Butler-Coekin letter
A very belated posting. For previous posting on this topic see here.
The Diocese of Southwark website has Bishop’s letter re Rev Richard Coekin as a PDF file. The letter is dated 15 June. The full text is below the fold.
7 CommentsSunday newspapers
The Sunday Telegraph interviewed Christina Rees, Coming very soon… women bishops.
The same paper had a report by Jonathan Wynne-Jones headlined Liberals may split from Canterbury over homosexuals.
Both the BBC and the Independent report on Ben Bradshaw’s criticism of the Church of England.
Christopher Morgan in the Sunday Times reports that St Alban is holier than St George.
What Rowan Williams actually said about St Alban can be found here. Other pictures of the occasion can be found here and here.
Equally, a matter of orientation
Last week’s Church Times carried an article with this title. I didn’t write the title, but I did write the article. It is about the most recent proposals for further UK legislation concerning discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
The Church of England response which is discussed in the article can be found here (RTF format). The press release about it is here.
The original government consultation document is a PDF file. It is here.
Gluttons for punishment can read the Anglican Mainstream response, also briefly mentioned, here. On the other hand, for a sensible discussion of some of the serious practical issues, particularly with regard to schools, the LGCM response (PDF format) is interesting reading.
6 CommentsMonday in London
Two daily newspapers have published articles criticising the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In The Times Tim Hames wrote Beware the folly of clever men in power.
And in the Guardian Michael Hampson wrote The American way puts the Church of England to shame.
37 CommentsSt Albans: dean interviewed
Last week Rachel Harden of the Church Times interviewed the Dean of St Albans, Jeffrey John.
You can now read this here.
The sermon mentioned in the interview can be found here.
4 CommentsCoekin: evangelical support for Butler
Here is a letter supporting the Bishop of Southwark in the Coekin matter, signed by many evangelical clergy in his diocese.
CEN Andrew Carey has Clergy back Bishop Butler.
And Fulcrum has Reflections on the Process of Reconciliation Following the Coekin Case by Simon Cawdell.
0 CommentsVivienne Faull on women in ministry
In writing about women bishops, Jonathan Wynne-Jones said in the Sunday Telegraph that:
The fresh delay in drawing up legislation came after one of the Church’s most senior female clerics, the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, the Dean of Leicester, said that she would have felt unable to become a bishop under the plans that had been proposed.
The place where she said this was in this lecture (PDF format) given in both London and Oxford on 11/12 May. (Background on the lecture series here.)
The whole lecture should be read, but the quote comes from this part:
It seems to me that if women bishops are a theological innovation, TEA is a far greater ecclesiological innovation. Others have noted that we have for some time been very close to articulating theologies specifically rejected by the early church. The postmodern temptation to picking and choosing amongst bishops, the pre-modern ttemptation to see your bishop as tainted, surely need to be resisted. More prosaically, any diocesan bishop operating under TEA would find much of their energy absorbed by managing its complexity rather than strategic leadership. At a time of rapid change this inhibition could be critical.
I for one would find that inhibition made the office and work of a bishop impossible to perform.
The lecture also contains a wealth of statistics on women’s ministry as priests in the Church of England.
5 CommentsBBC Sunday item on Coekin
The bishop interviewed this time is Bishop Nick Baines, Suffragan of Croydon in Southwark diocese. Please note that Bishop Nick has impeccable evangelical credentials. His comments about Mr Coekin are extremely interesting.
The item is about 9 minutes in total, and starts about 20 minutes into this link. Better link from the BBC tomorrow.
9 CommentsWomen Bishops – more delay?
Jonathan Wynne-Jones in a Telegraph article Church leaders ‘back to square one’ as talks on women bishops fail writes:
The Church of England’s plans to allow women to become bishops are in disarray after its leaders failed to reach agreement on how to introduce the historic reform.
and
22 Commentsthe House of Bishops will ask next month’s General Synod for more time to work out a mechanism which they hope will prevent the Church from descending into civil war over the issue.
