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.
These meetings never (if the minutes are reliable) discuss lessons learned reviews. In this case a very important one was published a couple of days before the meeting but was still not discussed but I have NEVER seen one on the agenda.
It all reads as being a rather dreary few days away. Love to know who are the ones who are off to bed early with their Horlicks and a hot water bottle, and those who are propping up the bar into the wee small hours and looking bleary eyed the next morning.
Fr Dean I am reminded ,many years ago, serving behind the bar when the House of Bishops met ar Salisbury. At the meeting the bishops were gathered together for a photoshoot with all the prelates holding up a bottle of Bishops Tipple ( possibly the meeting was sponsored by Gibbs Mews, the Salisbury brewery Not one prelate actually drank the beer but reverted gratefully to G&T etc. The Bishop of Worcester accused my friend of not being part of the establishment because he overdid the bitters in his pink gin! As an aside the Bishop of Salisbury took us ordinands… Read more »
Southwark was happy to be left wing as long as he had a lavish expense account! I remember being on a bus that passed Lambeth Palace as a fleet of taxis were tipping out a purple shirt from each – no chance of their Lordships combining journeys or using public transport of course!
Very interesting. I believe that Mervyn Stockwood was notorious within the Church Commissioners for consistently filing larger expenses claims than any other bishop, despite being obliged to travel far shorter distances for most engagements.
That’s one of the [many] problems regarding the bench. They are on the Commissioners’ gravy train, and have no financial skin in the game with respect to their own dioceses.
And whether they had any sense of the deep trouble their organisation faces, or whether it was a comfy support group of likeminded individuals seeing themselves as soldiering bravely on not being properly appreciated ?
Lord Boateng is a member of Labour Friends of Israel so he is not in a good position to advise the Bishops on racial justice. Racial justice should include racial justice for our Anglican sisters and brothers in Israel and occupied Palestine.
In so far as this makes sense it appears to be antisemitism.
Ah, the old faithful, wheel out anti-semitism accusations to deflect even the mildest criticism of Israel and its apartheid regime. I trust you enjoyed the pro-genocide march through East Jerusalem?
Once again, an anodyne press release that tells us nothing of substance. General Synod members must challenge this and call on the bishops to be open about their discussions, save where they relate to genuinely confidential matters. Re the sentence, “The House then received an update on ongoing work to develop a National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of abuse,” was there no discussion of either (i) the current stand-off concerning the controversial appointment by the Archbishops’ Council of Meg Munn as acting chair of the ISB (especially in the light of the interviews of Bishop Joanne Grenfell and… Read more »