…some of our churches don’t have a weekly Communion at 10 o’clock. And I think that even the greatest enthusiast would admit that there have been losses as well as gains in this great change which has happened over the last 60 years.

The first loss is length. Morning Prayer used to last 50 minutes with a good sermon; Family Services only 45 minutes. But a sung Eucharist can take anything from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half ”“ especially if there is a Confirmation added in. Sometimes I find myself thinking that this is a good way of saying “Go away” to young people who come to visit us.

The second loss is simplicity….

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The House of Bishops ”˜recognise that bishops and clergy have found ways of engaging pastorally with those in civil partnerships, both at the time of registration and subsequently’. What the bishops mean, but don’t say, is that some of them have found ways of fully supporting people in civil partnerships but they don’t want to admit so publicly (or to each other).

The House of Bishops disagrees in practice on the policy it claims to have adopted. It isn’t split. It simply reflects the diversity of the Church of England. The House already contains a number of bishops who are gay and many others who are fully supportive of lesbian and gay relationships.

What the House of Bishops needs to do, NOW, URGENTLY, is to find a way of being open, honest and trusting when bishops meet together, so that the wisdom and experience in their midst can be shared and used to change attitudes NOW.

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The Church of England has opened the door for a more liberal approach to same-sex relationships.

It will review whether current teaching on homosexuality should be relaxed and also rule on allowing gay clergy in civil partnerships to be bishops.

Leading conservatives warned that the Church would split if the bishops attempt to weaken its policy that active same-sex relationships are wrong.

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The Church of England has said it is reviewing its approach to same-sex relationships and whether gay priests in civil partnerships should be allowed to become bishops, its most significant work on the subject for years.

According to a statement from the House of Bishops, there is a “theological task to be done to clarify further understanding of the nature and status of these partnerships”.

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The Church of England has taken a step towards liberalising its teaching on homosexuality with the announcement of a review of its teaching that active same-sex relationships are wrong.

Its bishops admitted that they had spent “very little time” discussing the issue that has torn the fabric of the wider Anglican Communion.

The Bishop of Norwich, the Right Rev Graham James, a favourite to succeed Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury, said that the bishops now accept that they have a responsibility to address the policy issue.

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An opinion issued by the church’s legal office last month noted that there had never been a statement that “a celibate person in a civil partnership cannot be considered for appointment as a bishop.”

The legal opinion went on to say that present or past personal relationships of a candidate could be considered in deciding whether he could “act as a focus of unity.”

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Lawyers have said the Church could not reject clergy as potential bishops on the basis of their homosexual orientation alone.

The Church of England told clergy in 2005 they could enter civil partnerships if they remained celibate, but uncertainty has arisen about whether such clergy could be nominated as bishops.

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The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham James, speaking on behalf of the Bishops, said today that the 2005 pastoral statement on civil partnerships, produced by a group he chaired, “was silent on the issue” of whether priests should be eligible for episcopal appointment. He said that “while the relevant legal background was analysed in a recently published Legal Office note (News, 27 May), the House acknowledges its responsibility to address the policy issue”.

In addition, the Bishops have pledged to tackle the whole issue of homosexuality. In a parallel review, it will take “a wider look at the Church of England’s approach to same-sex relationships . . . in the light of the listening process launched by the Lambeth Conference in 1998”, Bishop James said. It intends to publish a consultation document in 2013.

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“Among the matters to be considered in the review of the 2005 Statement there is one of some importance which the House did not address in advance of any experience of civil partnerships. This is whether clergy who have registered civil partnerships should be eligible for nomination to the episcopate. The House has concluded that it would be wrong to pre-empt the outcome of the review and that clergy in civil partnerships should not at present, therefore, be nominated for episcopal appointment. The House’s intention is to complete the review, which will need to take account of the legal analysis set out in GS MISC 992 (Choosing Bishops ”“ the Equality Act) during 2012.

“The House has also decided that more work is now needed on the Church of England’s approach to human sexuality more generally. In February 2007, the General Synod passed a motion commending ”˜continuing efforts to prevent the diversity of opinion about human sexuality creating further division and impaired fellowship within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.’

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Church leaders in the US and UK have called upon their governments to take a stand against Sharia law,

On June 9 the former Bishop of Rochester urged the government to support legislation outlawing the use of Sharia law in Britain when it conflicts with English law, while an American bishop has written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voicing his dismay over NATO negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Bishop-elect Julian Dobbs of the Anglican Church in North America, and founder of the Church and Islam Project, told Mrs. Clinton that too many people were willing to ignore the implications of Sharia law and believe that Islam is a religion of peace.

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Both the Church of England and the Catholic Church are anxious to influence the public agenda. The Newsnight episode is just the latest instance of the Catholic bishops’ reticence and limited profile, compared with their Anglican counterparts. Time and again, the Church of England ”“ and some other ­bodies such as the Jewish Leadership Council ”“ appear to be more sure-footed in their engagement with Government and civil society.

