Lambeth Palace has issued this press release:
Archbishop to visit Kenya to offer solidarity
Monday 7th October 2013The Archbishop of Canterbury will visit Nairobi on 19 and 20 October as a guest of the Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Revd Eliud Wabukala.
The purpose of the visit, which has been arranged at short notice, is to be in solidarity with the Kenyan people following the attack on the Westgate shopping mall last month.
The programme of the visit is not yet confirmed.
The Archbishop was invited to speak at the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which takes place between 21 October and 26 October in Nairobi.
He was unable to attend because of long-standing diary commitments, including the baptism of Prince George. He will, however, record a video greeting, which will be broadcast to delegates at the start of the conference.
The Archbishop is also continuing to hold in prayer the people of Peshawar, Syria, and all those in troubled parts of the world.
Earlier today GAFCON had issued this press release:
11 CommentsGAFCON and the Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury will visit GAFCON primates just before the opening of GAFCON 2013 in Nairobi.
GAFCON Primates are holding a two day meeting, then 1200 leaders and lay people from the UK, Asia, Africa, the Pacific and South America will fly in to Nairobi for the Global Anglican Future Conference starting on Monday, October 21st.
GAFCON Chairman Eliud Wabukala invited Archbishop Justin Welby to send greetings to the conference and he indicated he was unable to do so in person because of commitments during the week. His office has since confirmed he will make a flying visit to speak with the Primates.
The general secretary of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, Dr Peter Jensen, says “The Archbishop’s decision to come to the Primates meeting is a recognition of the importance of such a large and significant gathering of Anglicans from around the world and he will be made very welcome.”
Posted October 7, 2013
Bishops’ Office and Working Costs for 2012 have been published today, along with this press release.
Bishops’ Office and Working Costs Published
The 2012 office and working costs of bishops in the Church of England are published today. Figures for individual bishops were first published, for the year 2000, in December 2001.
The costs of their offices and the work of the bishops for 2012 was £20.0 million compared to a cost of £19.5 million in 2011, an annual increase of 2.5%.
This figure includes the work of the two Archbishops and the 113 bishops in the Church of England – 44 diocesan (leading) bishops and 69 suffragan (deputy) and fulltime assistant bishops, including area bishops and provincial episcopal visitors.
Included within the 2012 figure is approximately £2.8 million for legal costs during the year. House running costs for all bishops as a total was just over 750,000.
An annual block grant is made by the Church Commissioners to diocesan bishops to cover the bishops’ stipends, staff and working costs. The bishops determine how their funding is used. The Commissioners’ Board of Governors agreed to increase funding for the Archbishops by 2 per cent and for the bishops by 4 per cent, year on year for the 2011-2013 triennium.
Bishops’ office and working costs for the year ended 31 December 2012 are published on the Church of England website at:
http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1859514/final%20bishops%20office%20and%20working%20costs%202012.pdf
The media have been sent this additional Note to Editors.
Costs for earlier years are available here.
17 CommentsThe Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) has issued a report on Religious Education in English schools.
You can find the full report text, and a summary, on this page. OFSTED itself says:
Religious education (RE) makes a significant contribution to pupils’ academic and personal development. It also plays a key role in promoting social cohesion and the virtues of respect and empathy, which are important in our diverse society. However, the potential of RE was not being realised fully in the majority of the schools surveyed for this report.
The report identifies barriers to better RE and suggests ways in which the subject might be improved. The report is written for all those who teach RE, for those who lead the subject, and for headteachers of primary and secondary schools.
The key findings of the report are copied in full below the fold.
The Church of England issued this statement:
The Revd Jan Ainsworth, the Church of England’s Chief Education officer has issued a statement in response to today’s publication from Ofsted Religious education: realising the potential which says that schools and the government have failed to focus effectively on religious education.
“It is no comfort to us that Ofsted’s detailed report on the state of Religious Education in this country’s schools confirms all the messages we have been giving the Secretary of State over the last two years. The Report places the blame for poor standards squarely on government policy. In particular the removal of support and squeeze on places for training RE teachers is a scandal and will take years to reverse. RE is still core curriculum in Church schools and we repeat our offer to the Mr Gove to work with him and the whole RE community to improve commitment and competence in this essential part of every child’s education.”
Media coverage is extensive:
Telegraph Ofsted: Christianity sidelined in poor quality RE lessons
Independent Ofsted says religious education teaching ‘not good enough’
BBC Over half of schools failing in religious education, says Ofsted
Observer Church of England attacks Michael Gove over state of religious education
Mail on Sunday The pupils who are so badly taught they don’t even know who Jesus was
Express Schools failing pupils on RE
The BBC Radio 4 programme Sunday also covered it at length, starting about 30 minutes in.
