Elliot Review Redux
Readers with long memories may perhaps recall an article from 2020 on Surviving Church by Gilo titled Thoughts on the Elliott Review ‘translation’ by Archbishops Council.
It has taken another three years to begin to get at the truth concerning this. The letter linked below has recently been sent to both archbishops.
General Synod – previews of business
Updated Saturday, Monday and Wednesday
Both the Church Times and Law & Religion UK have been looking at items on the agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod.
Church Times
- Disinvestment, blessings and safeguarding on Synod agenda for July
- New Clergy Conduct Measure to get its first airing in Synod
- Faculty restrictions could be eased to help churches cut carbon
- General Synod to consider rule change for ‘contested heritage’ memorials
- Blessings: July Synod will see new prayers, but must wait for main debate in November
- Instead of closure, churches might be allowed to ‘lie fallow’
- Three opportunities to discuss climate change at General Synod
Law & Religion UK
Updates
Colin Coward
Law & Religion UK
The Telegraph
- Churches could be rented out or left ‘fallow’ as congregations dwindle
- Church considers defrocking bishops and priests guilty of abuse
Church Times
15 CommentsISB controversy episode 5
Updated again Saturday morning
Previous episode here.
1. BBC Hardtalk has broadcast an interview with the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. This covers many other topics, but one small segment deals with safeguarding in general and the ISB in particular. You can find that starting at 12.30. Bishop Rose said she disagreed with both the Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, and with Andrew Graystone, on this topic. Transcript now available.
2. The English Churchman has published this article: The End is Nye?
3. The National Secular Society has published NSS urges Charity Commission to investigate CofE safeguarding
4. Via Media.News has published: Archbishops’ Council: Reset Required by Gilo
5. The Church Times has several relevant items, first of all four relevant Letters to the Editor, under the heading Disbanding of the Independent Safeguarding Board. They are from: nine survivors, another survivor who had an ISB case review pending, David Lamming, and Vasantha Gnanadoss.
6. Church Times: Angela Tilby: Archbishops’ Council is too powerful
7. Church Times: Opinion: Radical changes need the General Synod’s scrutiny
8. Civil Society Charity Commission mulls intervention at Archbishops’ Council
…The Commission said the charity reported itself to the regulator and it is considering its response.
A spokesperson for the regulator said: “In line with our guidance, the Archbishops’ Council has reported a serious incident in relation to these matters. We will engage with the trustees to determine whether a regulatory response is required”.
A Church of England spokesperson said: “The Archbishops’ Council has already submitted a Serious Incident Report to the Charity Commission in relation to the independent safeguarding board, in line with the reporting criteria of the Charity Commission…
9. There is a change.org petition Safeguard victims in the Church of England – ask the Charity Commission to intervene now!
56 Comments
ISB controversy episode 4: Dispute Notice
Latest Update Wednesday afternoon
1.Briefing Note: Dispute Notice – Key Points
This briefing outlines the key points of the Dispute Notice issued by Jasvinder Sanghera CBE and Steve Reeves MBE on 24th May 2023.
Update: The full text of the PDF is copied below the fold.
2. Today, Monday, on BBC Radio 4 WATO, there was an interview with Jasvinder Sanghera, which you can listen to over here, starting at 33.45, in which she refutes the claims made in earlier radio interviews by Alison Coulter and Stephen Cottrell. Transcript now available here.
3. A notice was posted on the website of the ISB: Statement from Independent Safeguarding Board
You will be aware of the announcement from the Archbishops’ Council regarding the Independent Safeguarding Board.
We will continue to honour any reviews or complaints that are underway or are due to start. We will be in contact as soon as possible with survivors and complainants and reviewers to ensure these are completed.
The ISB is working with the Archbishops’ Council to put in place alternative arrangements to handle complaints while work is undertaken to develop an independent oversight body for safeguarding. Once the detail is in place an announcement will be made.
