Rowan Williams preached today at St Paul’s Cathedral. The service was to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Christian Aid.
The full text of the sermon is here.
The Lambeth Palace press release is here: Archbishop condemns lack of trust in fight against poverty.
The Christian Aid press release is here: Archbishop backs trade campaign at Christian Aid anniversary service.
A Lambeth Palace press release says:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has issued a pre-election open letter, urging party leaders to avoid political campaigns based on the exploitation of fear.
Dr Williams argues that although negative campaign strategies may make headlines they do not determine the outcome of elections and that politicians should focus instead on offering long-term solutions to deep-rooted challenges.
Dr Williams goes on to identify four such issues: the environment, international development and the arms trade, youth and family policy, and criminal justice reform.
The letter can be read in full here.
Update The BBC has a report which includes a link to a video clip including an interview with RW.
The Church Times has a report on its website, not in the paper edition: Campaign fairly, Archbishop tells party leaders
Stephen Bates in the Guardian has Fear must not be a campaign tool, says Williams
and there is also Attacks on Tory politics of fear
Jonathan Petre interprets the letter a different way in the Telegraph Archbishop says make marriage election issue
The Independent had Archbishop warns party leaders not to exploit voters’ fears.
The Church of England has published a Study Programme, see this press release:
Women Bishops in the Church of England? Study Programme published on the web..
The downloadable material mentioned is in fact an MS Word file. An accessible copy of the same material is now available here.
The material includes a chart which shows the process that is likely to be followed to achieve the objective:
0 CommentsThe timing of the various stages outlined in this table is necessarily contingent on the outcome of Synod motions etc. At the time of writing in March 2005 stages A & B have passed and stage C is likely to be reached in July 2005. The House of Bishops expects that moving from D to P would take at least four years (not least because 18 months would need to be allowed for the referral to dioceses outlined in J & K).
The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the Good Friday Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4
Audio recording (3 minutes – Real Audio required) and Transcript is now available.
The archbishop’s Easter Message to the Anglican Communion
The full text of his Easter sermon is below the fold. And is now available on his own website.
This report from the BBC links to a video clip of part of the sermon (Real Player required)
0 CommentsA correspondent reports from the Chelmsford diocesan synod meeting held last Saturday:
15 CommentsAnswering questions at the Diocesan Synod, John Gladwin told the dissidents who have declared themselves to be “out of communion with him”, that theirs was the only letter of complaint that he had received, but that he had also received 130 letters and messages of appreciation and support.
In reply to their complaint that he had signed the letter as Bishop of Chelmsford without any synodical support for doing so, he answered to the effect that he is the Bishop of Chelmsford and people really have to come to terms with that – to loud and prolonged applause from the synod, thereby signifying that he did have the synod’s support should he have needed it. He also said that the Six Bishops’ letter was entirely in accord with the Dromantine Communiqué and that had been checked at the highest level.
After the spontaneous applause following his robust defence of his position as Bishop of the Diocese, a synod member even cheekily asked in a supplementary – would it be appropriate for this synod to further demonstrate its support for the Bishop with another round of applause – to more applause.
The dissidents had a rather poor time of it, the more so as the Bishop kept saying that he welcomed dialogue with the group, would be replying to their letter and would continue to meet with them.
Several stories relating to this protest against writing letters to The Times:
Gladwin faces Ugley scenes over gays is the headline over the story in the Church Times (not on the public website yet), which says in part:
One of the clergy’s number, the Revd John Richardson, Assistant Curate of Henham, and Elsenham with Ugley, said on Tuesday: “He cannot be in sacramental fellowship with us and Churches in North America at the same time.”
…The Chelmsford group insists that, by opting for sacramental fellowship with those “who have gone against mainstream Anglicanism”, Bishop Gladwin has opted out of sacramental fellowship with others in his diocese.
…The group’s concern was not to add numbers to its list, but to make a point, he said.
Meanwhile Andrew Brown writes in the weekly Church Times Press column (also not on the public website) that:
ANOTHER EXAMPLE of a story that was made by its timing came in Saturday’s Telegraph, where the parish of Elsenham, Henham and Ugley in Essex announced that it was out of communion with the Bishop of Chelmsford because he had signed a letter to The Times in support of the North American Churches.
Again, this should have been a non-story. The benefice has made the papers before for throwing a yoga class out of the parish hall for a while (the class finally settled in Ugley village hall, which is controlled by a churchwarden of the neighbouring benefice); and for witholding its quota for a while in protest against the diocese’s interfaith policy. This stirring announcement, then, shouldn’t have been aroused too much excitement.
