…this is also the time of the year when the party conferences are finishing and it seems to me that this year something similar has been going on between the conferences. As one follows another the language and the atmosphere of political passion has been picked up and has spilled over from one to another so that this year, instead of the more usual bland speaking to the middle ground, the distinctive fruit of each of the parties begins to ripen and become clearer. As we head towards a general election in a couple of years’ time this clarity of choice might well be good for democracy, although I hope that we can avoid personal attacks on party leaders, and at the moment we also have a warning from America of what happens when political parties become so distinctive that they won’t talk to one another ”“ shut down.

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The growth of popular faith schools is often blocked because they are used as an ideological “battleground” says the Church of England’s head of education.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend John Pritchard blamed secular campaigners for questioning the legitimacy of faith schools.

Bishop Pritchard was writing in a report on faith schools for religious think tank, Theos.

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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.

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An Anglican bishop is marking the tenth anniversary of his consecration with a cash gift to churches in his diocese.

The Bishop of Wakefield, the Right Reverend Stephen Platten, said churches should use the £100 to start community projects.

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See what you make of it (another link there where comments may be made).

From here:

Forward in Faith regrets the decision of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales to authorize the ordination of women as bishops without first agreeing arrangements for those who, for theological reasons, will not be able to receive episcopal ministry from them.

We cannot see how a female bishop could be what a diocesan bishop should be ”“ a Father in God and a focus of unity for all within his diocese. This vote therefore makes the question of the provision of episcopal ministry for those who continue to uphold catholic faith and order in the Church in Wales even more pressing.

Experience in Wales and elsewhere does not give us confidence that the promised ”˜code of practice’ could offer the level of assurance that would encourage growth and flourishing ”“ so sorely needed in Wales ”“ or the degree of certainty that would remove the possibility of damaging and distracting disputes.

Our brothers and sisters in Credo Cymru will seek to enter into dialogue with the Welsh bishops. We can only hope that their representations will be met with the generosity of spirit that ought to be the hallmark of Christian episcopacy. Meanwhile, we continue to pray for and with our Welsh sisters and brothers, encouraging them to follow St David in being joyful and keeping the faith.

X JONATHAN FULHAM

The Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, Bishop of Fulham, Chairman

The Church of England was left isolated in the UK in its opposition to women bishops after the Church in Wales voted yesterday to ordain women bishops.

The first woman could be consecrated in Wales in just over a year.

The bill was passed by a two-thirds majority in the houses of laity, clergy and bishops. A code of practice will now be drawn up to safeguard the place of traditionalists. The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, said that it made “no theological sense” not to ordain women as bishops when the Church already ordained them as deacons…

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The Right Reverend Paul Butler (aged 57) was educated at Nottingham University where he took a BA in English and History in 1977. He trained for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. From 1983 to 1987 he was a Curate at All Saints with Holy Trinity, Wandsworth, Southwark. From 1987 to 1992 he moved to the Scripture Union as Inner London Evangelist and was then Deputy Head of Missions from 1992 to1994. From 1987 to 1994 he was a Non Stipendiary Minister at East Ham St Paul, Chelmsford. From 1994 to 1997 he was Priest-in-Charge at Walthamstow St Mary with St Stephen and also Priest-in-Charge at Walthamstow St Luke, Chelmsford. From 1997 to 2004 he was Team Rector of the Parish of Walthamstow. He was Area Dean of Waltham Forest from 2000 to 2004. Since 2001 he has been Honorary Canon of Byumba, Rwanda. From 2004 to 2009 he was Suffragan Bishop of Southampton. Since 2009 he has been Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham. Since 2004 he has also acted as Archbishops’ Advocate for Children. He currently is Co Chair of the Joint Safeguarding Liaison Group for the Church of England and Methodist Church. He was Chair of CMS from 2008-10 and is currently President of Scripture Union.

Paul Butler is married to Rosemary and they have 4 adult children. His interests include reading, writing, travel, gardening and listening to music.

Read more:
Official Announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office
Press Release from the Diocese of Durham and a further report

Good morning. Among the many hours of broadcasting about Syria in the past few days, one interview has stayed in my mind. It wasn’t with a politician, a pundit or even a proponent of just war theory. Last Saturday on PM I heard a telephone conversation between the presenter Jennifer Tracey and an unnamed man living in a Damascus suburb. He’d decided to stay on in Syria. He was well-educated, married and in his late twenties. Though no friend of the Assad regime, he was very realistic about what might replace it. Listening to him seemed at first to confirm that Syria’s problems were intractable. Then he mentioned something surprising almost in passing. His wife was expecting a baby….

