Andrew Davison Church Times In the beginning — or the end?
The Anglican Communion Office has published a few Christmas Messages from Anglican Primates, and from the Secretary General.
Paul Carlyle Rylands Blog Charles Wesley’s ‘Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending’
Gilo Surviving Church A Culture of Fear
66 CommentsThe Church Times has this report: Synod to vote in February on future of church safeguarding
For background and context see Safeguarding and independence.
The new document mentioned can be found here: Wilkinson-Jay Response Group – Emerging Proposals
This describes the two models (out of the original four) between which the General Synod will be asked to make a choice in February. It’s worth the time to read the whole of this document to get the sense of where the Response Group is heading.
The differences are summarised by the Church Times this way:
Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office
Appointment of Chairman of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury: 16 December 2024
The Prime Minister has appointed The Lord Evans of Weardale KCB DL to be the Chairman of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP
Published 16 December 2024
The Prime Minister has appointed The Lord Evans of Weardale KCB DL to be the Chairman of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury. The Crown Nominations Commission is the Church of England committee that nominates the candidate to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury to succeed the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby. Archbishop Welby has announced that he will complete his duties on 6th January 2025.
Notes for Editors
Jonathan Evans has been a Crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2014. Until October 2023 he was Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. He is currently Chair of the HALO Trust, the anti-landmine charity, and of the Public Interest Committee at KPMG UK. He is a former Director-General of the Security Service, MI5. He is an active and communicant member of his local parish church.
The Church of England’s standing orders state that the Chair of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury is appointed by the Prime Minister and must be an actual communicant lay [i.e. not ordained] member of the Church of England.
84 CommentsAndrew Brown Prospect Anatomy of a Church of England abuse scandal
“The truth of who knew what about John Smyth has been lost in the hunt for further scapegoats”
Andrew Brown The slow deep hover What help are the police?
“The innocent would also have paid if Smyth had come to trial”
Ruth Layzell Church Times Safe Church needs safe clergy
“Pastoral supervision helps ministers to protect the vulnerable better”
Press release from 10 Downing Street. Further information from the Birmingham and Guildford diocesan websites.
210 CommentsThe King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Esther Tamisa Prior, Vicar of St John the Baptist Egham and Honorary Canon at Guildford Cathedral, for appointment as Suffragan Bishop of Aston in the Diocese of Birmingham.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 12 December 2024The King has approved the nomination of The Reverend Canon Esther Tamisa Prior, Vicar of St John the Baptist Egham and Honorary Canon at Guildford Cathedral, for appointment as Suffragan Bishop of Aston in the Diocese of Birmingham, in succession to The Right Reverend Anne Hollinghurst following her resignation and appointment as Principal of the Queens Foundation.
Background
Esther was educated at the University of Zimbabwe and trained for ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. She was ordained priest in 2004 and served her title at Redland Parish Church in the Diocese of Bristol, and St John’s, Deptford, in the Diocese of Southwark.
In 2008, Esther was appointed Associate Minister at St Matthew’s, Borstal, additionally serving as Chaplain at Blackheath Bluecoat Church of England School until 2009 and as Prison Chaplain for Cookham Wood from 2010. Esther was appointed Team Vicar at St John, Cove, in the Diocese of Guildford, in 2011 and in 2018 took up her current role as Vicar of St John the Baptist, Egham.
Esther is married to Matt, who is also ordained, and they have two teenaged children.
The Church of England’s House of Bishops held an online meeting this week, after which they issued the following press release.
House of Bishops Meeting – December 2024
11/12/2024
The House of Bishops convened online on December 10.
The House discussed the ongoing action being taken in response to the release of the Makin review and the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Representatives from the National Safeguarding Team outlined the detailed process being followed, in conjunction with relevant dioceses, in relation to those criticised in the report.
Further detail of this process can be found here: Steps currently being undertaken in response to the Makin review.
The House heard from representatives of the response group to the Wilkinson and Jay reports about the detail of independent safeguarding proposals that will be brought to General Synod in February. The lead safeguarding Bishop, Joanne Grenfell, spoke of the focus of the group on fostering trust, consulting widely and ensuring the group listened carefully to those with differing views.
In their work, the Response Group has established broad consensus that any future structure must include independence in relation to safeguarding audit, scrutiny, and complaints functions. Final proposals will go to February’s General Synod who will decide on the next steps.
The House received an update on the ongoing work of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) working groups from Bishop Martyn Snow.
21 CommentsPress release from 10 Downing Street. (The link mistakenly says “suffragan bishop”; if this is corrected the link may break.) Further details are on the Truro diocesan website and also on the Winchester site.
43 CommentsThe King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend David Williams, Suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke, for election as Bishop of Truro.
Appointment of Bishop of Truro: 11 December 2024
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 11 December 2024The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend David Williams, Suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke, for election as Bishop of Truro, in succession to the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen, following his translation to the See of Winchester.
