Displaying items by tag: Church of England

As families navigate the start of school, the Church of England has released a statement following news that 156 schools are at risk of collapsing because a type of concrete known as 'RAAC' was used in their construction. 52 buildings could suddenly collapse, and action was immediately taken to make them safe by propping up the concrete. The other 104 are scrambling to put safety measures in place and stay open. Schools with RAAC and no safety measures prepared must close, with pupils relocated to temporary facilities or pandemic-style online learning reintroduced. The CofE education office, which is in contact with government ministers and the Department for Education on this matter, is ensuring that dioceses are aware of the situation where it affects their schools. It says, ‘We are in close communication with them about any needed mitigations or contingency measures.’ See also

On 16 August the Future of Church Safeguarding Programme was set up to recommend a model for fully independent safeguarding within the Church of England. Operating independently, it is led by Professor Alexis Jay OBE with her chosen team which excludes anyone employed or previously employed by the Church. Support is provided by Crest Advisory (providing specialist independent support in justice and public safety), and no meetings or business will be conducted on church premises. The team will gather a range of views from survivors of abuse, clergy, church staff, church volunteers, and members of the public to better understand what needs to be improved and what is working well in church safeguarding processes. Respondents can share their views through an online survey or be interviewed in-person up to 31 October. It will be published by 31 December.

The former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was ordered to step back from active ministry in the Diocese of Newcastle after he criticised a review into the church's handling of abuse allegations against a late priest. The Church has formally apologised to the victim of sexual abuse after the review found that senior figures - including Sentamu - failed to act appropriately when disclosures were made to them. The current Archbishop of York said that the diocese remains committed to the highest standards of safeguarding, placing victims and survivors at the heart of this work. The Church of England's lead bishop for safeguarding said, ‘We all have a bigger moral duty when it comes to safeguarding matters: to really look at it, refer to it, ask questions, hold each other to account, and be curious about how things have concluded. Because of that moral imperative I think that with good training we all would know we need to act differently'.

Over a quarter of Anglican churches do not now hold a weekly Sunday service, according to the National Churches Trust. They also found that many churches struggle to raise funds for repairs and maintenance. Covid has had a significant impact on church attendance, which has fallen by over 20% from before the outbreak. It is not that no one wants to come to services; churches that stayed online and have not reduced their service numbers have regained 2019 attendance levels. Exhausted leaders spread across multiple congregations, tired volunteers and financial struggles were given as some of the issues facing churches post-pandemic. This relates only to the Church of England, and some of the findings are not present in the wider evangelical church. A common denominator in churches who are experiencing reduced numbers of attendees is that they are the churches who have abandoned orthodox Christian teaching.

The Church of England is considering alternatives to referring to God as ‘he’ after some priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead. The Church is launching a new project on the matter in the spring to decide whether to propose changes or not. Any alterations would mark a departure from traditional Jewish and Christian teachings dating back millennia. The Rt Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave, vice-chair of the liturgical commission responsible for this, said the Church had been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years. In common with other potential changes to authorised liturgical provision, changing the wording and number of authorised forms of absolution would require a full Synodical process for approval. It is unclear what would replace the term ‘Our Father’ in the Lord’s Prayer, the central Christian prayer which Jesus instructed his followers to say together down through the generations.

The Church of England has backed proposals to allow prayers of blessing for same sex couples. Its position on gay marriage will not change, and same-sex couples will still be unable to marry in church. The plans, set out by bishops last month, have been criticised both by those who think they go too far and those who think they don’t go far enough: but the motion was passed in all three of synod's 'houses'. Priests will be allowed to bless gay couples, but can opt out: the first blessings could be in the summer. The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said the Church was ‘in a better place’ as a result of the vote. However, he and the Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged that ‘deep differences’ remained. The CofE Evangelical Council said it was ‘deeply saddened and profoundly grieved’ by the move. A spokesman said, ‘The Church of England now appears set on a course of action that rejects our historic and biblical understanding of sex and marriage. This seems to us to be a lose-lose position for everyone.’

Christian climate activists have been protesting at Church House, Westminster, to highlight the Church of England's strategy of continuing to invest in fossil fuels. They also left handprints of fake blood and oil on the walls of offices of BAE Systems, Britain's arms manufacturer, to protest against their policy of supplying weaponry to conflicts; this increases the vulnerability of people living on the front lines of climate change. These actions follow the conclusion of COP27, which is being widely criticised for the presence of representatives from oil and gas companies. The activists believe the Church should show moral leadership in rejecting profits from investments in companies that continue to fuel climate suffering. Also, behind government decisions to double down on fossil fuel development (sign off new oil exploration licences and allow big energy companies to rake in record profits) lies a network of companies and organisations which are profiting from this destructive path.

Police are texting 70,000 people, warning them that they may have been victims of a banking scam in the UK's biggest anti-fraud operation. The Met have charged a Londoner with running an international service of fake phone calls to victims, who have lost thousands of pounds. Detectives only have victims' phone numbers and are asking people to act if they receive their messages. Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the proactive counter-fraud investigations involved ‘industrialised fraud’. There could be 200,000 UK victims of fraudsters pretending to be a bank and warning of suspicious activity on their accounts. A London address is the centre of fraud on a global scale. Police have the numbers of victims but not their names and addresses. Genuine messages from police were sent on 24 or 25 November, directing victims to register at the Police Action Fraud website. Texts on any other day should be regarded as fraudulent.

A recent meeting of the College of Bishops discussed the next steps of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) discernment process. LLF entails churches discussing whether to allow same-sex marriage in the CofE. One bishop, Steven Croft, published a 52-page essay on 3 November, detailing why he is calling for the Church to back same-sex marriage. It was suggested that when bishops engage with the media, they honour their pledge to be open about their diversity of perspectives. Some want the Church to be more inclusive with regards to same-sex marriage: others believe allowing gay marriage in Church would depart from Biblical teaching. Their debates will be brought to February’s General Synod for decision-making.

The Church of England has joined forces with Christian charity Youthscape to help parishes connect with young people. The £1.29m project is being rolled out to 450 churches across the country after being trialled in Blackburn, London and St Albans. ‘It's really a hopeful approach to engaging with young people in a parish, looking into strategies and confidence building,’ the Church of England's Vision and Strategy team said, ‘It's about working with the church leaders to help them develop what might be the right next steps in their context.’ Churches will have access to a five-session Youthscape training course to help volunteers and youth workers formulate plans to work with young people in their parishes. Sometimes it's the simplest things that don't require a lot of money but require you to look and have insight into how young people are living in the parish and look at where they might be able to engage with them.