Historic England published its annual Heritage at Risk Register yesterday. Many entries are places of worship. This comes just a week after the Church of England launched its report on how it manages its 16,000 church buildings as part of its Reform and Renewal programme.
David Pocklington Law & Religion UK More “At Risk” CofE Buildings in 2015
Anglican Communion News Service More C of E church buildings placed on “at risk” register
Maev Kennedy The Guardian Bomb factory and concrete church among historic buildings at risk
Hannah Furness The Telegraph A Napoleonic lookout and an ammunition factory: the ’ heritage at risk register’ 2015
David Pocklington’s article has drawn my attention to Monday’s official announcement that from January 2016 Mike Eastwood (Diocesan Secretary, Diocese of Liverpool and Chief Officer, Liverpool Cathedral) will be starting a two-days-a-week secondment with the National Church Institutions as the Director of Reform and Renewal.
1 CommentUpdated
We reported on the release of the bishops’ letter here. In the days that followed there was a lot of press reports and reactions, listed in daily groups below with the earliest first.
Harriet Sherwood and Toby Helm The Observer Bishops in stinging rebuke to David Cameron over refugee crisis
Harriet Sherwood The Observer How the Church of England and the British government fell out over the ‘moral crisis’ of refugees
BBC News Syria refugees: Bishops urge David Cameron to do more
Nicola Harley The Telegraph Bishops row with David Cameron over offer of help to refugees
The Right Rev David Walker, Bishop of Manchester The Guardian Bishop says European migrant crisis ‘a moral matter’ not political – video
Laura Hughes The Telegraph Conservatives criticise bishops for attack on Syrian refugee policy
Charlie Cooper The Independent Refugee crisis: Church of England attacks Government’s ‘inadequate’ response
Rowena Mason The Guardian Bishops naturally leftwing, suggests minister after plea to take more refugees
Melanie McDonagh The Spectator Cameron should listen to Syrian bishops, not the Anglican ones
Steven Swinford The Telegraph Each Syrian refugee to cost Britain £24,000 a year
Nicholas Watt The Guardian David Cameron rebukes Church of England bishops over refugee letter
BBC News UK aims to take in 1,000 Syrian refugees by Christmas, says PM
Jules Middleton That Bishop’s Letter
Update
Nick Baines Yorkshire Post To portray bishops as anti-Conservative over refugees is ‘wrong, lazy and ridiculous’
[also online here]
Paul Handley Church Times Frustrated bishops call for 30,000 more refugees to be accepted in the UK
Updated
The Primates of twelve Global South provinces of the Anglican Communion met in Cairo recently and have issued a lengthy communiqué. Key points are:
Full text of the communique is below the fold. It can also be found on the ACNA website..
Update It is now also on the Global South Anglican website.
Also, as noted in the Comments, Nigeria was not represented at this meeting.
39 CommentsThis press release has just been issued: Bishops call on Prime Minister to provide “meaningful and substantial response” to refugee crisis
17 October 2015
The Church of England today has published a letter sent to the Prime Minister in early September signed by 84 of its bishops calling for the Government to increase the number of Syrian refugees being resettled to this country “to a minimum of 50,000” over the next five years.
Referring to the situation in Syria as “one of the largest refugee crises ever recorded” the Bishops write that “a moral crisis of this magnitude calls each and all of us to play our parts.”
Calling directly on the Prime Minister to increase his current offer to accept 20,000 refugees over the next 5 years to 50,000 the Bishops write:
“We believe such is this country’s great tradition of sanctuary and generosity of spirit that we could feasibly resettle at least 10,000 people a year for the next two years, rising to a minimum of 50,000 in total over the five year period you foresaw in your announcement. Such a number would bring us into line with comparable commitments made by other countries. It would be a meaningful and substantial response to the scale of human suffering we see daily.”
In addition to “recognising and applauding” the announcements made by the Prime Minister the Bishops offer help from the Church of England in encouraging their churches to provide welcome, housing and foster care to refugees as well as to support the Government in its ongoing efforts.
In their letter the Bishops also called for the creation of a National Welcome and Resettlement Board, mirroring the successful work of such boards created by Government in response to past refugee crises in the 1950s and 1970s. Since the writing of the letter the board has been created with the Bishop of Durham serving as co-chair of the board.