Background
David was educated at Bristol University and trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served his title at All Saints Ecclesall, in the Diocese of Sheffield, and was ordained Priest in 1990. He served as Vicar of Christ Church, Dore, from 1992 and additionally as Area Dean of Ecclesall Deanery from 1997. David was appointed Vicar of Christ Church, in the Diocese of Winchester, in 2002. In 2014 David took up his current role as Bishop of Basingstoke, also in the Diocese of Winchester.
Updated Wednesday
The Rochester diocesan synod has passed a vote of No Confidence in the Archbishops’ Council with reference to safeguarding.
“That this Synod resolves to pass a vote of no confidence in the Archbishops’ Council’s oversight of safeguarding and urges for the necessary reforms to restore trust, safeguard the vulnerable, and uphold the Church’s moral and legal responsibilities.”
The voting was:
In favour: 51
Against: 5
Abstentions: 9
The diocesan bishop supported the motion.
For more details, including a link to the full text of the proposer’s speech, see here: Diocesan Synod backs vote of no confidence
This action has attracted some media attention:
Press release from 10 Downing Street. Further information from the See of Richborough website: the announcement and a pastoral letter from the bishop-designate.
30 CommentsThe King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Luke Irvine-Capel, Archdeacon of Chichester, for appointment as Suffragan Bishop of Richborough.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 10 December 2024The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Luke Irvine-Capel, Archdeacon of Chichester, for appointment as Suffragan Bishop of Richborough, in succession to The Right Reverend Norman Banks following his retirement.
Background
Luke was educated at Greyfriars, Oxford, and trained for ministry at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield. He served his title at Abertillery with Cwmtillery and Six Bells, Monmouth and, in 2000, was ordained Priest. In 2001 Luke was appointed Minor Canon at St Woolos Cathedral, Newport. From 2003 he served as Rector of St Dunstan with Holy Angels, Cranford, in the Diocese of London and, in 2008, was appointed Vicar of St Gabriel, Pimlico. From 2013 Luke served as Priest-in-Charge and then Rector of Christ Church, St Mary Magdalen and St Peter & St Paul, St Leonards on Sea in the Diocese of Chichester, serving in addition as Priest-in-Charge of St Clement and All Saints, Hastings. In 2019 he took up his current role as Archdeacon of Chichester.
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Tim Wyatt Religion Unplugged Racism In The Church of England: ‘Microaggressions All The Time’
Stephen Cherry The New Statesman The Church of England has been my life’s work. What has it done to my soul?
“This Christmas is not going to be an easy one for the Church – but fundamentally, its mission and message have not changed.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke yesterday (Thursday 5 December) in the House of Lords, in the course of a debate on Housing. His remarks have attracted a very considerable amount of criticism. So much so that he has now issued a statement of apology for them. Some relevant links follow.
Hansard, text of the speech. Parliament Live TV, video recording
The full text is copied here below the fold.
Friday 6 December A personal statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Yesterday, I gave my farewell speech in the House of Lords, as part of a debate on housing and homelessness.
I would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt that my speech has caused.
I understand that my words – the things that I said, and those I omitted to say – have caused further distress for those who were traumatised, and continue to be harmed, by John Smyth’s heinous abuse, and by the far reaching effects of other perpetrators of abuse.
I did not intend to overlook the experience of survivors, or to make light of the situation – and I am very sorry for having done so.
It remains the case that I take both personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period after 2013, and the harm that this has caused survivors.
I continue to feel a profound sense of shame at the Church of England’s historic safeguarding failures.
Friday 6 December. Safeguarding bishops apologise to survivors following Archbishop’s speech
113 CommentsThe Lead Bishops for Safeguarding, Joanne Grenfell, Julie Conalty and Robert Springett have written to survivors and their advocates following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech in the House of Lords.
We write after watching Archbishop Justin’s farewell speech in the House of Lords yesterday. We have heard from several of you about the distress and anger that this has caused you.
Both in content and delivery, the speech was utterly insensitive, lacked any focus on victims and survivors of abuse, especially those affected by John Smyth, and made light of the events surrounding the Archbishop’s resignation. It was mistaken and wrong. We acknowledge and deeply regret that this has caused further harm to you in an already distressing situation.
We know that the Church of England has seriously failed over many years at many levels in relation to safeguarding, and we are so sorry that yesterday’s speech was the antithesis of all that we are now trying to work towards in terms of culture change and redress with all of you.
As lead bishops for safeguarding in the Church of England, we apologize to you.
We will continue to do all we can to change the culture of the Church, so that abuse is exposed and prevented, those in authority are held to account, and the searching light of truth is allowed to shine into every corner of our lives.
If you are or are in contact with someone affected by this letter, please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit this webpage where other support services are listed.