Listen to it all (an MP3 of about 3 minutes).

Canon Meurig Williams writes:- “Bishop Geoffrey visited Armenia from Friday August 23rd until Tuesday 27th. This was a farewell visit to Catholicos Karekin II and the Armenian Apostolic Church before Bishop Geoffrey retires in November. In his role as Anglican co-chair of the theological dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox Churches of which the Armenian Church is one, Bishop Geoffrey has a long standing relationship going back many years. He has accompanied both Archbishops George Carey and Rowan Williams on their official visits to the Armenian Church and was present also at the 1700th anniversary of Armenian Christianity.

Read it alland enjoy the picture.

A selfish “love of need” has contributed to the decline of marriage since the 1960s, according to a senior bishop in the Church of England.

The Bishop of Bradford, the Right Rev Nick Baines, echoed the concerns of the outgoing Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, who earlier this month said institutions such as marriage broke down “when you begin to lose faith and society becomes very, very secularised”.

Read it all (subscription required).

Restraint on all sides is a necessary prelude to the beginning of political processes, which will have to include all sides and which must take place sooner or later. The future must lie in a peaceful and negotiated transition to an Egypt that is not simply “majoritarian”, but where democracy also means the rule of law and respect for fundamental freedoms, including those of expression, belief, and movement, regardless of gender or religion.

I have, for long, argued that if the gains of the authentic Nahda, or Renaissance, over a century ago, are not to be lost, Egypt needs a bill of rights. It is, perhaps, inevitable that, in a country like Egypt, Sharia will play a role in framing the law of the land, but how much of a role, and what understanding of Sharia, are the crucial questions here. There should be no compromise on the basic principle of one law for all, the equality of all before the law and respect for the common citizenship of all Egyptians.

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The Church of England has set itself on a collision course with opponents of hydraulic fracturing ”“ fracking ”“ by signalling support for exploration of Britain’s shale gas reserves.

Philip Fletcher, who chairs the Church’s group on mission and public affairs, compared condemnation of fracking to the mistaken belief that the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was not safe.

“The evidence for that was totally unsound, yet the damage caused by denying children the benefits of immunisation was huge,” he told the Financial Times.

Read it all (if necessary another link may be found there).

The Chair of the Church of England’s group on Mission and Public Affairs Philip Fletcher has today (16th August 2013) issued the following statement placing recent media reports in context:

“The Church of England has no official policy either for or against hydraulic fracturing (known as ‘fracking’). However there is a danger of viewing fracking through a single issue lens and ignoring the wider considerations.

“There are a number of balancing considerations which need to be taken into account when coming to a view. Fuel poverty is an increasingly urgent issue for many in society – the impact on energy bills is felt most by the least well off. Blanket opposition to further exploration for new sources of fuel fails to take into account those who suffer most when resources are scarce.

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“The state of emergency in Egypt following the carnage and increasing death toll of recent days is a matter of grave concern for those within and outside the region. The heavy loss of life is deeply disturbing and points to the urgent need for resolution and restraint from Government forces.

Of equal concern are the reports that several Churches across Egypt were attacked, including St Saviours Anglican Church in Suez. These unprovoked attacks are part of an all too familiar pattern that we see repeated across the region where Christian and other minority communities find themselves as collateral casualties in a wider struggle between two increasingly illiberal and repressive forces….

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Read it all and enjoy the picture.

Which direction will Mr Rouhani take? The West is anxious to see how Mr Rouhani is to renew and augment his previous persona as chief negotiator for Iran on its nuclear ambitions. It will also want him to encourage negotiations between the Assad regime (which Iran supports) and the Syrian opposition. There will, similarly, be an expectation that Iran will use its influence to calm restive Shia populations in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia.

It should be recognised, once and for all, that the West’s interest in Iranian foreign policy cannot be separated from Iran’s internal security and human rights situation. There will be little progress in Iran’s relations with the international community without progress in its human rights policies and the gradual emergence of a more inclusive and plural society.