4 CommentsThe Republic of South Africa passed its Civil Union Act in 2006. This permits same-sex relationships to be registered as either civil partnerships or as marriages.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa (a province which encompasses Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and the island of St Helena) issued this press release (among others) on Friday: Anglican Church of Southern Africa considers Pastoral Response to Civil Unions
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa has urged its bishops to provide guidelines for giving pastoral care to same-sex couples who have entered civil unions under South African law.
The Church’s ruling Provincial Synod, currently meeting in Benoni, South Africa, on Friday adopted a resolution urging its Synod of Bishops to finalise guidelines “as soon as possible”.
The Church neither marries same-sex couples, nor ordains or licenses priests or deacons who live in same-sex unions. This is in line with the practice of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
However, in the words of the Right Revd Martin Breytenbach, Bishop of St Mark the Evangelist, during a debate at the Synod, “civil unions are a reality, whether we like it or not.”
Proposing the resolution, Bishop Breytenbach acknowledged he was on the “conservative” side of the debate. But, he continued, all God’s people needed pastoral care and “we have people in our church who are same-gender couples who regard themselves as married, even though I find it difficult to accept.”
The Right Revd Garth Counsell of Table Bay – from the diocese of Cape Town, which is seen as more open to recognising same-sex marriage – said the resolution was “not talking about same sex- marriage or whether we will do that or not.” It was rather about “confronting legal reality”…
The full text of the resolution is included in the release and is copied below the fold.
10 CommentsMathew Guest writes about University and the Christian faith: revisiting the relationship. A version of this article appeared in the Church Times on 13 September where it is only available to subscribers.
There is also this article about work by Dr Guest and his colleagues: Church faces “difficult decision” to engage liberal Christian students.
John L Allen Jr writes in The Spectator about The war on Christians.
Vicky Beeching interviews Kate Cooper and asks her Have women been airbrushed out of Church history?
Milton Jones asks is Christianity weird? in a video for the Guardian.
2 CommentsThe Anglican Communion News Service has announced today that Anglican Church of Southern Africa completes Adoption of Anglican Covenant.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) has adopted the Anglican Communion Covenant.
Its Provincial Synod today unanimously voted to ratify the decision taken at its previous meeting in 2010 to adopt the Covenant. This completes the legal process.
The Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Thabo Makgoba, proposed the motion. Addressing the Synod, meeting this week in Benoni, Johannesburg, he emphasised ACSA’s commitment to being at the heart of Anglican life, often acting as a bridge-builder, and drawing on its own experiences of living with considerable diversity and wrestling with difference.
Seconding the motion, the Dean of the Province, Bishop Rubin Philip of Natal, quoted from the Introduction to the Covenant:
6. To covenant together is not intended to change the character of this Anglican expression of Christian faith. Rather, we recognise the importance of renewing in a solemn way our commitment to one another, and to the common understanding of faith and order we have received, so that the bonds of affection which hold us together may be re-affirmed and intensified. We do this in order to reflect, in our relations with one another, God’s own faithfulness and promises towards us in Christ (2 Cor 1.20-22).
With debate only addressing a minor wording amendment, the motion was passed without dissent.
The text of the motion is given below.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
This Synod
1. Notes the adoption of the Anglican Covenant at the Provincial Synod of 2010;
2. Recommits the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to playing the fullest possible role at the heart of the Anglican Communion, working to promote its unity in diversity and strengthening of bonds of affection, in a life of mutuality and interdependence, shared between autonomous churches, acting each as we are called in our own particular contexts and according to our own ordering, in response to this common gift and calling we have received in our Lord Jesus Christ;
3. Reaffirms its belief that this ordering of shared Communion life may be furthered as set out in the Preamble to the Covenant:
We, as Churches of the Anglican Communion, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, solemnly covenant together in these following affirmations and commitments. As people of God, drawn from “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Rev 7.9), we do this in order to proclaim more effectively in our different contexts the grace of God revealed in the gospel, to offer God’s love in responding to the needs of the world, to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and together with all God’s people to attain the full stature of Christ (Eph 4.3,13).
4. Resolves to confirm its adoption of the Anglican Covenant.
13 CommentsDespite the recent violence in Nairobi, the second GAFCON conference is going ahead there, see GAFCON II is a go.
