednesday 19 June 2019.
Update 2 [18 June]: More online papers linked
Update 3 [21 June]: More online papers linked
Update 4 [3 July]: Link to Questions notice paper added.
Update 5 [5 July]: Links to more notice papers added
Update 6 [7 July]: links to more notice papers added
Update 7 [8 July]: links to more notice papers added
Update 8 [8 July]: link to The Archbishops’ Council Annual Report added
Update 9 [9 July]: link to second mailing zip file and final order paper added
The first batch of papers for next month’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod are now available online. The remaining papers will be issued on 21 June and I will add links when these become available.
Papers with a note of the day scheduled for their consideration are listed below the fold. Synod meets from Friday 5 to Tuesday 9 July in York.
The Agenda is here and the Report by the Business Committee (Guide to the July 2019 group of sessions) is here.
Timetable
[This is a revised version of the timetable originally noted here.]
First mailing .zip file
Second mailing .zip file
Sue Wallace Precentor Sue Smoke – Part 1
Smoke – Part 2
“In this Pentecostal time of year it seemed a really good time to talk about incense, which seems to me to be a bit like the Marmite (you either love it or you hate it!) of the liturgical world!”
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church A Church that cares for Survivors?
Michael Fitzpatrick The Episcopal Café False Gospels?
“Many of my fellow Anglicans do not seem as excited as I am about the upcoming Lambeth Conference…”
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Safeguarding in the Churches. Dreams for the future
Unity and conservative Christian groups
David Gillett ViaMedia.News Does the Bible Really Say that….Same-Sex Love is Wrong?
Giles Fraser UnHerd In praise of incompetence
“To be a priest is to be a failure”
and in response Jeremy Pemberton From the Choir Stalls In Praise of Method and Application
Jeremy Pemberton Openly The Anglican Communion must act against the Church of Nigeria’s homophobia
Jonathan Clatworthy Château Clâteau The biblical power of the moon
2 CommentsStephen Parsons Surviving Church Patronage and Power Abuse in the Church
Michael Roberts Peddling and Scaling God and Darwin The Church of England and Creationism.
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Holding the House of Bishops to account – Sara Gillingham’s challenge
Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Speaking of LLF (Living in love and faith)
Martyn Percy ViaMedia.News Does the Bible Really…Give Us a Clear Definition of Marriage?
Richard Peers Quodcumque – Serious Christianity Inclusive, Expanded … He, She … – what language should we use about God in our worship?
50 CommentsHelen King sharedconversations Intersex in history
Janet Fife Surviving Church Coming to terms with the Bible
Richard Peers Quodcumque – Serious Christianity My story: 25th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women – to live is to change.
Elaine Bielby Diocese of York Twenty-Five years of women as priests in the Diocese of York
Three of the 39 women who were ordained priest in York Minster in May 1994 write about their memories of the day .
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love I repeat: The Church of England is systemically abusive
David Pocklington Law & Religion UK Different perspectives of the CDM
25 CommentsColin Coward Unadulterated Love Bishops and conservatives meet in secret to reinforce the abuse of LGBTI+ people
[see below for the background to this]
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Photo exhibition celebrates 25 years of female priests
“Images of 12 women from Southwark diocese capture variety of a priest’s work”
Bosco Peters Liturgy Children in Church
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Wittgenstein’s ideas and the Bible. Some reflections
and Communication speak and the House of Bishops
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love A Christian Vision of Seamless Reality
Meg Warner ViaMedia.News Does the Bible Really Say…that Sex Outside of Marriage is Wrong?
37 CommentsUpdate: An updated version of this timetable was issued on 14 June 2019.
The Business Committee of General Synod has today published the agenda for the July Group of Sessions in York.
The published information can be read here and is copied in full below the fold.
0 CommentsJayne Ozanne ViaMedia.News Unity – Has it Become a Golden Calf?
Laudable Practice Trad Expressions™: Why High Church is Contemporary
Samuel Keyes The Living Church Tradition for Teens
Jemma Sander-Heys Church Times Life by the sea is not all recreation and run
“Coastal communities face particular challenges, and politicians and churches must tackle them”
ViaMedia.News starts a new series of posts (one a week) on “Does the Bible Really Say….?” with this:
Jonathan Tallon Does the Bible Really Say…Anything at All about Homosexuality as we Understand it Today?