Coekin: Butler gives his view
The Face to Faith godslot in the Guardian is written by the Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler. His conclusion:
…We have yet to see how the new clergy discipline measure works in practice. There are cases in the pipeline in several dioceses but none has yet come to fruition. Bishops are concerned, however, that there is a danger that the new processes will dramatically change the nature of episcopal ministry. Typically, bishops prefer to intervene in a problem at an early stage, before matters become too serious. The pastoral and discipline roles of the bishop overlap through personal contact and discussion. Under the new measure the bishop has a formal role of judgment to exercise once the other processes have been completed. The advice is, therefore, for the bishop not to beome too involved at an early stage of a problem because he might prejudice himself from exercising his formal role later in the process. Yet solving problems at an early stage is what most bishops do best.
One must not overemphasise the difficulties. Most clergy most of the time in partnership with one another and with their bishop get on with the ministry of serving God and God’s world with dedication and commitment. They rarely trouble or are troubled by disciplinary measures old or new. But for the handful of cases needing to be handled, I think all bishops are going to be spending a fair bit of time with lawyers.
Christopher Smith, Lambeth Palace Chief of Staff, thinks the Guardian was unfair in its earlier report. (Note, he is not commenting on the other one, which exists only online, not on paper.)
0 Commentsequality: goods and services
The UK government has been conducting a public consultation on its proposals to outlaw Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Provision of Goods and Services. You can find the consultation document here (PDF). Before you ask, Parliament has already finalised a corresponding set of regulations relating to discrimination on grounds of Religion and Belief. They are in Part 2 of the Equality Act 2006. The power to make these SO regulations is in Part 3.
Yesterday the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England published its formal response to the government’s consultation. You can read that response in full here (PDF) and it is summarised in this press release.
This morning, Jonathan Petre has a report in the Telegraph Church ‘could be forced to bless gay weddings’.
The CofE’s official response is quite muted in comparison with the responses from the Lawyers Christian Fellowship and from Anglican Mainstream. The latter body provides a convenient link to a recent House of Commons exchange on the matter. (I don’t think this is because AM endorses all the views expressed.)
14 CommentsCoekin document overflow
It’s hard to keep up with the flow of material: here is another tranche of documents from the CO-MISSION initiative:
The letter by Richard Coekin’s lawyers to the Archbishop’s lawyers concerning the Archbishop’s decision PDF file
The ‘Skeleton Arguments’ presented at the Appeal on behalf of:
Rev Coekin [sic] PDF file
and on behalf of The Bishop of Southwark PDF file.
A legal note of advice concerning the accuracy of the press statements by the Archbishop and the Bishop of Southwark PDF file
Having read all these documents, I can only conclude that Mr Coekin and his lawyers have no intention of accepting the archbishop’s determination. I do hope I am wrong.
2 Commentsthree more Coekin items
First, the Church Times has this report Mr Coekin: licensed again, but warned to be obedient.
Second, Giles Fraser in his Church Times opinion column, has A matter not settled by a Technicality.
Third, and most interesting, the prolific Andrew Goddard has written a further analysis for Fulcrum entitled Some ramifications of the Coekin case:
He concludes thus:
…It had been claimed that such undertakings should not be demanded as they were ‘unreasonable’ and ‘unjustifiable’. These are claims one could imagine being echoed by others who sit loose to the authority of bishops in the Church of England, especially if those bishops are seen as ‘liberal’. This claim is clearly and firmly rejected by the Archbishop. In contrast, he makes clear that ‘their content reflects the legal obligations which Canon Law imposes upon any licensed minister’ (italics added). In short, what Richard Coekin and many of his supporters view as unreasonable and unjustifiable limitations on the freedom of a parish clergyperson are in fact binding obligations under canon law. Furthermore, as noted earlier, doctrinal disagreement with one’s bishop or declarations of ‘impaired communion’ are not legitimate defences for disobeying canon law.
To ask for written undertakings on the part of one individual troublesome priest who had misbehaved, while perhaps providing a form of the ‘merited censure’, could also have been seen as having no wider significance for other clergy and simply be a punishment for his personal misbehaviour. By deciding not to ask for such undertakings the Archbishop has opened the possibility for a personal and relational approach to reconciliation (rather than one of a reluctant legal declaration). But he has done much more. He has made it quite clear that ‘the onus placed upon the Appellant to conform to the discipline of the Church’ (which was the rationale for asking for undertakings) ‘is not in any way lessened’ and that Richard Coekin is left ‘bound to submit to the Respondent’s episcopal authority and accountable for his actions to the wider Church’. Furthermore, this is not only true of Richard Coekin nor is it limited to the peculiar and difficult situation of this sad case. What it was proposed by the Bishop of Winchester to be explicitly required of this one person in this one case is actually now clearly shown to be required of all clergy in all situations. Whatever one’s problems with one’s bishop, no clergyperson is above the law.