Anglican Mainstream has published the following: Why GAFCON 2013 and What is FCA? Full text copied below the fold.
Some other articles related to this:
Vinay Samuel An Overview of the Anglican Communion Today – From communion to coalition.
Bob Bettson ANALYSIS: Anglican Communion faces troubled waters
Sue Careless Reviving Communion
Archbishop Eliud Wabukala Chairman’s September Pastoral Letter
And for a different perspective, see Bosco Peters GAFCON.
Our previous reports on GAFCON related items were:
Titus Presler has published this Peshawar All Saints’ update: bomb casualty toll; funds appeal; other bombings.
6 CommentsIn a conversation from Peshawar today, Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz Peters of the Diocese of Peshawar said that the confirmed death toll from the bombing at All Saints’ Church on Sept. 22 in the old section of the city stands at 127, with 170 injured.
“It has been just devastating,” he said. “Quite a few children are paralyzed, and others are orphaned. This is a terrible time for the Christian community.” Financial assistance is urgently needed to support the families of the dead and injured, he said.
Government officials, including the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkwa, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and federal ministers, have visited in order to express concern and condolence. The bishop has met with them either at All Saints’, where he has been based over the week, or at his home on the grounds of St. John’s Cathedral.
Yesterday’s car bomb in Qissa Khawani bazaar was detonated nearby while the All Saints’ congregation was again at worship on the first week’s anniversary of the Sept. 22 bomb. “People were in a panic, and there was such a rush,” Bp. Humphrey said, “but after about 25 minutes we were able to get them settled and resume the service.” The bomb killed 40 people and was reported to have exploded about 300 yards from All Saints’, near a mosque and a police station. On Friday, 19 people died when a bomb planted on a bus carrying government employees exploded in the outskirts of Peshawar.
Today’s confirmed count of 127 dead and 170 wounded from the Sept. 22 bomb is lower than the initial reports of 150 dead and 200 wounded, but it is considerably higher than the figure of 85 dead that is being circulated by global news media. Peshawar’s overall death toll from bomb blasts for the week is 176…
Updated Wednesday
Theos has published a report: More than an Educated Guess: Assessing the evidence on faith schools.
The Bishop of Oxford has welcomed the report: Bishop of Oxford welcomes report by think-tank Theos on faith schools.
The full text of the report can be downloaded as a PDF from here.
Theos says:
The Church pioneered mass education in Britain but over the last ten years, as the ‘church school´ sector has morphed into ‘faith schools’, the role of religious groups and institutions within the education sector has become highly contentious.
Much of the debate is by nature ideological, revolving around the relative rights and responsibilities of parents, schools and government in a liberal and plural society. Invariably, however, ideological positions draw on evidence pertaining to the actual experience and impact of ‘faith schools’. Questions like – Are‘faith schools’ socially divisive? Are they exclusive and/or elitist? Is there a special faith school effect on pupils? Is there anything distinct about the educational experience offered by faith schools? – become key to the debate.
Unfortunately, this significance is not always matched by subtlety, with the answers given and conclusions drawn frequently going beyond what the evidence actually says. More than an Educated Guess attempts to give an honest and accurate picture of what the evidence does say. Drawing on an extensive range of studies on faith schools in England, the report shows that, while there is evidence about their social and educational impact, it is rarely simple or straightforward, and that conclusions drawn from it should be tentative – certainly, more tentative than they have been of late. Ultimately, the authors argue, we need to be more honest about what the evidence says, and should avoid treating faith schools as a proxy debate for the wider question of faith and secularism in public life.
More than an Educated Guess will be an essential contribution to a major public conversation, which will make uncomfortable reading for participants on each side of the debate.
John Bingham at the Telegraph has written: Faith schools protests dragging children into ideological ‘battleground’ – bishop. He quotes Andrew Copson of the BHA as saying:
“Although the report masquerades as a new, impartial, survey of evidence surrounding faith schools, it is in fact mere apologetics in favour of such schools.
“The report omits evidence, misrepresents evidence and even makes basic errors about types of school and types of data that totally undermine any attempt to take it seriously…”
Updates
The British Humanist Association has now published a detailed criticism of the report, which can be read in full as a PDF here, or see this article: Worse than an educated guess: BHA responds to Theos report on ‘faith’ schools.
Theos has responded to this, with More than an Educated Guess: a Response to the British Humanist Association or there is a fuller document available as a PDF here.
2 CommentsThe Briefing for Members of Vacancy in See Committees has been recently updated and is now dated July 2013.
There are a number of changes from the previous edition, including these.