4. Surviving Church has published an article: Was the Independent Safeguarding Board ever Independent? The Archbishops Set Out Their Position to a Complainant
5. Premier Christianity has published an interview with Jasvinder Sanghera: ‘The Church of England is not survivor focused when it comes to safeguarding’
6. Church Times news article by Francis Martin: Row over Independent Safeguarding Board continues
This covers much of the same information as the items above, but with some important additional details.
ISB controversy episode 3
Episode 1 was this: Archbishops’ Council terminates contracts of ISB members
Episode 2 is here: ISB controversy continues
Today, the BBC Radio 4 programme Sunday carried a segment in which three people were interviewed by William Crawley: Jane Chevous from Survivors Voices, Jasvinder Sanghera one of the sacked ISB members, and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.
The BBC programme is here: go to 31 minutes, 45 seconds for the start of this item. A transcript of the interview is available here.
Professor Nicholas Adams wrote a very detailed analysis of this interview on his Facebook page, and has kindly allowed me to reproduce his comments, which are here in a PDF, include suggestions for what the archbishop might more helpfully have said. Do read it all.
Earlier last week, Justin Humphreys, of the safeguarding consultancy thirtyone:eight wrote about the Archbishops’ Council’s action in this article: Why true independence matters when it comes to safeguarding. Here is a part of it
The sad news of the departure of the members of the Church of England Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB), who have persistently pursued their mandate to provide independent oversight and support the work of the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, is a significant setback in the progress made. It also highlights serious flaws in the way the Independent Safeguarding Board is structured in that it reports into the same body, the Archbishops Council, who oversee the day-to-day national and regional safeguarding operations that the Board has been set up to scrutinise. If a body is to exercise true independence, it must be fully independent and free from the structures and influences that it is created to oversee.
Justin Humphreys, Chief Executive at Thirtyone:eight comments, ‘While the Church of England considers its next steps, the instinct to quickly rush to “reset” the existing model should be resisted. Time should be taken to properly learn the lessons of what went wrong and why, and with the help of appropriate external expertise they must give time to understand what is needed to ensure a true and fully independent review of its safeguarding operations. This process should include victims, survivors and those with lived experience. To simply recreate what was, would be a travesty and would almost certainly be doomed to the same outcome as the arrangements we have just seen collapse.’
Helen King has written: The Independent Safeguarding Board: a ‘reset’?
32 CommentsISB controversy continues
Updated yet again Tuesday afternoon
Two dismissed members of the now defunct Independent Safeguarding Board dispute the claims made by the Archbishops’ Council. See this report in the Church Times: Hundreds support us, say sacked members of Independent Safeguarding Board.
A synod paper published today, GS Misc 1341, is titled Independent Safeguarding Board: recent developments. I do recommend reading this document, which will be among those discussed at the General Synod on Sunday 9 July.
The BBC lunchtme radio news programme. The World At One, carried interviews with Bishop Julie Conalty, Deputy Lead Bishop for Safeguarding. and Alison Coulter, an elected lay member of the Archbishops’ Council.
A full transcript is available here (not yet checked for accuracy against recording). The BBC’s own audio recording is available here.
Other audio recordings (courtesy of Mandate Now) can be found here (Conalty) and here (Coulter).
See also
- Premier Christian News: ‘I don’t entirely trust the Church’ says deputy safeguarding bishop
- ITV News at Ten: Church of England sparks outrage after sacking its own panel looking into abuse and here is a transcript.
- Telegraph: Bishop ‘doesn’t entirely trust’ Church of England as it sacks own panel investigating abuse
- Premier Christian News: C of E hits back after claims its safeguarding is unsafe and not to be trusted
- Times Radio Cathy Newman with Times Radio Drive (from around 02:14:14) 23 June Transcript now available here.
earlier press coverage:
- Church Times: Independent Safeguarding Board disbanded and its members sacked as Church ‘resets’
- BBC: Church of England sacks independent abuse panel
General Synod papers published
The Church of England has published the papers for next month’s meeting of its General Synod, which meets in York from 7-11 July. I have linked to them all below the fold, but these three, in different ways, give an outline of the business.