But, to journalists who are coming to believe that the Church of England as we have known it is doomed, and that a fractious congregationalism is the inevitable future, these gestures matter.
The CEN has Bishop rebukes opponents over Communion debate
The Guardian has Bishop hits back over gay row
And the GetReligion blog has Broken Communion story rolls on — in England.
while Fr Jake has Table Fellowship; the New Weapon
The Telegraph reports today in Clergymen refuse communion with bishop in row over gays that
…at least eight conservative clerics have told the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev John Gladwin, that they will refuse to share Holy Communion with him. They are furious that the bishop and five of his colleagues sent a letter to a national newspaper earlier this week announcing their determined support for liberal Anglicans in North America…
That would be a reference to this letter in The Times in which the bishops merely said:
…We remain in full sacramental fellowship with all the churches of the Anglican Communion, including those of Canada and the US, and we seek to remain in full communion with all of them…
which is of course a simple statement of fact that applies to every single member of the Church of England at the present time, whether they like it or not, including those objectors in Chelmsford. Clearly that favourite term of conservative evangelicals the plain meaning of the words has escaped them. Individual members of Anglican Communion churches do not have the luxury of deciding for themselves who they are in communion with.
The newspaper list among the eight people the clergy of the Henham, Elsenham, & Ugley benefice, John Richardson and Richard Farr. Mr Farr is best known for his refusal to allow the use of his church hall for a yoga class. His own account of this event can be read here.
Update
The extent to which conservatives are upset by the bishops’ letter is quite remarkable:see this Mainstream – Letter to London Times so far not published by the paper, and see also this Statement on Sacramental Fellowship with the Bishop of Chelmsford by Messrs Farr and Richardson.
The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Christopher Herbert, who chairs the House of Bishops’ Europe Panel has written today to all senior Anglican clergy encouraging them to contribute to a more informed debate on Europe.
See this CofE press release Bishop calls for informed debate on Europe.
The text of the bishop’s letter is also below the fold here.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Guide to the EU can be found here.
The House of Bishops’ Europe Panel is a sub-committee of the House of Bishops. The Panel acts as a point of reference for items affecting the Church of England’s relations with Europe and the European Union institutions which arise in the House of Bishops and General Synod. The Panel is committed both to promoting and shaping an open and transparent Europe close to its citizens and to monitoring the EU institutions in so far as they affect Church life and practice.
2 CommentsUpdate
related news story by Ruth Gledhill Break-away bishops could undermine truce on gays
One of the signatories, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Rev John Packer, said: “This is a strong statement of support for listening to the experience of lesbian and gay Christians.
“Many lesbian and gay Christians, rightly or wrongly, feel that the primates’ statement did not emphasise the need to emphasise them in the same way that the bishops of the Church of England did at our recent General Synod. We wanted to make it clear that we had in no way reneged on that promise. Sometimes I feel that people are saying they want to listen, when in fact they have already made their minds up.”
The following letter appears in Monday’s edition of The Times, signed by the bishops of Salisbury, Chelmsford, Leicester, Ripon & Leeds, St Albans and Truro.
10 CommentsSir, We are encouraged by the commitment of the primates of the Anglican Communion to “the underlying reality of our communion in God the Holy Trinity” whilst engaging in dialogue and listening, in relation to the issues which have “obscured” that communion. The communiqué issued at the end of their week-long meeting in Newry (report and leading article, February 26) recommends actions which will allow that dialogue to continue and articulates the deep bonds of affection which continue to unite us.
We do not believe that the different responses of our sister churches to lesbian and gay people are of such significance that we should break the bonds of communion. We welcome the positive steps which will now be taken to engage in dialogue with lesbian and gay people. This call has been repeated by successive Lambeth conferences and we will do all that we can to facilitate that mutual listening throughout the Communion. We assure lesbian and gay Christians of our commitment to the principle of the Lambeth conference that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.
We remain in full sacramental fellowship with all the churches of the Anglican Communion, including those of Canada and the US, and we seek to remain in full communion with all of them. We also clearly state our continuing solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the global south.In a world ravaged by the effects of poverty, war and disease our communion must seek to serve the whole human family.
We assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of our support for him in the ministry with which he has been entrusted and we offer him our love, our fellowship and prayers.