1) Following the introduction of Common Tenure, diocesan bishops have a role profile and person specification. Details of how the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) prepare these is now included.
2) The section on the procedures of the CNC has been expanded, in particular by adding information on the interviews that are now held.
3) Under the section “The Prime Minister” there is this new sentence which requires further editing.
A medical and DBS ** [what does this mean???] are conducted prior to the [candidate’s formal nomination to the See?].
DBS refers to the Disclosure and Barring Service checks (previously CRB checks).
12 CommentsRelease 2A from the 2011 Census results for Scotland includes data on Religion. The Census press release on this contains the following:
Religion
BRIN has a very much more detailed discussion at Scottish Religious Census, 2011.
One of the surprising things is that many people in Scotland identify themselves as Church of England or Anglican, rather than as Episcopalian, or belonging to the Scottish Episcopal Church. The figures contained in this table are (updated Monday morning):
Church of England 66,717
Episcopalian 21,289
Anglican 4.490
Scottish Episcopal Church 8,048
Church of Ireland 2,020
Church in Wales 453
BRIN includes links to responses made by many denominational leaders. The Primus of the SEC made this statement.
26 CommentsUpdated Monday
Lambeth Palace issued this press statement:
Archbishop’s statement on marriage tax breaks
Saturday 28th September 2013
In response to the Prime Minister’s announcement today that some married couples and civil partners will receive a transferable tax allowance from 2015, the Archbishop has said the church welcomes all support for family life.
In a statement, the Archbishop said: “We welcome all support for family life and we’re pleased that this initiative includes both married couples and those in civil partnerships.”
Press coverage of this government announcement:
Telegraph Married couples to receive £1,000 tax break
Guardian Tories woo married couples with tax break
BBC David Cameron unveils marriage tax breaks plan
Channel 4 News David Cameron’s cash for married couples – who gets it?
David Cameron proposes rewarding marriage with a tax cut – worth £200 a year to four million couples. But it won’t go to everyone. Who gets the £3.85 a week marriage bonus?
…The married couples tax break will favour “one earner” couples, where one partner is either not working or earning very little. Very high-earners won’t get it either. It will be restricted to basic rate tax payers – a band which includes people on salaries of up to £41,450 a year.
The marriage tax break has been on the Conservative agenda since 2010, but the bill will be sped up this year and brought in for 2015, Cameron promises.
The tax break will go to couples where one partner has an income of under £41,450 and the second is not working or earning a low salary.
In order for the couple to benefit, the low-earning partner will have to be earning under £9,440 – the current tax-free allowance for 2013/14…
Further media comment:
Spectator David Cameron unveils £1,000 marriage tax allowance
New Statesman Five problems with the Tories’ marriage tax allowance
Guardian This Tory tax allowance is just a marriage of convenience
10 CommentsAndrew Brown writes in The Guardian that Outrage is the wrong reaction to outrageous crimes.
Vicky Beeching has interviewed Ruth Chapman for Faith in Feminism: Synod, WATCH & Women Bishops.
Joe Ware writes for the Church Times Enough for need, but not greed.
Huffington Post has photos to show that Abandoned Churches Are Eerily Beautiful. It also has photos of The World’s 50 Most Unusual Churches.
1 CommentA consortium including the Church Commissioners are the preferred bidders to purchase 314 bank branches from RBS, it was announced today. Details are in this press release from the Commissioners.
Church Commissioners statement on RBS bid
The Church Commissioners for England have today confirmed that as part of a consortium of investors they will be partnering with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to create a leading challenger bank from 314 RBS branches across the UK.
The confirmation follows the decision of the board of RBS to favour the bid of a consortium which includes the Corsair Capital investment fund, Centerbridge Partners and the Commissioners to create a new bank with a focus on ethical standards and servicing the needs of retail and SME customers.
The new bank, to be called Williams and Glyn’s (W&G), will be a vigorous challenger in UK business and retail banking sector with a projected 5% market share of the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) and mid-corporate banking markets, and a 2% share of UK personal current accounts.
Andreas Whittam Smith, first estates commissioner, said:
“The Church Commissioners are excited to have the opportunity to be involved in creating a U.K. challenger bank operating to the highest ethical standards and giving consumers more choice. We are delighted that the Royal Bank of Scotland recognised the strengths of our bid and the consortium’s vision, and have chosen the consortium as their preferred bidder.”
