Appointment of the Dean of Christ Church
Update
Press release from Christ Church Appointment of first female Dean of Christ Church the Rev Canon Professor Sarah Foot
Press release from the Diocese of Oxford Appointment of first female Dean of Christ Church
Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office
Appointment of the Dean of Christ Church: 16 March 2023
The King has approved that The Reverend Canon Sarah Foot be appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, from 1st July 2023.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 16 March 2023
The King has approved that The Reverend Canon Sarah Foot, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Oxford, be appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford from 1st July 2023 in succession to the Very Reverend Martyn Percy.
Background
Canon Professor Foot has been the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford since 2007. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge (BA; MA; PhD), served as a Lay Canon at Christ Church from 2007-2017, and as a Residentiary Canon since her ordination in 2017.
Previously, Professor Foot was a Research Fellow then Fellow and Tutor at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 1989-93, then successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Sheffield 1993-2007, where she was Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts 2005-7.
She served as Chair of the Board of Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford University 2011-14. She writes on women in religion, medieval monasticism, and the early history of the Church in England, and is currently working on a study of the life and work of the Venerable Bede.
45 CommentsLLF Next Steps Group meeting on 3 March 2023
Press release from the Church of England
LLF Next Steps Group meeting on 3 March 2023
14/03/2023
The meeting appraised and reviewed the outcomes of the Living in Love and Faith debate and motion passed at General Synod in February and considered the scope of work required between now and the next General Synod in July 2023.
The Next Steps Group then considered and refined the agenda of the forthcoming College of Bishops meeting at the end of March. They noted that it will be important for the bishops to listen to the feedback from General Synod, the response of the wider church to the decisions made, as well as to each other’s reflections before moving on to the consider how the work of drafting the Pastoral Guidance, providing pastoral reassurance, refining the Prayers of Love and Faith and establishing the Pastoral Consultative Group will be taken forward.
With the remit of the Next Steps group now having reached its conclusion, the bishops went on to discuss the necessary phases of work after the March College of Bishops and the composition of the working groups that will take forward the work that will need to be done for the July Synod.
The meeting ended in prayer.
1 CommentAppointment of Bishop of Bolton
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr Matthew Porter to the Suffragan See of Bolton, in the Diocese of Manchester.
Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more detail on the diocesan website.
Suffragan Bishop of Bolton: 15 March 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr. Matthew Porter to the Suffragan See of Bolton, in the Diocese of Manchester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 15 March 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Dr. Matthew Porter, Vicar of St Michael le Belfrey, in the Diocese of York to the Suffragan See of Bolton, in the Diocese of Manchester, in succession to The Right Reverend Mark Ashcroft following his retirement.
Background
Matthew holds degrees from the universities of Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield and Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, USA and trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served his title at Christ Church, Dore, in the Diocese of Sheffield, and was ordained priest in 1997. Matthew was appointed Vicar at St Chad’s, Woodseats in 2000 and additionally served as Director of Curate Training for the Diocese of Sheffield from 2005.
In 2009 Matthew was appointed Associate Minister at St Michael le Belfrey, in the Diocese of York, and has served as Vicar there since 2010. Additionally, Matthew has served on the boards of Cranmer Hall, Durham and St Hild College, Leeds, is an author, and was appointed as Honorary Chaplain to the Queen and then King in 2022.
10 CommentsLambeth Palace safeguarding redux
Since the SCIE report on Lambeth Palace Safeguarding was published on 28 February, there has been a series of news and comment articles about it. Our reporting of it has been a bit disjointed so for clarification here is a complete record.
Our original 28 February report is here: Lambeth Palace safeguarding audit published. We then published links to six other items in the Comments rather than by amending the original post. We also mentioned two of these in our Opinion roundup on 4 March. Here are all the links:
28 February Anglican Futures: Unbelievable!
28 February Premier Christian News: Welby’s attempts to create safe CofE culture ‘undermined’ through lack of consistency says audit
28 February Church Times: Abuse survivors unhappy with their treatment by Lambeth Palace, audit finds
2 March Jasvinda Sangera Independent Safeguarding Board: Response to SCIE Report on safeguarding practices into Lambeth Palace
3 March Stephen Parsons Surviving Church: Trying to be heard. How Lambeth Palace has let down the Abused in their search for Justice.