Why is this, and what is holding back the Catholic Church? Part of the difficulty is the contrasting backgrounds, formation, experience and responsibilities of Catholic and Anglican bishops. The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, and Dr Williams lead Churches whose pathways to the nation are as different as if their leaders had lived in two separate worlds.

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A leading bishop has warned that the Church of England must “act now” to secure its role in education amid swift policy change.

Rt Rev John Pritchard, who chairs the Church’s education board, said “very short notice” changes were “not the best way to build for the future”.

He expressed concern about support for Church-run academies and the exclusion of RE from the English baccalaureate.

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The great 20th century Prime Minister, Clement Attlee said that he believed “in the ethics of Christianity but not the mumbo jumbo”. One of the questions for the 21st century is whether the ethics have a sustainable foundation without what Attlee describes as the “mumbo jumbo”.

Professor Wolterstorff of Yale argues in a recent book [2008] Justice Rights and Wrongs that it is not possible. Inalienable and equitable rights were not possible within the accepted moral framework of the ancient world. Full and equal rights in democratic Athens for examples were confined to adult, male, free born citizens. The decision of the Christian ecclesia from the beginning to enrol women, slaves and children in the new Israel was seen as deeply subversive.

This is not to argue for a “Bible-says-it-all-politics” which has been out of fashion since our disastrous flirtation with it 350 years ago. It is simply to recognise that all politics rest on assumptions; myths if you like, properly understood not as fairy tales but as archetypal stories about the human condition. Both our economic activity and our political life must have ground beneath them. Human beings are not just blind globs of idling protoplasm but we are creatures with a name who live in a world of symbols and of dreams and not merely matter.

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Read it all (5 page pdf). I see also that Simon Sarmiento has helpfully provided an html version there if you find that more user friendly.

Physics teaches us that bubbles are spherical because that is the lowest energy state. Whether this applies to the shape and energy of journalists, I will leave you to decide. Also whether bubbles – in terms of being blown, floating along, being popped at any time – relates to newspapers in our current climate, we can discuss over lunch.

Is journalistic life a free floating immoral bubble or is there such a thing as ”˜moral journalism’, which is grounded in gravitas? ”˜Moral journalism’ is not, I believe, an oxymoron like ”˜healthy tan’ or ”˜Sun reader’ (perhaps that is unfair…) or even, remembering the 1980s software, ”˜Microsoft Works’. I am using the phrase not so much about articles of scandal, or unethical ways of gathering news (though the latter is newsworthy itself at the moment concerning phone hacking): I am concerned with weighty, profound writing which draws on a hinterland of accumulated moral thinking.

This is the journalism to be encouraged…

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Fathers are never far from the headlines, from controversies around teenage fathers to reports on how good fathers have such a positive influence on the development of their children. All this coverage shows that we instinctively recognise the importance of fathers to us individually and to society as a whole. So we shouldn’t be surprised that this emphasis on, and honouring of, good fatherhood is a reflection of the way in which God deals with the human race.

I have always believed in my head that God loves me unconditionally but it was only when I became a father myself that I began to understand it with my heart. From the moment when I first set eyes on my first child, now aged ten, my love for her was so immediate and strong that I would have done anything to protect her – and still would. And that set me wondering about the love of God: if I, with all my faults, could love like that, then maybe I could understand in a new way how it is possible for God to love me like this.

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General Ratko Mladic is now on trial in the Hague charged with war crimes, following the horrors nearly 20years ago in Srebrenica with the massacre of 8,000 boys and men.

This is in marked contrast to the discovery and subsequent shooting of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. There may have been very good reasons why he, too, could not have been arrested and put on trial for his crimes, but we are not told them in any clear or persuasive way.

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A former Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, said that the BBC had some “hard questions to address”, after broadcasting the programme. “Its own guidelines state that the portrayal of suicide has the potential to make this appear possible, and even appropriate, to the vulnerable.” He also argued that “the BBC has an obligation to provide a balanced presentation of the moral issues of the day,” but “so far, there has been little evidence of such balance in this matter.”

In a statement, the BBC said that it ac­know­­ledged that suicide was “an exceptionally difficult issue”, which “should be portrayed with the utmost sensitivity”. It argued that there was “a clear editorial justification” to broadcast the programme, which “does not encourage suicide and does not breach BBC guidelines.

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The Bishop of Exeter the Rt Revd Michael Langrish took part in a BBC2 Newsnight debate on Monday June 13 following the BBC programme ‘Choosing to Die’ presented by Sir Terry Pratchett. His main comments from the debate are below:

“I did not change my mind (after seeing the programme) but my expectations changed. I expected I would disagree with the outcome and expected to welcome the film as a contribution to a really important debate but the more I watched it the more concerned and indeed disturbed I became by it. It was very one-sided, a nod to hospice care but no showing the alternative ending, no indication that the two principals Peter and Andrew needn’t have been living the life they were leading and right at the end I questioned the whole ethical basis of programme. I felt that Peter and indeed his wife and perhaps Terry Pratchett as well had been caught up and become trapped in the storyline of programme. I felt there was a deeply coercive atmosphere in room in the end and I felt quite emotionally blackmailed by it.”