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love A philosophy and vision for parish ministry, then and now
and Interior reflections of a priest
Peter Carrell Anglican Down Under So, who is an Anglican??
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church Bishop Faull on Twitter. Message to Survivors?
Marion Clutterbuck Women and the Church Twenty-five years on; reflections on ministry
These are some memories of one of the women from Chichester diocese, who was ordained in 1994
Jon White The Episcopal Café Churches continue to defy demands for accountability
21 CommentsRodie Garland Church Times Mental health needs communities
“More funding is welcome — but churches still have a part to play”
Marcus Green The Campaign For Equal Marriage in the Church of England Ribs to Go
“the use of Genesis 1 in the discussions about marriage”
Stephen Parsons Surviving Church IICSA on Chichester – some comments
Richard Peers Quodcumque – Serious Christianity Safeguarding in the Church: have we got a mental block?
41 CommentsJeremy Pemberton Thomson Reuters How will the Church of England respond to heterosexual civil partnerships?
“It isn’t clear if Church of England will agree to bless heterosexual civil partnerships officially, but not homosexual ones”
Edward Siddons interviews Andrew Foreshew-Cain for The Guardian: The rebel priest: ‘Gay people in the church are not going to go away’
“The Rev Andrew Foreshew-Cain says his same-sex marriage cost him his ministry. Now he is launching a campaign for the rights of LGBTQ Christians”
Giles Fraser UnHerd Where did the Church’s land go?
“The C of E hasn’t covered itself in glory when it comes to land management”
Rosie Harper and Alan Wilson ViaMedia.News Safeguarding & Survival Systems – Loyalty vs Trust
7 Comments
10 Downing Street has announced that Sarah Bullock, Archdeacon of York in the Diocese of York, is to be the next Bishop of Shrewsbury in the diocese of Lichfield.
The Queen has approved the nomination of The Venerable Sarah Ruth Bullock, BA, Archdeacon of York in the Diocese of York, to the Suffragan See of Shrewsbury, in the Diocese of Lichfield, in succession to the Right Reverend Mark Rylands, MA who resigned on 31st July 2018.
Background
Sarah was educated at Surrey University and she trained for ministry at Cranmer Hall, Durham. She served her title at St Paul, Kersal Moor in the Diocese of Manchester and was ordained Priest in 1994.
Sarah was appointed Priest-in-Charge of St Edmund, Whalley Range in 1998 and later additionally became Priest-in-Charge of St James with St Clement, Moss Side in 1999, before becoming Rector of the joint benefice in 2004. She also held the role of Diocesan Vocations Adviser from 1998 until 2005. Sarah was made an Honorary Canon of Manchester Cathedral in 2007, and took on the additional roles of Bishop’s Adviser for Women’s Ministry in 2009, Borough Dean for the City and Borough of Manchester in 2010 and Area Dean of Hulme in 2012. In 2013, Sarah was appointed Archdeacon of York.
The diocese of Lichfield website carries this story here.
8 CommentsWomen and the Church Twenty-five years on; reflections on ministry
“Did I have a cure of souls?” — memories of one of the woman who were ordained in the diocese of Winchester on 24 April 1994
Andrew Foreshew-Cain ViaMedia.News Integrity, Compromise & the Church of England
Catherine Haydon A Blaze of Light Always Lent, Never Easter
Damon Rose BBC Stop trying to ‘heal’ me
Ines Hands Church Times Liturgy is an anchor — don’t brush it aside
“Parishes that have dispensed with centuries of tradition need to consider what is being lost”
Church Times ‘Sex is irrelevant to this office’
Fifty years ago this month, it became possible for women to be Readers. Some describe the journey
The Church in Wales announced yesterday that the Bishop of Monmouth, the Rt Revd Richard Pain, was to retire at the end of the month, ie yesterday. Bishop Richard has served the Diocese of Monmouth for 34 years, the last six as Bishop. He is retiring “due to ill health following an absence of several months from his duties”.
The South Wales Argus published this report of the bishop’s retirement: The Bishop of Monmouth, Richard Pain, has retired following nine-month absence. It includes links to earlier stories about his prolonged absence from duties.