For some years, a general ferment has been building in Iranian society. The different elements that make this up are mutually antagonistic and finding a resolution among them will be one of the major challenges of this presidency.

Read it all.

He will formally retire on All Saints Day which is the anniversary of his enthronement in 2001. A farewell service will take place on that day in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Gibraltar. Special plans are also being made for The Friends of the Diocese service on October 23rd which, this year, will be in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster as a UK farewell event.

Read it all (page 3).

Marriage has, over the centuries, been publicly recognised as a stable institution which establishes a legal framework for the committed relationship between a man and a woman and for the upbringing and care of their children. It has, for this reason, rightly been recognised as unique and worthy of legal protection.

The new Act breaks the existing legal links between the institution of marriage and sexual complementarity. With this new legislation, marriage has now become an institution in which openness to children, and with it the responsibility on fathers and mothers to remain together to care for children born into their family unit, are no longer central. That is why we were opposed to this legislation on principle.

Along with others, we have expressed real concern about the deficiencies in the process by which this legislation came to Parliament, and the speed with which it has been rushed through.

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I had hoped that the ghastly invention of so-called ”˜Indaba’ might have disappeared from the counsels of the Church with the retirement of Rowan Williams…
………..
…the small groups operating at General Synod on Saturday at least had a purpose ”“ to decide legislation on women bishops which can carry assent through the General Synod process. But it’s difficult to see what these kinds of structured exercises in reconciliation actually achieve when the final decision-making is still enacted through an adversarial process of stand-ing orders, voting and politicking.

In fact, only 48 hours after these small groups a series of amendments intended to improve provision for traditionalist consciences were being voted down one by one. Speaker after speaker stood up to assure their opponents that they wanted them to be a full part of the Church while at the same time defeating every measure that might have given them some space for flourishing.

These sorts of small group-driven conversations, Indaba and attempts at reconciliation provide the illusion that a real conversation has taken place and people have listened to each other. In reality, they merely substitute process for truth-telling.

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The General Synod has asked for new legislation to be drafted to enable women to be bishops. After a long debate on Monday morning and afternoon, it carried a motion from the House of Bishops embodying Option One, which was amended so as to specify the addition of a mandatory grievance procedure for parishes, and to urge that “facilitated conversations” continue to be used during the legislative process.

Amendments seeking to make provision for opponents by Measure or regulations made under Canon, “for co-provincial provision for alternative episcopal oversight”, and to retain Resolutions A and B for parish churches combined with a new Act of Synod all fell.

WATCH welcomed the passing of Option One, and said that facilitated small-group discussions, carried out behind closed doors on Saturday, had contributed to a better “tone” of debate. Traditionalists were heartened that the Synod had shown a commitment to providing for opponents. All sides welcomed the continuation of “facilitated discussions”, under the guidance of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s director of reconciliation, David Porter.

Read it all.

Forward in Faith thanks the many members of the Catholic Group in General Synod, together with other supporters, for their excellent contributions to yesterday’s debate.

Naturally, we are very disappointed that none of the amendments which would have ensured secure provision for those unable to receive the ministry of women as bishops and priests was passed. However, we are encouraged by the significant minorities, especially in the House of Laity, which did vote for such provision. We are confident that these votes, and the commitment which they represent on the part of many to a genuinely inclusive Church of England, in which all may flourish, will not be overlooked as the process moves forward. The alternative, which we would deeply regret, would be to pursue unsatisfactory legislation, lacking the necessary breadth of support, with the strong risk of ultimate defeat.

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The Church of England’s ruling general synod has voted to restart work on allowing women to become bishops.

Delegates voted by 319 to 84 to move forward on a new draft law, although this isn’t expected to get final approval until July or November 2015.

Previous attempts at creating similar legislation have been thrown out because of internal disagreements.