Andrew Brown, Secretary to the Church Commissioners, said:
“This is a great opportunity for the Commissioners to invest in an exciting opportunity for the benefit of the serving and retired clergy, bishops, cathedrals and the wide work of the Church of England throughout the country especially in areas of need and opportunity.”The Church Commissioners for England are responsible for managing a well-diversified investment portfolio with the aim of producing returns to support the Church of England’s work across the country.
Notes:
The Church Commissioners manage an investment fund of some £5.5 billion, held mainly in a diversified portfolio including equities, real estate and alternative investment strategies. The Commissioners’ work today supports the Church of England as a Christian presence in every community.The annual objectives of the Church Commissioners include:
- A return on investments of RPI +5%
- Supporting poorer dioceses with ministry costs
- Providing funds to support mission activities
- Paying for bishops’ ministry and some cathedral costs
- Administering the legal framework for pastoral reorganisation and settling the future of closed church buildings
- Paying clergy pensions for service prior to 1998
- Running the national payroll for serving and retired clergy
A copy of their annual report for 2012 can be found here.:
RBS says Return of Williams & Glyn’s moves closer.
Press reports include:
6 CommentsJames Quinn in The Telegraph RBS sells stake in Project Rainbow branches to Corsair for as much as £800m
Jill Treanor in The Guardian RBS sells 314 branches to church-backed Corsair consortium
BBC News RBS sells 314 bank branches to Corsair consortium
Sky News Church Consortium Wins RBS Branch Sale Race
The timetable for the November group of sessions of the General Synod of the Church of England is available for download, and is copied below.
|
GENERAL SYNOD: NOVEMBER 2013
Timetable |
|
| Monday 18 November | |
| 12 noon | Meeting of the House of Laity |
| 2 pm – 7 pm | |
| 1.45 pm | Worship |
| Formal business | |
| Briefing by the Archbishop of Canterbury | |
| Report by the Business Committee | |
| Quinquennium Goals Part II: Intentional Evangelism | |
| Legislative Business | |
| Miscellaneous Provisions Measure/Amending Canon No 31 – Final Drafting and Final Approval | |
| Yorkshire Diocesan Reorganisation Scheme: Resolution relating to Synodical representation | |
| Not later than 5.20 pm | Questions |
| Not later than 6.50 pm | Presentation on Steering Committee report on women in the episcopate |
| [7.05–7.25 pm] | Evening worship |
| Tuesday 19 November | |
| 9.15 am – 1 pm | |
| 9.15 am | Group work on Women in the Episcopate (to include morning worship) |
| 11.45 am | Legislative Business: |
| Any unfinished legislative business from Monday | |
| Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction (Amendment) Measure (re the Faculty Jurisdiction) – First Consideration | |
| 2.30 pm – 7 pm | |
| 2.30 pm | Presidential Address by the Archbishop of York |
| The Church School of the Future (Chadwick Report) | |
| Legislative business | |
| PCCs (Powers) Measure – First Consideration | |
| Amending Vacancy in See Committee Regulation (to give effect to Bradford DSM) | |
| Standing Orders Committee report | |
| Not later than 5.45 pm | London DSM: Review of the Workings of the General Synod |
| [7.05-7.25 pm] | Evening worship |
| Wednesday 20 November | |
| 9.15 am – 1 pm | |
| 9.15 am | Holy Communion |
| 10.30 am | Women in the episcopate: Motion on Steering Committee report |
| Legislative business | |
| Women in the Episcopate Draft Measure and Amending Canon – First Consideration | |
| 2.30 – 5.30pm | |
| 2.30 pm | Legislative Business |
| Women in the Episcopate: Draft Measure and Amending Canon – First Consideration cont’d | |
| The Work of the Elections Review Group: Second Report by the Business Committee (resumed debate) | |
| Not later than 5.15 pm | Farewells |
| 5.30 pm | Prorogation |
| Contingency business: | Bradford DSM: Name of Dioceses |
| Wakefield DSM: Nature and Structure of the Church of England – National Debate | |
Updated Friday morning
Here’s a round-up of where the process of choosing bishops for vacant English diocesan sees is at present.
Five dioceses have been allocated places in the queue for the Crown Nominations Commission.
Bath and Wells
The CNC has already held its first meeting (18 July), and the second is scheduled for 3/4 October 2013.
Leeds
The three dioceses that will be subsumed into the Diocese of Leeds have all published updates this week (Bradford, Ripon and Leeds, Wakefield) inviting “anyone wishing to comment on the needs of the diocese, or the wider Church, or who wishes to propose candidates” to write to the Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments by 3 October. This timetable is very short, but originally the closing date was 30 September.