Speaking on behalf of the bishops, the Rt. Revd. Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham said:
“The Archbishop of York recently said that the current situation has rightly been described as a refugee crisis but it is also a time of opportunity for us as a country and for our wider continent. The opportunity before us is to rise above narrow self-interest, however defined, and to embrace the highest parts of our humanity.
We recognise that both the Prime Minister and His Government responded to calls from the country for there to be a programme of resettlement and we are grateful to him for responding to those calls. However there is a real urgency to this issue with those increasingly being forced from their land as their homes are literally bombed into the ground. As the fighting intensifies, as the sheer scale of human misery becomes greater, the Government’s response seems increasingly inadequate to meet the scale and severity of the problem. It is disheartening that we have not received any substantive reply despite an assurance from the Prime Minister that one would be received. There is an urgent and compelling moral duty to act which we as bishops are offering to facilitate alongside others from across civil society.”
ENDS
The full text of the letter follows.
9 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury ‘To the Glory of God’ – Archbishop’s sermon at Virginia Theological Seminary
Andrew Atherstone and Andrew Goddard Church Times If we can’t make up, can we still kiss?
Robin Gill Church Times Yes, faith is good for your health
Philip DeVaul The Orange County Register Stop saying ‘There but for the grace of God’
10 CommentsUpdate – northern deans now listed
My list of those elected to the 2015-2020 General Synod is now almost complete. The only gaps are the two Northern Deans and the lay member from the Deanery of Jersey. The clergy member from the Channel Islands will be Tim Barker, the Dean designate of Guernsey. But I understand that he will not be able to take up his place until he is commissioned on 28 November, which is after the inaugural group of sessions.
There are two vacancies from the Religious Communities because not enough people were nominated to fill all four places. By-elections will be held in due course.
My thanks go to all those who responded to my appeal to send me results.
9 CommentsUpdated Friday and Saturday
The Church of England yesterday launched a new report of how it manages its 16,000 church buildings. There was this accompanying press release.
Launch of major new report on how the Church of England manages its 16,000 church buildings
13 October 2015As part of its Reform and Renewal programme, which was debated in the General Synod in February, the Church of England has today published a report and launched a consultation on proposals to improve the support for its 16,000 church buildings.
The report comes from the Church Buildings review group, which was chaired by the Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Revd Dr John Inge. It constitutes the first attempt in many years to undertake a comprehensive review of the Church of England’s stewardship of its church buildings and includes a wide range of statistics, a substantial theological reflection and a survey of various initiatives being taken in individual dioceses. The report goes on to identify a number of principles that should shape the Church’s approach and makes some specific recommendations.
The review notes that more than three quarters of the Church of England’s churches are listed, and the Church of England is responsible for nearly half of the grade I listed buildings in England. More than half of churches are in rural areas (where 17% of the population lives) and more than 90% of these are listed.
Welcoming the opening of the consultation, Bishop John said:
“Our 16,000 church buildings are a visible sign of ongoing Christian faith in communities throughout England as well as being an unparalleled part of our country’s heritage. This report looks at how we can best support the thousands of local volunteers who care deeply for and about churches and offer wonderful service to their communities using their churches.
“We believe that – apart from growing the church – there is no single solution to the challenges posed by our extensive responsibility for part of the nation’s heritage. We hope therefore that this work will be a catalyst for discussion about how churches can be better cared for and used for the common good.”
A copy of the six principles recommended by the group and the recommendations are available below. [Ed: These are below the fold.] The consultation period runs until Friday 29 January and will include a debate at the first meeting of the new General Synod in November.
Notes:
The report is available at:
https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2383717/church_buildings_review_report_2015.pdf.
Press reports
John Bingham The Telegraph Church of England considers Christmas-only parishes
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Some churches will only open for Christmas – CofE report
David Keen blogs: When Should My Parish Church Be Demolished?
Updates
Giles Fraser The Guardian We must do to our churches what Beeching did to the railways
And in response Letters to the Church Magazine has this Mid-October Special.