Bishop David Sheppard has died. Many newspaper stories on this:
Observer Former bishop of Liverpool dies and Appreciation: David Sheppard, 1929-2005
Sunday Times Sheppard the cricketing bishop dies after cancer battle, aged 75
BBC Online Cricketing bishop dies of cancer and Obituary: Lord Sheppard
Telegraph Former Bishop of Liverpool David Sheppard dies
David Hope has started his new job as a parish priest at St Margaret’s Ilkley
Sunday Times From palace to bin duty: an archbishop downsizes
This follows an earlier story in The Times Former Archbishop starts new life at grass roots
Yesterday, The Times editorialised that Richard Chartres was the best person to become Archbishop of York: Balanced ticket and there was an accompanying news story New favourite emerges for York archbishopric. As no sources are cited in the latter, it is unclear whether the editorial came first or the other way around.
Nor were any sources at all cited in this article: Liberal and weak clergy blamed for empty pews but for those who want to know where this comes from the answer is http://www.churchsurvey.co.uk/. Readers can judge the validity of the survey for themselves.
Addition a helpful comment about the survey by Dale Rye is here on titusonenine.
And the Church Times reports that Clerics second happiest at work but they do provide a clue as to the source of this claim which is to be found at Hairdressers are cutting it in the league table happiest jobs
1 CommentA very interesting legal paper has been published by Dr Augur Pearce concerning the ecclesiastial autonomy of the Church of England.
There is a summary of the key points (and a biographical note) on this page: English Ecclesiastical Autonomy and the Windsor Report by Dr Augur Pearce.
and the full 12 page article can be downloaded in PDF format from here.
The last two summary points read as follows:
The Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 received Royal Assent in July 2003. It is likely to come into effect towards the end of this year. There is a very good summary of both the current and new arrangements here on the Oxford diocesan website. Note however that the new measure does not apply to “matters involving doctrine, ritual or ceremonial”. These will continue to be governed by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963.
Before the new arrangements can come into effect, Rules (to carry into effect the provisions of the Measure) and a Code of Practice (providing guidance, explanation and best practice) need to be finalised by the Rule Committee and the Clergy Discipline Commission respectively, approved by Synod and, in the case of the Rules, laid before Parliament in the form of a Statutory Instrument under the ‘negative resolution’ procedure.
The Rule Committee and the Commission have drafted the Rules and the Code of Practice and they are now seeking comments. Full details of the consultation and how to make comments are here.
The measure and the drafts are online here:
Clergy Discipline Measure 2003
draft Rules
draft Code of Practice
The drafts are each about 3.5 MB and contain a total of 139 pages.
The intention is that the Rules and Code of Practice will be brought to General Synod for approval in July 2005. As a result the closing date for the consultation is midday on Tuesday 5 April 2005 and this deadline will be strictly observed.
The members of the Clergy Discipline Commission are listed here.
1 CommentFirst on the Sunday programme:
Meeting of the Anglican Primates
The meeting of the 38 provincial Primates of the Anglican Communion begins in Newry on Monday. It is a showdown between the majority, who are opposed to the ordination of actively gay bishops and clergy, and ECUSA, the Episcopal Church of the United States, and its supporters in Canada, who actively support and carry out such ordinations. Such is the impasse that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams asked the Communion’s chief fixer, Archbishop Robin Eames, to chair a commission to try and resolve the issue, which threatens to tear the Communion apart. It is that commission’s so called Windsor Report that is being discussed in Newry.
Listen (7m 04s)with Real Audio to interviews with Frank Griswold and Gregory Venables.
Lots of other items in today’s issue of Sunday are also of interest to Anglicans.
A piece from the Management pages of the Business section of the Observer by Simon Caulkin:
When the devil is in the details
How would you appraise a vicar’s performance? By the number, length and quality of sermons? Attendance at church? Out of wedlock births? Ratio of marriages to divorce? Doctrinal purity?
This intriguing question was raised by proposals put forward last week by the Church of England’s General Synod to make incompetent vicars easier to sack, and to subject them to the kind of performance measures that apply to other workers.
Don’t laugh: even our box may be less satirical than you think. In one study, a Norwegian hospital chaplain had performance measures that counted not only bedside visits, but also the number of last rites he performed. In fact, the church’s measurement problem illustrates with blinding clarity the tensions inherent in all performance management.
Read it all. But don’t take it too literally. The sidebar or “box” mentioned above is at the foot of the webpage. More about the real CofE proposals for ministerial review in a while.
The Sunday Times has a report by Christopher Morgan that says: Churchgoers ordered to pray for Camilla.
This refers to the wording of the BCP prayer for the Royal Family, which can be (and periodically is) altered by Royal Warrant (not by Parliament or the General Synod) to reflect births, marriages and deaths. According to Morgan the new wording will be:
0 Comments“Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall.”
Three more answers, this group relating to discrimination on grounds of gender.