Leeds has been allocated 12 November 2013 and 9/10 January 2014 for its CNC meetings, but the Ripon and Leeds update states “The Crown Nominations Commission will meet on November 12th, interview in January 2014 and will make its selection in February when it nominates the new bishop” whilst Bradford has “These diocesan reps will join the national reps in November to begin the formal process, with a further residential meeting in January. It is hoped that we will have the name of the new diocesan bishop by the end of February.” My interpretation of this is that there will be the usual two meetings (in November and January), and that the public announcement of the new bishop is expected in February.
The diocesan representatives on the CNC are David Ashton (Wakefield), Kathryn Fitzsimons (Ripon and Leeds) and Paul Slater, Zahida Mallard, Sam Corley and Debbie Child (Bradford).
Exeter
The CNC meetings will be on 18 October and 6/7 November 2013. Details of the diocesan statement of needs, and the six people elected from the diocese to serve on the CNC are here. These representatives are Anneliese Barrell, the Revd Douglas Dettmer, the Very Revd Jonathan Draper, Anne Foreman, Charles Hodgson and the Revd Gilly Maude.
Hereford
The CNC meetings will be on 22 January and 25/26 February 2014. The diocese has published this briefing note and this note from the chair of the vacancy in see committee.
Liverpool
The CNC meetings will be on 6 March and 1/2 April 2014. The diocese has published this guide to the process. Liverpool’s vacancy in see committee will be having its first meeting next week (1 October) and its main meeting on 3 December.
Other vacancies in the pipeline are Gibraltar in Europe, Guildford, St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, and Southwell & Nottingham.
Update
The usual notices of the vacancies in the Sees of Leeds and Hereford appear in the Church Times today (27 October) with closing dates for comments of 3 and 17 October respectively. The Religious Job site carries the notice for Leeds here.
26 CommentsThe Lambeth Palace website reports on the consecration of two suffragan bishops yesterday. See Archbishop ordains and consecrates Bishops of Ebbsfleet and Tewkesbury.
Somewhat unusually, the article contains both a transcript, and links to an audio recording, of the sermon, which was delivered by Lord Williams of Oystermouth.
8 CommentsYesterday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby was interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 World at One lunchtime news programme.
You can hear the interview with Martha Kearney here.
Subsequent media coverage:
BBC Pakistan church bombing victims ‘martyrs’, archbishop says
Telegraph Christians now suffering mass martyrdom, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Express “Christians are being attacked just because of their faith”, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Star Archbishop of Canterbury says pray for Kenya mall killers
0 CommentsSee earlier TA articles here, and then here. And our own copy of the election rules here.
Church of England press release:
11 CommentsFirst Female Representatives to House of Bishops Elected
26 September 2013
The results of the first elections for female representatives to attend the House of Bishops have been announced. At its meeting of 7 February 2013 the House of Bishops decided that eight senior women clergy, elected regionally, will participate in all meetings of the House until such time as there are six female Bishops who will sit as of right.The representatives will take up their roles on 1st December.
- South West region – Ven Nicola Sullivan, Archdeacon of Wells
- North East region – Very Revd Vivienne Faull, Dean of York
- South East region – Ven Rachel Treweek, Archdeacon of Hackney
ENDS
Notes
The results for the elections in the 5 other regions are expected to be announced over the next two weeks.The rules relating to the election of the regional representatives can be found here:
http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1784044/2013%20rules%20under%20so12.pdfMore information on the role and work of the House of Bishops can be found here: http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/general-synod/about-general-synod/house-of-bishops.aspx
From the Anglican Communion News Service:
Church of South India elects first woman bishop
The Church of South India has today appointed its first woman bishop.
The Revd Eggoni Pushpalalitha was ordained in 1983 and has most recently been a priest in the Diocese of Nadyal in Andhra Pradesh.
Her appointment comes only days after the Church of Ireland elected its first woman bishop, the Revd Pat (Patricia) Storey as the new Bishop of Meath and Kildare.
Provincial Secretary of the Church of South India, Mani M. Philip confirmed that Miss Pushpalalitha had been appointed by the Synod Selection Board this afternoon.
“We have been ordaining women since 1976,” he told ACNS, adding that in its constitution, the province mandates that at least 25 per cent of all statutory bodies should be women.
Bishop-designate Pushpalalitha is expected to be installed on Monday 30 September.
One of the 38 Member Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Church of South India is a ‘united’ Church—the result of the union of churches of varying traditions Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed. It was inaugurated in September 1947.
4 Comments