4 March The Times (£): Archbishops’ aide criticised for handling of Church of England sex abuse allegations
Now the Church Times has published two further articles (read the earlier one first, to make sense of them):
9 March Church Times: Abuse survivors criticise Bishop Urquhart’s appointment as Bishop to the Archbishops
10 March Church Times: Safeguarding not a responsibility of the Bishop to the Archbishops, Lambeth said
Here is the Lambeth Palace statement: Clarification from Lambeth Palace of current safeguarding arrangements following publication of SCIE report.
6 CommentsBishop of Sodor and Man to retire
The Right Reverend Peter Eagles, the Bishop of Sodor and Man, has announced that he is to retire from the role on 28 October 2023.
45 CommentsAppointment of Bishop of Huddersfield
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Madhu Smitha Prasadam, Chaplain of St Alban’s, Copenhagen, in the Diocese of Europe to the Suffragan See of Huddersfield, in the Diocese of Leeds.
Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office. There is more on the diocesan website.
Appointment of the Suffragan Bishop of Huddersfield: 8 March 2023
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 8 March 2023
The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Madhu Smitha Prasadam, Chaplain of St Alban’s, Copenhagen, in the Diocese of Europe to the Suffragan See of Huddersfield, in the Diocese of Leeds, in succession to The Right Reverend Dr Jonathan Gibbs following his appointment as Bishop of Rochester.
Background
Smitha was educated at Leeds University (College of Ripon and York St John) and trained for ministry at Queen’s College Birmingham. She served her title at St Paul, Blackheath in the Diocese of Birmingham, and was ordained Priest in 2004. She was the Vicar of St Paul, Hamstead in the Diocese of Birmingham from 2007 to 2018.
Smitha was appointed to her current role as Chaplain of St Alban’s, Copenhagen in the Diocese of Europe in 2018. She has additionally served as Canon on the Cathedral Chapter since 2021.
7 CommentsEvangelicals support the bishops’ LLF proposals
From the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England
Evangelical opinion on the bishops’ LLF proposals
The following letter from eighteen evangelicals was published in yesterday’s issue of the Church Times (3 March 2023 – https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/3-march/comment/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor).
The Equal Campaign approves. For far too long conservative evangelical organizations such as CEEC and the Church Society have claimed that only those who subscribe to their package of fundamentalist beliefs are entitled to call themselves evangelical. As the writers of the letter show, this is simply not the case.
The full text of the letter to the Church Times is copied below the fold.
27 CommentsACRJ issues second biannual report
press release 23/02/2023:
Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice releases Second Biannual Report
The Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice has released the second of its biannual Racial Justice reports.
Mandated to drive ‘significant cultural and structural change on issues of racial justice within the Church of England’, the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice (“ACRJ”), headed by The Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng, is charged with monitoring, holding to account and supporting the implementation of the forty-seven recommendations of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce which were laid out in the Taskforce’s comprehensive 2021 report From Lament to Action….
The remainder of the press release is copied below the fold. From another page:
In this, the second of the six reports the ACRJ will produce, we have reported on the work of the seven workstreams since the publication of the Spring 2022 report and on the progress of work on the five priority areas and the forty-seven recommendations identified in From Lament to Action.
The full text of the report is available here.
A report in the Church Times is available here: Lord Boateng: Church’s racial-justice progress is slow, despite accusations of haste
8 CommentsBishop of Carlisle announces plans to retire
The Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Rev James Newcome, has announced that he will retire at the end of August 2023.
56 CommentsBishop of Swindon to retire
The Rt Revd Dr Lee Rayfield, the Bishop of Swindon, has announced that he will retire on Sunday 30 April 2023.
8 CommentsLambeth Palace safeguarding audit published
Press release from Lambeth Palace:
Lambeth Palace publishes its Independent Safeguarding Audit from SCIE
The independent audit by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) of Lambeth Palace’s safeguarding arrangements has been published today.