Outline of Synod Business [This is not totally up-to-date.]
Agenda July 2023 (GS 2296)
Report from the Business Committee (GS 2297)
General Synod press release
The Church of England’s General Synod will meet for its July 2023 group of sessions between 7 and 11 July at the University of York. In anticipation the following press release was issued today.
Church Commissioners and Church of England Pensions Board announce fossil fuel disinvestment
The Church Commissioners and Church of England Pensions Board today each announced they will independently disinvest from fossil fuels this year, as the Church of England’s National Investing Bodies (NIBs) reported back to the General Synod on progress against a 2018 Synod motion, which set out a five-year strategy to invest in climate solutions, engage with high carbon emitting companies, and disinvest from fossil fuel companies not aligned with the Paris Agreement.
The report to Synod from the NIBs on their “Approach to Climate Change” presents the progress that has been made by the NIBs in response to the Synod motion, but notes that, while some companies have made significant progress, no fossil fuel company has passed the 2023 hurdles set by the NIBs. Today, the Church Commissioners for England and the Church of England Pensions Board each announced their intentions to disinvest accordingly.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: “The climate crisis threatens the planet we live on, and people around the world who Jesus Christ calls us to love as our neighbours. It is our duty to protect God’s creation, and energy companies have a special responsibility to help us achieve the just transition to the low-carbon economy we need.”
“We have long urged companies to take climate change seriously, and specifically to align with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and pursue efforts to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In practical terms that means phasing out fossil fuels, investing in renewables, and plotting a credible path to a net-zero world. Some progress has been made, but not nearly enough. The Church will follow not just the science, but our faith – both of which call us to work for climate justice.”
The General Synod meets for its July 2023 group of sessions between 7 and 11 July at the University of York.
As well as a presentation from the NIBs, the July Synod agenda will include a motion on safeguarding redress following the publication of outline proposals for the Church’s national redress Scheme earlier in the week noting the importance of redress for survivors and victims and the allocated funding of £150 million from the Church Commissioners to be released once the key parameters of the Scheme are in place.
There will also be an update on the work of the Living in Love and Faith process following Synod’s vote in February. The proposals would not change the Church’s doctrine of marriage but would enable same-sex couples to come to church after a civil marriage or civil partnership for prayers of dedication, thanksgiving and for seeking God’s blessing on the two people.
The update includes refined texts of the proposed Prayers of Love and Faith (See GS 2303) and an outline of progress on developing new pastoral guidance and options for pastoral reassurance.
There will be consideration of recommendations from the National Church Governance Project Board, a review of the Mission and Pastoral Measure and a number of motions from Diocesan Synods.
Motions brought from Diocesan Synods will ask the General Synod to examine its response to the climate emergency (Oxford); discuss the contribution of faith to prisoner rehabilitation (Worcester) and look at fees payable to parishes for marriage services (Blackburn).
Legislative and formal business will include approval of options for churches to use electronic registers to record services, the new Clergy Conduct Measure, faculty jurisdiction (amendment) rules and a new Code of Practice on how to conduct Safeguarding Practice Reviews.
- Find details for the July 2023 group of General Synod sessions here.
3 Comments
General Synod miscellaneous
Update: 20 June 2023
The Report of Proceedings – February 2023 has now been updated to include the correction to Helen’s supplementary question; the correction is on the penultimate page. The original question and answer may be difficult to find in the report, so I have copied them and the correction below the fold. Also, Helen has added an addendum to her blog post.
—
The Church of England’s General Synod is due to meet at York University from Friday 7 July to Tuesday 11 July. I am expecting all the papers to be published here by the end of next week; some are already online. There is an outline of the business here but there will be at least one change to this before the full agenda is published. Synod members have been informed that sufficient members asked for a debate on the Safeguarding Code of Practice and this will no longer be deemed business (ie approved without debate).