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Dr Welby said the death of Johanna, in a road accident in France in 1983 when she was just seven-months-old, had drawn his family closer to their faith.

“It was a very dark time for my wife Caroline and myself, but in a strange way it actually brought us closer to God,” he said.

After the tragedy, Dr Welby continued in the oil business and by 1987 had moved to the top of the oil finance industry, but chose to resign.

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The new Bishop Designate of Durham was announced today – on Ascension Day, one of the most important days in the Christian calendar.

The Very Revd Justin Welby is currently Dean of Liverpool where he was appointed in December 2007.

Justin Welby is very much looking forward to being part of the continuing renewal of the ministry of the diocese of Durham and joining those that are strong advocates of the North East.

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Voting on the motion that “This Synod approves the draft Act of Synod adopting the Anglican Communion Covenant”

Laity – In favour 20 Opposed 3 Abstentions 0

Clergy – In favour 21 Opposed 1 Abstentions 2

Bishops – In favour 2

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Most readers of this blog would agree that it would be hypocritical for the Church of England to refuse to appoint Jeffrey John to a Bishopric whilst it continued to have bishops installed who were in identical situations as Dr John and his partner. But, I am led to believe, that is not the case and the bullet points above have been drawn up because they cover safely in their five points any of the men that some might wish to out in their angry response to the leaks of this week. If it were not so then the Church of England, quite rightly, would open itself wide up to the charge of blatant hypocrisy and despite the fact that people at Church House and in the highest echelons of the CofE do make mistakes, they do not deliberately make those kind of mistakes. Those kind of mistakes lead to resignations at the highest level. If that is all true, then what would the outing of gay bishops in the Church of England actually achieve?

Well firstly, it would expose to public view as homosexual a number of men who have been faithfully celibate and abiding to the church’s teaching steadfastly for all of their lives. They would be outed for the only reason that they were single and gay rather than single and straight, outed by folks who argue vociferously on their blogs and websites that people should not be singled out just because they were gay and for no other reason. Who at this point would be the hypocrites?

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Church of England Schools must have a “critical mass” of Christian students and teachers to maintain their distinctive ethos, the Bishop of Exeter has told his diocese. Diluting the Christian element of church schools would no longer leave them Christian and would rob them of their unique character.

In a letter released to coincide with the start of term for Devon’s 131 Church of England schools, Bishop Michael Langrish said the church had “always been committed to the education of all children.”

However, the “work of all our Church Schools is grounded in a Christian understanding of the nature of human beings and their relationship both with other people and with God. This understanding finds expression in teaching, in pastoral care, in worship and in the total school ethos” the bishop said in his April 28 letter.

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A checklist has been drawn up that makes it virtually impossible for an openly gay person to become a bishop in the Church of England.

At the same time as the Church of Scotland was opening the door to gay ministers, the C of E’s House of Bishops met in secret to discuss, among other things, legal advice on how to continue to exclude homosexuals from the episcopate in the wake of the Equality Act 2010.

A press spokesman confirmed that the Bishops discussed “issues concerned with episcopal appoint­ments this week, and commissioned further work”. It is understood that the bishops were unable to agree.

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It is understood that the president’s remarks may have been made to head off a symbolic recognition of pre-1967-borders Palestine at the U.N. General Assembly and to restart negotiations between the parties. This is indeed commendable, but not at the expense of securing an agreement that is just and workable for both Israel and the Palestinian people. It would be tragic if the emergence of a Palestinian state consigned the Palestinians to Salafi-Wahabi servitude rather than leading to a true freedom for Christians as well as Muslims, women as well as men.

Finally, from a Judeo-Christian point of view, I would have welcomed an acknowledgment from the president of the Biblical basis of the idea, expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, that women and men are endowed with certain inalienable rights by their Creator. This is the true basis for any struggle to have human equality affirmed and respected.

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[In the House of Lords] Bishop James said: “A significant number of faith-based children’s agencies are still providing adoption services in compliance with the Equality Act, while others are now restricted in that area to providing services after adoption.”

He asked children’s minister Lord Hill of Oareford: “Do you agree that, taken together, all these faith-based children’s agencies provide a key service to vulnerable children ”“ one that could be further extended?”

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From here:

We are looking forward to having Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali visit our diocese May 22-25 for a teaching mission. He is the former Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in England and a recognized expert on the subject of Muslim-Christian relations. He is a native of Pakistan who converted to the Christian faith and then felt called to the ordained ministry. He will preach at St. Vincent’s Cathedral on Sunday, May 22, and lead a diocesan clergy day on Tuesday, May 24, at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Fort Worth. That evening, everyone is invited to hear him speak at the Will Rogers Center in Fort Worth’s cultural district. His theme is “Hold Fast: An Urgent Call to the Western Church.” The event begins at 6:30 p.m., and I hope you will come and bring friends with you.