Tim Wyatt Church Times Review calls for more state funds for Church buildings
Sir Tony Baldry (chair, Church Buildings Council) Ensuring that church buildings are a blessing and not a burden
Tiffer Robinson Giles Fraser has missed the point: rural churches need to be valued, not exterminated
Ian Paul Talking (non)sense about rural mission
24 CommentsThe votes in the elections to the Church of England General Synod will be counted during this coming week. I will publish the names of the successful candidates here: General Synod List of members.
Please help me do this by sending election results to gs2015@peterowen.org.uk. I will only publish the names of successful candidates, so I do not need the details of the count (although you are welcome to send these to me as well).
New this time is the requirement for dioceses to post the full return of the result and the result sheet (with voting figures) on the diocesan website. They must remain there until the end of the first group of sessions of the new Synod, ie 4.30 pm on 25 November 2015. Results for other constituencies must be similarly posted on the Church of England website. However there does not appear to be any particular date by which these results must be posted. But when they do appear I will add links to this page: Synod election 2015.
There are official lists of successful candidates here.
45 CommentsAndrew Brown The Guardian Opposing gay bishops for the sake of church unity is stupid
Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury, ‘Indifference is not an option’ – sustainable development and the Christian response to climate change
Christopher Howse The Telegraph English timber roofs where a host of angels roost
24 CommentsUpdated Thursday
Our previous article on Peter Ball is here, with links to earlier articles.
Peter Ball was sentenced to 32 months in prison this morning.
[Update: the sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Wilkie can be read here.]
The Church of England issued this statement.
Statement on the sentencing of Peter Ball
07 October 2015“It is a matter of deep shame and regret that a Bishop in the Church of England has today been sentenced for a series of offences over 15 years against 18 young men known to him. There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and the systematic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball over decades.
We apologise unreservedly to those survivors of Peter Ball’s abuse and pay tribute to their bravery in coming forward and also the long wait for justice that they have endured. We note that there are those whose cases remain on file for whom today will be a difficult day, not least in the light of the courage and persistence that they have demonstrated in pressing for the truth to be revealed. We also remember Neil Todd, whose bravery in 1992 enabled others to come forward but who took his own life before Peter Ball’s conviction or sentencing.
As the Police have noted Peter Ball systematically abused the trust of the victims, many of whom who were aspiring priests, whilst others were simply seeking to explore their spirituality. He also abused the trust placed in him by the Church and others, maintaining a campaign of innocence for decades until his final guilty plea only weeks ago. Since that plea was made processes in the Church have begun to initiate formal internal disciplinary procedures against Peter Ball.
Operation Dunhill began as a direct result of the safeguarding officer at Lambeth Palace raising concerns about Peter Ball following a church initiated review of files. The approach to the police was a proactive step on the part of the national Church leading to a self-initiated referral via CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre) to Sussex Police in 2012. This led to active co-working between Lambeth Palace, the Diocese of Chichester and Sussex Police on a complex enquiry with full information sharing. We pay tribute to those detectives whose work on this case over the past three years has led to this conviction and sentencing.
Since Peter Ball’s guilty plea on 8th of September this year questions have been raised about the Church’s handling of this case. As a result the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has commissioned an independent review of the way the Church responded.
The independent review will examine the Church of England’s cooperation with the police and other statutory agencies and the extent to which it shared information in a timely manner. It will also assess the extent to which the Church both properly assessed the possible risk that Bishop Ball might pose to others and responded adequately to concerns and representations submitted by survivors.
Further information about the arrangements for the review will be available in due course. The Archbishop has confirmed that the report of the review will include a detailed account of how the case was handled within the church and will be published.
The Church of England always takes any allegations of abuse very seriously and is committed to being a safe place for all. To this end we have robust procedures and policies in place. But we can never be complacent. Any survivors or those with information about church-related abuse must always feel free to come forward with confidence that safeguarding procedures will be followed.
Should anyone have further information or need to discuss the personal impact of this news the Church has worked with the NSPCC to set up a confidential helpline no. 0800 389 5344.”
Paul Butler, lead Bishop on safeguarding for the Church of England
You can listen to Bishop Paul Butler responding to the Peter Ball case by following this link.