The Audit Committee of the Archbishops’ Council and the Independent Safeguarding Board
Synod member Helen King has written about her experience of receiving a correction to a supplementary question that she asked in February: Correcting the Record: Safeguarding. The full correction is in Helen’s blog, but part of it is “AC’s Audit Committee does have the ability to commission an internal audit of all or of aspects of the work of the ISB, but that it has not done so.”
What prompted Helen to write is that she has been told that such corrections are not routinely sent to Synod members, and that despite an assurance from the Secretary General, this correction has not been included in the recently published Report of Proceedings – February 2023.
(more…)
CEEC issues advice to supporters about LLF
A document from the Church of England Evangelical Council, which has appeared on other forms of social media, gives an explanation of that group’s plans for further responses to the current LLF processes.
You can read it here.
116 CommentsOpponents of same-sex blessings issue documents
Today’s Church Times reports: Church Society question legality of blessing prayers for same-sex couples
OPPONENTS of the commendation of blessings for same-sex couples circulated documents last week challenging the legality of the proposed prayers and expressing anxieties about their practical application.
Last week, the Church Society, a conservative Evangelical organisation in the Church of England, distributed a compilation of questions relating to the work of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) implementation groups (News, 3 May)……In addition, a small group of General Synod members who opposed the introduction of blessings for same-sex couples in February issued “further commentary” on the proposals.
The note was emailed to Synod members late on Sunday evening by Stephen Hofmeyr (Guildford), and signed by a further seven legal professionals who sit in the House of Laity, all of whom voted against the motion introducing the Prayers of Love and Faith (News, 9 February).
The two documents referenced can be read at the following links:
30 CommentsMeeting of House of Bishops 15-17 May 2023
Press release from the Church of England
Meeting of House of Bishops 15-17 May 2023
17/05/2023
The House of Bishops met between May 15 and 17 in York.
On Monday May 15 Lord Boateng, Chair of the Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice, led a discussion. The House noted the second report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice and endorsed the work of the Racial Justice Unit (RJU).
The House then received an update on ongoing work to develop a National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of abuse.
Bishops considered proposals in development by the National Church Governance Project Board and agreed that they should be presented to Synod.
The House received an update on the review of the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011, which is due to be presented to the General Synod in July 2023.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the House reviewed the work so far of the Living in Love and Faith implementation groups and agreed that the work should be further developed ahead of an update to General Synod in July.
The Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, co-chair of the Archbishops’ Commission on Families and Households, updated the House on the findings set out in its recent report Love Matters.
The meeting ended in prayer.
10 CommentsLLF: Andrew Goddard discusses Episcopal Differentiation
Throughout the course of the LFF project, Andrew Goddard has provided a series of analyses of various aspects of it. His latest article on the Psephizo website is the last of a three-part set, but first for context here are links to the preceding two items:
- Can we square the Living in Love and Faith circle?
- Facing our Disagreements on Living in Love and Faith
There has been some discussion, both on TA and elsewhere, of what form(s) of “differentiation” might be attractive to those dissenting from the proposals for action that have now emerged from the LFF process. Andrew now discusses these possibilities in considerable detail in this article:
Living in Love and Faith: Good Episcopal Differentiation?
98 CommentsGeneral Synod dates and update on Living in Love and Faith implementation groups
The Church of England has issued the press release below about future General Synod dates, an outline of the business for July, and an update on Living in Love and Faith implementation groups. The text of the Outline of Business for July is copied below the fold.
General Synod dates and update on Living in Love and Faith implementation groups
09/05/2023
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as Presidents of the General Synod of the Church of England, have agreed to proceed with a November meeting of Synod this year.
The group of sessions will be held in London from Monday November 13 to Wednesday November 15, the Synod Business Committee has confirmed.