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The motion as amended which has just been passed h/t Thinking Anglicans for amended text:

“That this Synod:
(a) reaffirm its commitment to admitting women to the episcopate as a matter of urgency;
(b) instruct the Appointments Committee to appoint this month a Steering Committee to be in charge of the draft legislation required to that end;
(c) instruct the Business Committee to arrange for the First Consideration stage for that draft legislation to be taken at the November 2013 group of sessions, so that the subsequent stages can follow the timetable set out in paragraph 141 of the annex to GS 1886;
(d) instruct the Steering Committee to prepare the draft legislation on the basis described in paragraphs 79-88 of the annex to GS 1886 as ”˜option one’ with the addition of a mandatory grievance procedure for parishes in which diocesan bishops are required to participate, and invite the House of Bishops to bring to the Synod for consideration at the February 2014 group of sessions a draft Act of Synod or draft declaration to be made by the House to accompany the draft legislation; and
(e) urge that the process of facilitated conversations continue to be used at significant points in the formulation and consideration of the draft legislation.”

The motion (as amended) was carried with 319 votes in favour, 84 against and 22 recorded abstentions.

Motion and proposed amendments can be read here and the background paper provided is here. Video of the full debate should be available later.

T/A notes: [Option 1 comprises a measure and amending canon to make made it lawful for women to become bishops, and the repeal of the statutory rights to pass Resolutions A and B under the 1993 Measure, plus the rescinding of the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod.]

The CofE live stream when in session is available here

…Canon Porter then brought in a 24 professional “facilitators” to chair informal discussions in which every member of Synod, including the bishops and Archbishops, were asked how the defeat of the measure made them “feel”…

Read it all and see also earlier account from a participant, Bathwellschap here and Peter Ould’s comment here

…My group included two fairly prominent Synodical opponents of the November legislation: one Forward in Faith layman, and one conservative evangelical laywoman. There were others whose positions I did not know, but I imagine one or two of them had voted against in November. We were well facilitated so no-one was silenced, one or two of us were gently told to wait while others spoke, and we worked out way through a series of small group exercises about our feelings after November, and our senses about Options 1-4, as laid out in the paper for Monday’s debate.

So far, so touchy-feely. But in fact, it was ”“ to my mind ”“ a very worthwhile exercise. Before my very eyes I saw people who would not normally discuss their own views and feelings open up to one another. There was a significant conversation (listened to in silence by the rest of the group) between a male and a female priest in which he was able to ask questions, and she felt able to express her sense of pain and frustration ”“ in a much more wholesome atmosphere than we are used to.

It was unbelievably hot in our little meeting room. So heading for the plenary session in the main hall after tea was a welcome change. As was what happened next ”“ a professional theatre company giving us a playlet about the progress of the Women Bishop’s Bill. It had an unhappy ending. But then they did it again, but this time we (all 400 of us) could freeze the action, and one of us could take over one of the roles and try to change the direction of the thing. After much laughter, some poignant exchanges, and several runs through, David Porter re-appeared and gave us the gist of the 24 groups’ deliberations…..

Read it all and there is more on the Delphi Technique here and here

The Church of England could be given the power to run thousands of secular state schools in UK under a deal with the Department of Education.

The Church will be forced to preserve the character of non-faith schools and community schools joining a Church of England academy chain would not have to change its admissions policy, religious education lessons or employment terms for teachers, according to a report in the The Times.

But the move would give Bishops the power to appoint governors at the schools.

The plan has caused disquiet among secular groups, who said the decision would irreversibly increase religious influence over state schools

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The Bishop of Plymouth, Rt Revd John Ford, has been elected to serve as Diocesan Bishop of The Murray, South Australia.

The diocese has been without a bishop for three years and in a statement it said there was “great joy” in being able to announce Bishop John’s appointment as the fourth bishop of The Murray.

Bishop John has served as Bishop of Plymouth since 2005. He is married to Bridget and has three grown up children.

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“If true, the allegations that have emerged in recent days would show beyond doubt that we are not just hearing the revelation that some police officers behaved appallingly to the family and friends of a murder victim 20 years ago. In the light of what has been alleged, many people are now concluding that significant numbers of police officers, including some at senior level, knew of, and approved of, what was happening. The belief that this was not just a few bad apples but a rottenness at the core of UK policing needs to be tested by a full, open and independent investigation, now.

“If it is indeed the case that a cohort of officers has been complicit in a prolonged cover up, hiding the truth from the Macpherson enquiry and from the groups both within the Home Office and UK Policing that were set up in the wake of Stephen Lawrence’s murder and which sought to address the structural failings in how we police our society, then the integrity of all that well intentioned work is called into question, and we would be forced to conclude that a conspiracy of silence has continued until 2013 to prevent the full truth from emerging.

Read it all.