Press reports
Nicola Harley The Telegraph Peter Ball: Ex-bishop jailed for 32 months for exploiting young priests for sex
Sandra Laville The Guardian Bishop escaped abuse charges after MPs and a royal intervened, court told
Press Association in The Guardian Sexual abuse victims of Peter Ball sue Church of England
Update
Tim Wyatt Church Times Prison for Bishop Peter Ball, but victims still seek justice
Comments are closed for this article.
0 CommentsWe reported on the Peter Ball case on 8 September: Peter Ball pleads guilty.
Since we published that article, this appeared on 13 September: Bishop Ball sex charges caution ‘wrong’ admits CPS.
Today, the Archbishop of Canterbury has announced an independent review of the way the Church of England responded to that case.
Press Release text is here.
Archbishop Commissions Independent Review of Peter Ball Case
05 October 2015
For Immediate ReleaseArchbishop Commissions Review of Peter Ball Case
The Archbishop of Canterbury has today commissioned an independent review of the way the Church of England responded to the case of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester.
During a hearing at the Central Criminal Court on September 8th of this year Bishop Peter Ball pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent assault and one charge of misconduct in public office following the work of Sussex police as part of Operation Dunhill.
Operation Dunhill began as a direct result of the safeguarding officer at Lambeth Palace raising concerns about Peter Ball following a church initiated review of files. The approach to the police was a proactive step on the part of the national Church leading to a self-initiated referral via CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre) to Sussex Police in 2012. This led to active co-working between the Church and Sussex Police on a complex enquiry with full information sharing.
Since Peter Ball’s guilty plea questions have been raised about the Church’s handling of this case. As a result the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has today commissioned an independent review of the way the Church responded.
The independent review will examine the Church of England’s cooperation with the police and other statutory agencies and the extent to which it shared information in a timely manner, identifying both good practice and shortcomings alike. It will also assess the extent to which the Church both properly assessed the possible risk that Bishop Ball might pose to others and responded adequately to concerns and representations submitted by survivors.
Further information about the arrangements for the review will be available in due course. The Archbishop has confirmed that the report of the review will include a detailed account of how the case was handled within the church and will be published.
Comments are closed for this article.
0 CommentsUpdated
Although the document has yet to appear on the provincial website, the full text of a communiqué from the September meeting of the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria has been published at Episcopal Cafè and also at Anglican Mainstream. Most of the document deals with local Nigerian matters, but there are two paragraphs which may be of wider interest:
ISSUE OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
The Standing Committee unanimously resolved to continue to maintain the orthodox biblical stand on this matter. It also calls on her members to defend the orthodox biblical teaching on marriage and family. On its part, the Federal Government is further enjoined to continue to resist the foreign pressure to make it rescind its stand on same-sex marriage.
THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION WORLD
While the Anglican Communion continues to be impaired by revisionist theologies of some Anglican Provinces, the Standing Committee calls the leadership of the Anglican Communion to repentance and renewed faith in Christ as expressed in the bible, the articles of religion and the Jerusalem Declaration, and further reaffirms our commitment on these as the basis of our relationship with other parts of the communion.
Update
A photo of the document is available here.
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Rowan Williams Embracing Our Limits – The Lessons of Laudato Si’
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Corruption entrenches inequality in South Africa, says Archbishop
19 CommentsBishop of London delivers Lambeth Lecture on church growth in the capital
40 CommentsChurch must be “vision-led not problem-led”, says Bishop Richard Chartres in the third of the Lambeth Lectures series.
Updated
The sermon preached by the Bishop of Chelmsford at the consecration of three new suffragan bishops in St Paul’s Cathedral on 29 September has received some attention in the media. The official press release about it is here.
Ruth Gledhill has written a news article about it in Christianity Today which is titled ‘Good Lord, deliver us from successful bishops’: A call for authentic church leadership.
The Archbishop Cranmer blog has BISHOP OF CHELMSFORD REPUDIATES EPISCOPAL “TALENT POOL”
The full text is available here.
