Displaying items by tag: Church of England

On 13 September 2018 the House of Lords debated a motion from Lord Popat, ‘to ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to reassure the Jewish community over the impact of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom.’ David Urquhart, the Bishop of Birmingham, said, ‘There is a need for constant vigilance to ensure that anti-Semitism plays no part in the life of our country’. A further report on the theology of Christian-Jewish relations is in preparation, led by the Bishop of Lichfield.

The next General Synod, from 6 to 10 July, will debate allowing Anglican congregations to share services and preachers with black-majority churches. It is called the ‘Michael Curry effect’ after the African-American bishop's barnstorming sermon at the Royal wedding. The change relaxes rules governing the links parishes make with other churches. Many of the liveliest congregations in England are black-led Pentecostal, in black majority churches. A Synod representative said that the framework would make it easier for parishes to welcome members of the fastest-growing expression of Christianity in England, work in partnership with them, and learn from them. Joe Aldred, a Pentecostal bishop in the Church of God of Prophecy, said, 'This is a great moment for relations between the Church of England and Pentecostal and charismatic denominations and congregations, including many black-led churches, as we share the task of building the Kingdom of God in this country’.

There are an estimated 11,700+ people trapped in forms of modern slavery in the UK. These are just the people who have been noticed: many would say that the figure is vastly greater. Slavery is largely unreported because of the difficulty and expense of regulating small businesses using casual staff. On 11 June a free-to-use smartphone app, commissioned by the Church of England, will help shed light on the true extent of forced labour across the UK by ‘noticing the unnoticed’ among people and businesses in the parish, starting with car washes. The app will ask users to complete a short questionnaire on local car washes to ensure that the business is legitimate and meets employment regulations. If the car wash appears to indicate signs of forced-labour exploitation, the user will be prompted to report the business to the Modern Slavery Helpline (08000 121 700).

A lawyer representing survivors of clerical sex abuse in the CofE said at a public hearing, ‘The Church of England is an inappropriate organisation to have charge or care of children and vulnerable adults, and would have been closed if it were a school.’ The inquiry used the diocese of Chichester as a case study to investigate the CofE’s failure to protect children from sex abusers. Another lawyer said, ‘Over the past three weeks I have been struck by how inappropriate the Church as an organisation is to have charge or care of children and vulnerable adults. Personally, I would not want my son to spend a moment in the company of a member of this organisation.’ The lawyers were struck by the ‘impotence’ of the Archbishop of Canterbury to hold bishops to account, calling it a deep-seated cultural and structural problem.

On 22 March the gay clergyman Canon Jeremy Pemberton lost his appeal against the Church of England after he claimed its attitude to same-sex marriage breached equality laws. The Court of Appeal upheld a previous ruling that he was not discriminated against when he was barred from becoming a hospital chaplain after marrying his partner. The CofE has now established that it can continue to discriminate legally against some LGBT people in relation to their employment, even when that employment is not within the boundaries of the Church's jurisdiction.

An inquiry heard that ‘toothless’ monitoring of convicted paedophile priests meant they were able to continue leading Anglican church services even after being banned from doing so. The inquiry into child sexual abuse was told that Rev Roy Cotton was restricted from public ministry to avoid contact with children, but it was ‘difficult’ to enforce. Fiona Scolding QC, the lead lawyer for the Anglican strand of the inquiry, is examining how the CofE handled allegations of sexual misconduct stretching back to the 1950s, first focusing on the Diocese of Chichester. But the issue is not confined to just one diocese. There have been published reports of systemic problems, a lack of safeguarding, and dysfunctionality.

Conservative Anglican church group GAFCON has said some Primates may walk out of the Anglican Communion Primates' meeting, over the issue of same-sex marriage. The Scottish Episcopal Church will be asked to repent for its decision to let clergy conduct same-sex weddings last June. The Archbishops of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda refused to attend a recent Anglican Primates' meeting over what they deem to be a weak stance in the Church on the issue of sexuality. Meanwhile on 5 October Justin Welby said that a ban on Scottish Anglicans taking part in some votes and holding certain offices ‘will be followed through’, after a meeting where anger and disappointment were expressed. The ban would involve exclusion from debate on doctrine and from chairing Anglican Communion committees. Archbishop Welby said that no vote was taken against the Scottish Anglicans by the Primates, but there was a ‘consensus’.

A six-year-old boy’s parents removed him from a church school, in a row over another boy wearing a dress. Their son was confused as to why the boy dressed as both a boy and a girl. The couple were told that under the school's bullying policy their son faced being disciplined for misidentifying the gender of the other pupil. The diocese responsible for the school said it is required to ‘respect diversity of all kinds’, and its policy regarding boys wearing dresses is, ‘if a child wants to do that then we just have to accept it’. The couple are suing the school for ‘overriding their religious beliefs’. The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust handle ‘under-18 gender issues’. Since 2015 the number of referrals to them of children under the age of ten has risen from 87 to 216 (32 aged five or under). See also

The Prayer Book Society gives free copies of the 17th-century Book of Common Prayer to first-year students in theological colleges. This year they will also be given a key to some of the BCP’s more old-fashioned words and phrases. Tim Stanley, the Society's press officer, conceived the scheme because although the language of the prayer book is very beautiful, it is also very ancient, and modern readers might find some words difficult to understand or interpret. The glossary will be given in a bookmark form, and is also available on the Society's website. See:

In October, the Church of England will launch a three-year project aimed at helping people in dioceses across the country to tackle modern slavery. It is the latest in a series of moves the CofE has made to help the government address this phenomenon. Over 200 years since Britain abolished slavery, there are still an estimated 11,700 potential slave victims in the UK. A new report from the National Crime Agency says that modern slavery is now 'prevalent' in every large town and city in the country. The Church of England, with a presence in every parish, is uniquely placed to be the eyes and ears of communities, and will be able to spread a message of awareness further afield. Churches are already running English classes for survivors. See also article 3 in this week’s World section.