No clergyperson in the Church of England can therefore now claim ignorance of the significance and seriousness of their acts if they involve themselves in any ordinations without the approval of their diocesan or if they disregard episcopal directions concerning church planting. Any such actions are a flagrant rejection of the discipline of the church and the standard rhetorical defences offered by those who threaten such actions have been found to be without legal or theological basis. In future any similar acts of disobedience, whether by Richard Coekin or any other cleric, are likely to result in disciplinary proceedings not by summary revocation of their licence but under the new Clergy Discipline Measure. As long as care is taken to follow due process, there can now be little doubt that any bishop faced with repetitions of conduct similar to that of Richard Coekin will be able effectively to discipline those involved as they have been shown by this ruling to have absolutely no justification in law for such actions.
Giles Fraser mentions something that has been asserted by several commenters here on TA: that Emmanuel, the parent church of Dundonald, practices lay presidency at the Holy Communion. If this is true, then will the relevant clergy now be challenged on this?
27 CommentsKasper comes to Market Bosworth
The House of Bishops of the Church of England is meeting this week at Market Bosworth, close to the site where the Plantagenets lost out to the Tudors.
Cardinal Walter Kasper addressed the House of Bishops of the Church of England this week.
See the full text of his remarks below the comment from Rowan Williams on this page. Another copy of it is here.
A press report on this was in The Times Ruth Gledhill Church unity ‘impossible’ if women become bishops. Vox Pop responses are here.
An earlier report in the Telegraph by Jonathan Petre is concerned with what the House of Bishops will do about women bishops: Deal on women bishops could collapse.
The speech by the cardinal made Forward in Faith extremely happy.
28 Commentsmore about Coekin
The press release from the Bishop of Southwark is reproduced here below the fold.
Today, in the Guardian Stephen Bates reports on all this, in Archbishop stokes row over status of rebel evangelical.
And, Stephen also has a rather more colourful opinion piece on commentisfree Invertebrates led by a jellyfish.
Fulcrum has published this statement.
A rather confused and incorrect report from the CEN Bishop rebuked over the sacking of vicar
The press release from Richard Coekin is reproduced below:
16 CommentsMEDIA STATEMENT
RICHARD COEKIN WINS APPEAL FOR RESTORATION OF LICENCE
The Archbishop of Canterbury announced today (5th June 2006) that he has allowed the appeal by Revd Richard Coekin against the revocation of his licence by the Bishop of Southwark, so reinstating Revd Coekin to his role as a licensed minister in the diocese of Southwark.
In response Revd Coekin said: “We thank God that my licence has been reinstated. This has been a long and gruelling process. I am grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester for their help in resolving this problem in granting my appeal.
“As the Archbishop has asked, we will want to move on to seek reconciliation with the Bishop of Southwark and all caught up in these events. We continue to pray for them and for the possibility of closer co-operation in the spread of the good news of Jesus.
“There has sadly been a great deal of misunderstanding and some misinformed criticism circulating about our churches and ministries. We hope that in light of this decision that there will now be fresh opportunities to rebuild mutual trust and understanding.
“We organised the ordinations of the staff needed for our congregations because of our temporarily impaired relationship with the Bishop of Southwark. This is due to what we regard as a departure by the House of Bishops from the historic and orthodox moral teaching of the Bible. We continue to pray that the Church of England will remain loyal to its Biblical heritage.â€
Coekin wins appeal
Richard Coekin has won his appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Tuesday Press Reports
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Williams reinstates cleric in gay dispute
Times Ruth Gledhill Archbishop takes stand in revoked licence row
Ekklesia Williams reinstates ‘rogue cleric’
——
Press release from Lambeth: Archbishop allows Coekin appeal
Ruth Gledhill has extensive discussion of this on her blog at Coekin wins appeal and this article on Times Online Archbishop backs ‘rogue’ clergyman.
Richard Coekin has issued a statement which you can find here on Anglican Mainstream.
Fulcrum has this comment on its forum, by Graham Kings.
21 Commentschariot 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 CommentKenya 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 CommentsFaithful 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 Comments