The audit, which was conducted in March 2022, involved reviewing a wide range of documentation as well as talking to staff members and focus groups. The purpose was to gain a greater understanding of the policies and culture of safeguarding that exists at Lambeth Palace, the office and residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The SCIE audit was part of a national safeguarding audit programme covering Church of England dioceses, cathedrals and palaces, which is now complete. This national programme seeks to support safeguarding improvements across governance and leadership, organisational culture, policies and practice guidance, case-work, responsiveness to (and support of) victims and survivors of abuse, and recruitment and training, ensuring that all offices have the best possible practice in place….
full text of press release continues below the fold
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Independent Safeguarding Audit of Lambeth Palace can be read in full here: Independent Safeguarding Audit of Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace will be producing an action plan in response to the SCIE audit and the Independent Safeguarding Board report ‘Don’t Panic – Be Pastoral’, as well as the recommendations of the recent Church of England-wide Past Cases Review 2 project, in which Lambeth Palace participated. This will be published in due course.
In January Bishopthorpe Palace published its own Independent Safeguarding Audit from SCIE which can be found here.
25 CommentsWhat does CEEC want?
The Church of England Evangelical Council has published some new documents which give further detail on what it thinks should now happen in the Church of England.
John Dunnett, CEEC Director of Strategy and Operations sets out CEEC’s position in A Brief Overview of CEEC’s Position Post Living in Love and Faith.
Keeping Faith: Every Voice Matters is a 6 page PDF document in which:
CEEC calls on EVERY evangelical church, member and leader to:
share with your bishop(s) your dismay at the decision of the General Synod to ‘green light’ the bishops’ proposed Prayers of Love and Faith to affirm and celebrate relationships outside marriage between one man and one woman, which will often be sexually active
take appropriate actions in your context in response to this development
make sure that any action you take is known about within your local church and by CEEC (see next page for CEEC contact details)…
A slightly older document about “Writing to your bishop” has this:
Download our simple tips and ideas for your letter.
You can find the names and email addresses of all the bishops here.
February General Synod – electronic voting results
The electronic voting results from this month’s General Synod are now available online and are linked below.
LLF voting
The proposed amendments and the original motion from the LLF debate are in Order Paper V.
Final motion (as amended by 67) Item 11
Amendments to Item 11
Item 44
Item 45
Item 51
Item 52
Item 53
Item 54
Item 55
Item 56
Item 57
Item 58
Item 59
Item 60
Item 61
Item 62
Item 64
Item 65
Item 67
Item 68
Other electronic votes
Item 10 (motion on Cost of Living)
Item 69 (amendment to motion on Governance Review)
Item 502 (final approval of Amending Canon No. 42)
Item 506 (final approval of the Diocesan Stipends Funds (Amendment) Measure)
Item 514 (amendment to the Draft Diocesan Stipends Funds (Amendment) Measure)
Item 521 (amendment to the Draft Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure)
Item 523 (That clause 2 stand part of the Draft Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure)
Item 530 (amendment to the Draft Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure)
Safeguarding diocesan data 2019-21
New safeguarding data from a three-year period has been published by the Church of England today. The data is for new concerns and allegations reported to the Church in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and relates to all its work, not just to Church Officers. The reports range from concerns about possible risk to direct allegations of abuse. There is more detail in the press release.
6 CommentsBishop of Edmonton to become CEO of CUF
The Rt Revd Rob Wickham, the Bishop of Edmonton, has today been appointed the new Group Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund (CUF). He will take up the role of CEO on 10 July 2023.
There are announcements on the London diocesan website and the CUF website.
4 CommentsGSFA primates criticise Church of England
This statement was issued today by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches:
Statement of GSFA Primates on the CofE’s Decision regarding Blessing of Same Sex Unions.
That link above is to a .docx format file. Readers may find this PDF version more accessible.
The Anglican Communion Office has issued this response: Statement by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued this response: Lambeth Palace responds to GFSA statement. [text copied below the fold]
47 CommentsAfter LLF, what next?
Three separate items of interest have recently appeared:
- A video has been published by the Church of England Evangelical Council: New film released : ‘We love the Church of England’.