The Church Times published this back in January: An end to Bishop of Monmouth’s long absence may be in sight.
4 CommentsNews from the Diocese of Chichester
Bishop of Horsham to be Principal of the College of the Resurrection
The Bishop of Horsham, The Right Reverend Mark Sowerby, has been appointed as the new Principal of the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
Bishop Sowerby, who has been a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chichester since 2009, will be returning as Principal to the College where he was a student…
Former Student Returns as Principal
Bishop Mark Sowerby is to be the next Principal of the College of the Resurrection in succession to Fr Peter Allan CR, who will retire at the end of the academic year. With his wife, Ruth, he will move to Mirfield from the Diocese of Chichester, where he has been Bishop of Horsham since 2009.
Bishop Mark, who has three adult daughters, is no stranger to the north nor, indeed, to Mirfield. Born in Ripon, he trained for ordination at the College of the Resurrection, served his first curacy in Knaresborough, and after several years in the Blackburn Diocese, spent eight years at St Wilfrid’s, Harrogate. From 1997-2001, Bishop Mark served as the Church of England’s Vocations Officer and as a Selection Secretary for the Ministry Division. More recently he has chaired the national Safeguarding Training Working Group…
Christian Today reports the news: Mark Sowerby to become principal of the College of the Resurrection after 10 years as Bishop of Horsham.
3 CommentsTerence Chandra The Living Church We Can’t Just Rebuild
Richard Beck Experimental Theology Heresy as Therapy
Trevor Thurston-Smith The Pensive Pilgrim ‘Jesus the Loser : A Theology of Failure’
Church Times ‘The Bible is not a paper Pope’
Katharine Dell interviews her Ph.D. supervisor, John Barton, about the Church’s wrestling with scripture
Chair of the York Crown Nominations Commission: 25 April 2019
Prime Minister appoints Joëlle Warren, MBE, DL as Chair of the York Crown Nominations Commission.
Published 25 April 2019
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
The Prime Minister has appointed Joëlle Warren, MBE, DL as Chair of the York Crown Nominations Commission.
Joëlle Warren serves as Her Majesty’s Vice Lord-Lieutenant for Cheshire, Chair of Cheshire Community Foundation, and served 10 years on the Board of Manchester Metropolitan University, latterly as Vice Chair. She began her business career in banking before founding the executive search firm, Warren Partners, in 1999. She is a Member of the North West Business Leadership Team and the CBI’s Enterprise Forum. Joëlle is actively involved in her local church and in wider work for the Church of England nationally.
Joëlle was appointed MBE in January 2016 for her Services to Business.
The Crown Nominations Commission was established by the Church of England’s General Synod in February 1977. Its function is to nominate new Diocesan Bishops for appointment by The Queen. In the case of appointments to the Archbishoprics of Canterbury and York, the Commission is chaired by an independent person who is a communicant member of the Church of England and not ordained. For the appointment of the Archbishop of York it is a requirement that the Chair should be resident in the Northern Province.
16 CommentsThe Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Dr Peter Forster, has announced that he will be retiring from his role on Monday 30 September 2019, after more than 22 years in the post.
More details are on the diocesan website.
16 CommentsJanet Fife Surviving Church Discerning: Evil and Good
“Janet Fife writes on 25 years of women’s ordination”
Nicholas Chamberlain ViaMedia.News Breaking the Silence
John Barton The Guardian Notre Dame reminds us how the Bible stories have shaped our civilisation
“Great cathedrals and the gospels stand for so much more than religion – evoking human endurance and a quest for beauty”
Ania G Wieckowski Harvard Business Review Life’s Work: An Interview with Bishop Michael Curry
3 CommentsStephen Cherry Church Times When you can’t forgive
“The Easter gospel does not mean that every victim has a duty to let bygones be bygones”
Ian Ellis Belfast News Letter If churches don’t resolve millennium-old dispute on an Easter date, governments may do it for us
Some Easter messages
Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Wales
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Archbishops of Armagh
Bishop of Liverpool [2 minute video]
Bishop of Warrington
Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem
Archbishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Archbishop of Melbourne
Archbishop of Canada
Archbishop of South Sudan