Joanne Grenfell, Julie Conalty, Robert Springett
Lead bishops for safeguarding
The Church of England published its Statistics for Mission 2023 yesterday. There is an accompanying press release which is copied below.
Update Also available are the Detailed Diocesan tables from Statistics for Mission 2023.
Christmas and Easter congregations swell as Church of England sees third year of growth
04/12/2024
Attendance at Christmas services leapt by 20 per cent last year and the number of worshippers at Easter was up 8.6 per cent as Church of England congregations experienced a third year of growth, the latest full annual statistics show.
The number of regular worshippers in the Church of England edged above a million in 2023 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Statistics for Mission 2023 report.
Overall attendance remains below 2019 levels but the report published today shows numbers recovering towards the pre-pandemic trend.
The report confirms the pattern highlighted in preliminary headline figures for 2023 published in May of this year, with some upward revisions.
Overall weekly attendance at Church of England churches rose to 693,000 in 2023, from 663,000 in 2022, an increase of 4.5 per cent. The total reflects an upward revision from the preliminary figure of 685,000 published in May.
Meanwhile the number of children attending weekly increased from 90,000 in 2022 to 95,000 (up 4.9 per cent in a year). Again, the figure was revised upwards slightly from a total of 92,000 quoted in May.
The Church of England’s overall “worshipping community” – the total number of regular worshippers – rose to 1,007,000 in 2023, from 982,000 the previous year.
Just under two million people (1,961,000) attended services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day last year, up from 1,636,000 in 2022.
Separately, 2.1 million attended services for the congregation and community during advent 2023 in addition to 2.3 million who attended civic and school advent services.
Meanwhile the number of worshippers at Easter rose 8.6 per cent to 938,000.
46 CommentsThe Church of England’s General Synod will meet in London from 10-14 February 2025. An Outline of Business has been published, and is available for download. It is copied below the fold. (more…)
25 CommentsThe statement below was issued by Lambeth Palace today.
Statement from Lambeth Palace
04/12/2024
With the gracious agreement of HM The King, Archbishop Justin’s last day in post as the Archbishop of Canterbury will be on the Feast of the Epiphany, 6th January 2025. From that date, his primatial functions will be delegated, mainly to the Archbishop of York, his metropolitan functions to the Bishop of London and his diocesan functions to the Bishop of Dover.
31 CommentsColin Coward Unadulterated Love It’s the Church of England’s doctrine of God that requires our primary attention
Steve Reeves ISB 11 The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present
35 CommentsDecember 2024
The Church of England has recently published two press releases on this topic.
This describes progress to date by the Wilkinson and Jay Reports Response Group which will report to the General Synod in February 2025.
This describes work being done by the National Safeguarding Team in conjunction with dioceses and others, to follow up the recommendations of the Makin report. A four stage process is outlined.
The following reaction to the latter has already appeared at Church Abuse: Church of England announces response to Makin review: kick it into the long grass.
We will add any further items relating to these two releases as they appear.
30 CommentsMartine Oborne Women and the Church Why the next big safeguarding scandal in the Church is likely to be the abuse of women
Gavin Drake Church Abuse An open letter to the State Office Holders who are Church Commissioners
107 CommentsThe appointment of a suffragan bishop for the diocese in Europe has been announced from 10 Downing Street. This appointment is made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London and the Bishop in Europe acting jointly after consultation with the Standing Committee of the Diocesan Synod. There is further information on the Diocese in Europe website here and here.
44 CommentsThe King has approved the consecration of Reverend Canon Andrew Norman as Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese in Europe.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 29 November 2024The King has approved the consecration of Reverend Canon Andrew Norman, Director of Ministry and Mission for the Diocese of Leeds, as Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese in Europe, in succession to the Right Reverend David Hamid, following his retirement.
Background
Andrew was educated at University College, Oxford, Selwyn College, Cambridge and the University of Birmingham and trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained priest in 1996 and served his title at St Michael’s Church, Paris in the Diocese in Europe.
After serving in the benefice of Clifton in Bristol, Andrew was appointed in 2002 as Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assistant Secretary for Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Affairs.
In 2005, he was promoted to Archbishop’s Principal Secretary for International, Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Affairs.
From 2008 to 2016 Andrew served as Principal of Ridley Hall Cambridge, during which time he additionally held honorary canonries in Canterbury and Ely Cathedrals.
In 2017 he was appointed to his current role as Director of Ministry and Mission in the newly-formed Diocese of Leeds and was made honorary canon of Wakefield Cathedral.
A dairy farmer’s son, Andrew worked for the world’s largest commercial printer of banknotes, De La Rue, prior to ordination.
For further information, see the Europe Anglican website.
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Knowing and Not Wanting to Know the Truth
David Goodhew The Living Church TEC’s Latest Numbers: The Good News and the Bad News
Christine Polhill Women and the Church ‘Stop making bishops for specific groups’
Gavin Drake Church Abuse All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – except bishops, obviously
121 Comments