Q5 The Revd Canon Penny Driver (Ripon & Leeds) to ask the Secretary General:
In the House of Bishops’ paper HB(05)M1 (“Summary of Decisions”), item no.14 refers to the House giving its approval in principle to a way of amending the law to address a legal difficulty which would otherwise arise when a new EU directive comes into force in October. Please could we know what this amendment is, how it will be done and why?
Answer by the Secretary General [William Fittall]
0 CommentsIn the next few weeks the Department for Trade and Industry will be publishing draft regulations to bring UK law into line with the amended Equal Treatment Directive adopted by the EC in 2002. One amendment to Westminster legislation would involve a consequential amendment to the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 in relation to the law on discrimination. As a result the DTI has, under the normal constitutional convention, consulted the Church. The House of Bishops and Archbishops’ Council have both given their approval to the Government’s proposed approach, which will enable the Church to maintain its present arrangements in a way consistent with European law.
I shall circulate a more detailed explanation to Synod members once the Government’s consultation document has been published.
Update Monday
Also Synod debates women bishops issue
and this 8 minute segment from the Today radio programme: Listen here to David Houlding and David Phillips:
The General Synod of the Church of England is split over the marriage of Charles and Camilla.
And also, from earlier in the morning, this 4 minute discussion with Robert Piggott, covering the whole synod agenda.
——-
First, Alex Kirby has published a review of the General Synod meeting next week, titled Anglicans fret over divisive issues.
Second, Jane Little has written about The Church, Charles and Camilla.
Third, the Sunday radio programme had three items relevant to all this. Real Audio required.
Charles & Camilla Listen (6m 57s)
We begin with the story that has dominated the secular press this week and seems likely to dominate next week’s Church of England Synod in London next week too; the news that the man destined to be the Church’s Supreme Govenor is to marry a divorcee – the deed of course being done in a civil ceremony and not before the altar. The Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as she will then be known, will have their union blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But the conservative evangelical group the Church Society is far from happy – the group’s general Secretary David Philips is on the line. The Right Reverend Anthony Priddis, the Bishop of Hereford, chairs the church of England’s committee on such matters – FLAME, which stands for Family Life and Marriage Education.
Cathedral Deans Disco Listen (6m 58s)
There is a proposal before the General Synod of the Church of England this week which would have taken a lot of the fun out of Anthony Trollope’s account of office politics in the Cathedral Close at Barchester but is, in the view of the man behind it, necessary if the Church is to meet the challenges of the modern world. Anthony Archer – who is involved in high level appointments both in his professional life and within the church bureaucracy – says the way senior jobs are awarded in the Church is “shrouded in secrecy” and needs to be changed. Anthony Archer joins us as does Colin Slee the dean of Southwark Cathedral.
Gay Blessings Listen (7m 3s)
0 CommentsAnother of the big debates at the General Synod next week will concern the Windsor Report – the Anglican Communion’s study into how to preserve church unity in the face of the divisions over homosexuality – the BBC’s Parliament Channel will be broadcasting the debate live from nine o’clock on Thursday morning.. One of the main triggers which brought those divisions to a head was the decision of a Canadian diocese to authorise a service of Blessing for same sex unions. Such services are forbidden in the Church of England at the moment – and gay clergy aren’t allowed to be homosexually active. But both of those rules are often flouted in reality, and when the Civil Partnership Act comes into force later this year the questions about the Church’s position in this area will become even more pressing. – Christopher Landau reports.
These debates will occur on Wednesday, following a service of Holy Communion at which Rowan Williams will preside and preach. The starting time of the debate will therefore be around 10.15 a.m.
Glyn Paflin reported on this in the Church Times last week:
About two and three-quarter hours have been set aside on the Wednesday morning for a take-note motion on the Rochester report.
The motion will be moved by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who chaired the House of Bishops’ working party on women in the episcopate, which produced the report that bears his name, Women Bishops in the Church of England?
In the afternoon, at 2.30, the Synod has until 3.45 to debate a motion in the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which says: “That the Synod welcome the report from the House of Bishops (GS 1568) and invite the business committee to make sufficient time available at the July group of sessions for Synod to determine whether it wishes to set in train the process for removing the legal obstacles to the ordination of women to the episcopate.”
The paper issued to synod members explaining how the debates will be structured is GS 1568 published only as an RTF file, but reproduced here below the fold.
The basic document under consideration is GS 1557, the Rochester report Women Bishops in the Church of England? This can be downloaded as an 800K PDF file here, or as three separate smaller ones from here.
Annex 1 of this report details the varied status of women’s ordination across all 38 provinces of the commmunion (and beyond, in other churches with whom we are in communion). An html copy of part of this annex (including the footnotes which are essential for deciphering it) is accessible here.