The key passage reads:
So – a new line for the litany – Good Lord deliver us from successful bishops, from too well prepared or even too well organised bishops, from ready answer in the back pocket and PowerPoint strategy self-sufficient, all efficient bishops. Take us to those high places, places of perspective and reality, where we and all our schemes are set on fire, which, paradoxically for us, are also those places where life is raw, and pain and darkness requisite. Take us to the heights of prayer, to the depths of the scriptures, to the bottom step before the altar, to a places of silent waiting where, with mitres off and staffs laid down, we will be replenished and know our need of God, and there be renewed and strengthened for the things that lie ahead as bishops of God’s church – messengers, sentinels and pastors.
Update
The Bishop of Chelmsford has published this letter, responding to some of the comments made about his sermon.
41 CommentsMy sermon at the recent consecration of three new bishops at St Paul’s Cathedral has caused a bit of a stir.
Some have said that it was a riposte or rebuke to certain initiatives taking place in the Church of England around leadership development. This was never meant to be the case.
The intention of the sermon was to reconfirm the perspective of all our initiatives and all our plans and remind us of the calling of the bishop as messenger, sentinel and pastor, and at the same time enable us to smile at ourselves…
The new Bishop of Maidstone, Rod Thomas, now has a website, with quite a lot of information about his role.
Here it is: http://www.bishopofmaidstone.org/
16 CommentsEarlier this month, The Council of Bishops of the Society of St Wilfred and St Hilda (SSWSH) published a statement Communion and Catholicity in the Church of England: A Statement of Principles.
Today the Council has published the promised second statement A Catholic Life in the Church of England: A Statement of Policy and Pastoral Guidance.
You can download the full text of the new statement here.
In the Society’s own words:
This statement by the Council of Bishops of The Society, issued in September 2015:
- considers the relationship of parishes to the bishops of The Society and, through them, to its other parishes;
- explains the criteria that the bishops follow in deciding whether to commend the ministry of bishops and priests, for the purpose of sacramental assurance;
- explains the rationale for registering Priests, Deacons and Ordinands of The Society;
sets out the bishops’ policy with regard to ordination;- considers what living in the highest degree of communion that principle and conscience will allow should mean in practice;
- offers pastoral guidance on receiving Holy Communion and on concelebration.
The bishops call for openness to the Spirit, and for decisions to be taken ‘according to conscience and principle, and remembering the primacy of charity in the Church’.
There is also a leaflet titled Communion and Full Communion, based upon both statements, and available here.
The main press release about this is over here. The full text is copied below the fold.
33 CommentsJonathan Langley Christian Today Five reasons why Paula Gooder is going to influence your theology
Nigel Genders Church Times Education: A vision to transform the world
This is one of several feature articles on education in this week’s Church Times; the others are behind the paywall.
The timetable for the November meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England is now available for download, and is copied below.
GENERAL SYNOD NOVEMBER 2015 TIMETABLE
Monday 23 November
Induction of new and returning members
Tuesday 24 November
am Inauguration of the Synod
2.45 pm – 7.15 pm
2.45 pm Prayers, welcomes
Presidential Address: Archbishop of Canterbury
Business Committee Report
Introduction to Synod Worship by the Chaplain to the General Synod
Reform and Renewal Presentation followed by a Question and Answer session
*5.40 pm Questions
Wednesday 25 November
9.30 am – 1pm
9.30 am Morning Worship
Loyal Address
Presentation by the Archbishop of York on Global Warming
Debate on a motion moved by a member of the House of Bishops on the Migrant Crisis
Legislative Business
*11.30 am Ecclesiastical Judges, Legal Officers and Others (Fees) Order
Presentation from the Mission and Public Affairs Council on research on “Public Perceptions of Jesus”
2.30 pm – 4.30 pm
2.30 pm Debate on a Report from Church Buildings Review Group
*4.00 pm Farewell
4.30 pm Prorogation
4.45 pm (or 15 minutes after the prorogation if business is completed earlier):
Meeting of the House of Laity
*=not later than
0 CommentsUpdated Friday
All the lists of candidates for General Synod for the diocesan constituencies, and their election addresses, are now available. There are links to all of them on my website.
Ian Paul has taken a look at the gender balance (or lack of it) of the candidates: Synod, representation and gender.
Update
Tim Wyatt and Hattie Williams have also been looking at this for Church Times: Male candidates outnumber female in Synod elections.
9 Comments