“…This film explores the case for differentiation in the event that the trajectory set by the February 2023 General Synod is followed through on in July (the next General Synod) or thereafter.”
- A statement has been issued by the Anglican Network in Europe: Alternative Episcopal Oversight: The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) and the Church of England (COE). As Law & Religion UK points out, this is a change from earlier statements.
The aim of this short document is to clarify how ANiE can serve churches and clergy in the Church of England, and to be clear about what we are unable to offer in this context.
- Fulcrum has published an article by Jonathan Chaplin which seeks to clarify various things that the House of Bishops left unclear: What the bishops might also have said.
LLF voting figures
Anglican Futures have published some comments on the voting on the LLF motion and amendments at General Synod this week: They Think It’s All Over…. Is It Now?. This includes a very helpful table showing the voting figures for each item. I have copied this below; click on the table for a larger version. The full text of the amendments and the original motion are in this notice paper.
There has been comment that the House of Bishops exercised some sort of veto by having votes by houses. But in nearly every case all three houses voted the same way. In four cases (53, 56, 60, 62) the House of Laity voted in favour whilst the other two houses voted against. But in all four the amendment would have been defeated even if the vote had been of the whole synod.
Voting lists, showing how each member of Synod voted, will be published in due course, and we will then publish an article linking to them.
52 CommentsReactions to Synod vote on LLF
Church Times Synod’s same-sex vote: first reactions
English bishops
Carlisle and Penrith
Chelmsford
Exeter, Crediton and Plymouth
Gloucester
Leicester
Lichfield
Oxford
Salisbury
Truro and St Germans
Warrington
York
Archbishop of Uganda
Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion
Gafcon
Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney
The Church of England Evangelical Council
Anglican Network in Europe
Charlie Bell All About Power: General Synod and the LLF Debate
Keith Sinclair CEEC: What’s next for Evangelicals in the Church of England
EQUAL (The Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England)
Ian Paul What exactly happened at Synod on the Prayers for Love and Faith?
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Anglicans angry at same-sex blessings question Justin Welby’s ‘fitness to lead’
81 CommentsLiving in Love and Faith
Updated to add press reports
General Synod completed its debate on Living in Love and Faith a short time ago after eight hours of debate. It passed the following motion.
That this Synod, recognising the commitment to learning and deep listening to God and to each other of the Living in Love and Faith process, and desiring with God’s help to journey together while acknowledging the different deeply held convictions within the Church:
(a) lament and repent of the failure of the Church to be welcoming to LGBTQI+ people and the harm that LGBTQI+ people have experienced and continue to experience in the life of the Church;
(b) recommit to our shared witness to God’s love for and acceptance of every person by continuing to embed the Pastoral Principles in our life together locally and nationally;
(c) commend the continued learning together enabled by the Living in Love and Faith process and resources in relation to identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage;
(d) welcome the decision of the House of Bishops to replace Issues in Human Sexuality with new pastoral guidance;
(e) welcome the response from the College of Bishops and look forward to the House of Bishops further refining, commending and issuing the Prayers of Love and Faith described in GS 2289 and its Annexes;
(f) invite the House of Bishops to monitor the Church’s use of and response to the Prayers of Love and Faith, once they have been commended and published, and to report back to Synod in five years’ time;
(g) endorse the decision of the College and House of Bishops not to propose any change to the doctrine of marriage, and their intention that the final version of the Prayers of Love and Faith should not be contrary to or indicative of a departure from the doctrine of the Church of England.
The voting was by houses.
Bishops: 36 in favour, 4 against, 2 recorded abstentions
Clergy: 111 in favour, 85 against, 3 recorded abstentions
Laity: 103 in favour, 92 against, 5 recorded abstentions
There is an official press release: Prayers for God’s blessing for same-sex couples take step forward after Synod debate.
Press reports
Church Times Bishops’ proposals to bless same-sex couples carried by Synod, despite sustained opposition
The Guardian Church of England votes in favour of blessings for same-sex unions
Telegraph Blessings for gay couples approved by Church of England for first time
Telegraph Church of England ostracised after it backs blessings for gay couples
BBC News Church of England backs plans to bless gay couples