An earlier brief note on the Rochester report can be found here.
National press coverage from November was listed here and here.
Also church press coverage including a number of excellent articles is listed here and here.
0 CommentsNext Thursday, the General Synod of the Church of England will debate a motion relating to the Windsor Report. The event will be covered live by the BBC Parliament TV channel from 8.50 am GMT. See report confusingly headlined Gay bishops on BBC Parliament.
The exact wording of the motion to be debated is below. For further documentation relating to this debate, read this earlier report.
The motion to be moved by the Bishop of Durham and debated by Synod (starting at 9am on Thursday 17 February) is:
That this Synod
(a) welcome the report from the House (GS 1570) accepting the principles set out in the Windsor Report;
(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to take action, in the light of the Windsor Report’s recommendations, to secure unity within the constraints of truth and charity and to seek reconciliation within the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.
My own analysis of this is below the fold.
1 CommentThe policy of the Church of England on this matter is well documented but, as the items are not obvious on the CofE website, they are listed here. There is a link to them from the main CofE advice page on Weddings.
The general information page is Marriage in Church after Divorce.
This refers to several other documents. The two key ones are:
0 CommentsMarriage in church after divorce – Form and explanatory statement – A leaflet for enquiring couples but this is available only in PDF format – four of the six pages are the application form, but the one-page explanatory statement is reproduced here below the fold.
Advice to the Clergy which is naturally more detailed, and is available from the CofE website only as an MS Word document. An html version is accessible here.
Update 11 February
Anthony Archer has an article in the Church of England Newspaper
Bringing the appointments system home
Update 4 February
The Church Times has a report on this subject Let us vet new bishops, says Synod member
The General Synod is scheduled to debate this private member’s motion sometime after 2.30 pm on Thursday 17 February. It has been given some prominence in the official press release about the forthcoming session, which says:
Senior Church Appointments
This private member’s motion from Mr Anthony Archer seeks to ask the Archbishops’ Council to set up a working party to undertake a wide-ranging review of the offices of suffragan bishop, deacon, archdeacon and residentiary canon, and the law and practice regarding appointments to these offices. In doing so, the motion proposes that the Church should adopt an integrated, consistent and transparent method of making appointments to senior ecclesiastical offices.
The wording of the motion has been published here.
The briefing note numbered GS Misc 765A prepared by the member concerned, Mr Anthony Archer, is available here in RTF, but is more accessible here as a web page.
The background note numbered GS Misc 765B prepared by William Fittall Secretary-General, is similarly available here and accessible here.
The printed version of this also reprints the text of GS Misc 455 Code of Practice for Senior Church Appointments issued in 1995 which is not available electronically from the CofE website, but is accessible here.
Other documents have been issued by the Secretary General in connection with this motion:
GS 1405 Working with the Spirit: Choosing Diocesan Bishops – the Perry Report published in 2001 (as a PDF file about 0.5 Mb)
(no number) Briefing for members of Vacancy-in-See Committees (RTF format) – accessible copy here
GS Misc 770 CHOOSING DIOCESAN BISHOPS A report on progress on the implementation of the Report of the Steering Group appointed to follow up the recommendations of “Working with the Spirit” – this is not yet on the CofE website, but is accessible here.
We are also promised, in GS Misc 770, an electronic copy of GS 1465 “Choosing Diocesan Bishops. The Report of the Steering Group appointed to follow up the recommendations of Working with the Spirit”, but neither this, nor new paper copies of it have appeared yet.
Last July questions were asked about appointment of deans and the BBC carried an interview with Anthony Archer and others.
And finally, for the moment, Mr Archer has prepared a note for his colleagues on EGGS, which he has given TA permission to publish. It can be found here.
1 CommentUpdate
The second item mentioned below, the report from the chairs of the Theological Group and FOAG, not previously available, is now on the web:
Original RTF format is here (this includes the HoB report itself as well as the annex)
an HTML version is here (just the annex)
A document GS 1570 has been sent out to synod members which contains two things:
The agenda papers also contain
Three of these four items are reproduced below. All are likely to appear on the CofE website on Monday.
SYNOD MOTION
The motion to be moved by the Bishop of Durham and debated by Synod (starting at 9am on Thursday 17 February) is:
That this Synod
(a) welcome the report from the House (GS 1570) accepting the principles set out in the Windsor Report;
(b) urge the Primates of the Anglican Communion to take action, in the light of the Windsor Report’s recommendations, to secure unity within the constraints of truth and charity and to seek reconciliation within the Communion; and
(c) assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of its prayerful support at the forthcoming Primates’ Meeting.
The other items are below the fold.
1 Comment