The committee has also published the Outline of Business for the next meeting of Synod, which will take place in York from Friday July 7 to Tuesday July 11.
The July meeting will include a substantial item on the proposals, which emerged from the Living in Love and Faith process, to enable same-sex couples who have marked a significant stage of their relationship such as a civil marriage or civil partnership to come to church to give thanks, offer prayers of dedication to God and to receive God’s blessing.
Following a landmark debate at Synod in February, a series of implementation groups have been set up to take the proposals forward including refining a set of draft texts known as Prayers of Love and Faith; working on new pastoral guidance for the Church of England and examining what pastoral reassurance will be required to ensure freedom of conscience for clergy and laity.
It is anticipated that the November group of sessions could provide an opportunity for Synod to consider any aspects of that work not completed by July.
The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, and the Bishop of Truro, Philip Mounstephen, the co-chairs of the steering group overseeing the implementation groups, said: “The working groups set up by the College of Bishops to take forward the decision of General Synod on a way forward for the Church of England on identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage have been working at pace and are making good progress.
“We hope that work to refine the texts of Prayers of Love and Faith, together with aspects of the work of the Pastoral Guidance and Pastoral Reassurance groups, will be in place before the meeting of Synod in York in July.
“We will be bringing a report to Synod updating in more detail on the progress that has been made.
“Recognising the complexity of the matters being considered, we anticipate that time could be made available at the November meeting of Synod for any further work required.”
Notes to editors
- Synod meets in February and July each year and in November at least once in every five years, usually.
- The most recent November group of sessions was in 2021, the inaugural meeting of the current Synod.
- Potential dates for November meetings of Synod are agreed by the Business Committee in advance with the other Synod dates and the presidents then determine each year whether or not to proceed with a November meeting that year.
- The Business Committee has also advised members that next year’s first group of sessions will be between Friday 23 February 2024 and Tuesday 27 February 2024.
LLF voting analysis
Andrew Goddard has gathered the detailed voting data from February’s General Synod debate on Living in Love and Faith into a convenient Airtable database format and has written a Narrative Account & Analysis* of these votes. The latter includes at the end advice on how to use the database for your own analysis.
He has also published this series of three articles on Fulcrum taking stock of where we are now in the LLF process.
LLF: Recent Past, Present & Future – Part One – Looking back – The Bishops’ Response to LLF and Synod’s Response to the Bishops
LLF: Recent Past, Present & Future – Part Two – Looking at the issues
LLF: Recent Past, Present & Future – Part Three – Looking ahead – where do we go from here?
* Note: the tables in the The House of Laity section on pages 13 and 14 of the Account & Analysis incorrectly refer to clergy instead of laity.
26 CommentsCEEC: Why we are compelled to resist
The Church of England Evangelical Council has today published a lengthy statement which includes this declaration:
If the Church of England’s General Synod or House of Bishops:
- authorises or commends liturgical provision for the celebration, dedication, blessing or solemnisation of any sexual relationship other than marriage between one man and one woman, or liturgical provision for the blessing of those in such relationships; or
- removes the bar on clergy being in such relationships; or
- produces pastoral guidance that is indicative of a departure from the Church of England’s doctrine that marriage between one man and one woman is the proper context for sexual intimacy; or
- amends Canon B30 so the Church of England no longer affirms that “according to our Lord’s teaching marriage is in its nature a union permanent and lifelong, for better for worse, till death them do part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side”;
we will declare that this action represents a departure from the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness.
Our desire is to keep faith with this inheritance as members of the Church of England and to remain in full communion with those Provinces of the Anglican Communion who also maintain the biblical and historic teaching of the church catholic.
We will therefore resist all attempts to introduce any of these changes or to marginalise those who, in their own teaching and practice, uphold the received doctrine of the Church of England and the teaching of Jesus on marriage.
We are compelled to resist.
More from the same statement page is copied below the fold.
More documentation from CEEC is here:
37 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 CommentsFebruary 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)
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 Comments