The largest Anglo-Catholic group in the Church of England is expecting an exodus of thousands of Anglicans to Catholicism after a decision to ordain women as bishops without sufficient concessions to traditionalists.

Stephen Parkinson, director of Forward in Faith ”“ a group that has about 10,000 members, including more than 1,000 clergy ”“ said that a large number of Anglo-Catholics are considering conversion to the Catholic faith.

His comments came after the General Synod, the national assembly of the Church of England, voted at a meeting in York to approve the creation of women bishops by 2014 without meeting the demands of objectors.

A statement from Forward in Faith advised members against hasty action, saying now was “not the time for precipitate action”.

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Over the next few months the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have an opportunity to provide leadership, and this too will be monitored well beyond the borders of England….

…as the synod debate made manifest, there is a huge theological gap between opponents and the majority in favor. Ecclesiology was not to the fore during the debate in York. As Bishop N.T. Wright of Durham has urged, there needs to be much more exploration of mono-episcopate, headship, and sacramental assurance.

The archbishops are in a difficult place. It is their responsibility to be a focus of unity. Anglicanism has always depended on an element of compromise in the interest of the health of the wider communion. Compromise is weakened when there is even a hint that this is at the expense of principles and good theology.

Complexities abound. On the face of it, the ecclesiology of those on different sides in the debate seems to be irreconcilable. Moreover, there is the question of eventual reunion with the Church of Rome ”” and again the circles appear impossible to square.

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The Archbishops’ proposal failed to secure a majority in the House of Clergy although it passed the Bishops and the Laity. The important point is that valiant attempts are being made to open the way for women to be consecrated bishops without excluding from the church those who adhere to the present position and who share the faith which inspires our mission. We now have an opportunity to consider the draft legislation in the Diocese and I shall be setting out the process for doing this in due course. At the same time the House of Bishops is charged with working on the vital question of the Code of Practice. The Bishop of Willesden and I will be fully involved in these discussions. There will be a special meeting of the Diocesan Synod to ponder and vote on the advice which London will be sending back to the General Synod. I do hope that anyone questioning their place in the Church of England on the basis of media reports or premature judgements about the final shape of the legislation will get in touch with me or with their respective Area Bishop before making any personal decisions or public statements. I returned from York clear both that the majority will is to ordain women bishops while at the same time preserving, as far as possible, the unity of the church in her mission and service to our country.

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The Church of England was in fresh turmoil after two of its most senior clerics failed in their bid to avert a split over women bishops when a vote at the General Synod went against their compromise proposals.

New safeguards for objectors put forward by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu received the backing of a majority of the houses of bishops and laity of the General Synod.

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Update: You may find good details of the debate, including the vote margins in the three houses, here.

Dr John Sentamu warned “enough is enough” in view of the “general disregard for truth” regarding Dr Williams, a Christian leader he described as “remarkable” and “gifted”.

“It deeply saddens me that there is not only a general disregard for the truth, but a rapacious appetite for ‘carelessness’ compounded by spin, propaganda and the resort to misleading opinions paraded as fact, regarding a remarkable, gifted and much-maligned Christian leader I call a dear friend and trusted colleague ”“ one Rowan Williams,” he told the Synod.

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Dr John is a hugely divisive figure in the church after he was forced to stand down from becoming the Bishop of Reading in 2003 after it emerged he was in a homosexual, but celibate, relationship.

Promoting him to one of the most senior offices in the Church would trigger a civil war between liberals and conservatives and exacerbate existing divisions within the Anglican Communion.

Members of the Crown Nominations Commission, the body responsible for selecting bishops, will vote this week on whether Dr John’s name should now be put forward to the Prime Minister for final approval.

David Cameron has been made aware that Dr John is on the shortlist for the post and is understood to be supportive of such an appointment.

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Confusion and scepticism greeted the latest plans to introduce women bishops, as the Archbishops of Canterbury and York announced another possible compromise to keep the Church together.
Ahead of July’s General Synod in York, which will be dominated by a 24-hour debate on women bishops legislation, the Archbishops have indicated that the Revision Committee’s proposed legislation will fail to keep the Church intact. The Archbishops have devised amendments which they “believe might provide a way forward”.

The Archbishops have described possible ”˜co-ordinate’ jurisdictions where the diocesan bishop would supposedly be legally entitled to exercise any episcopal function, but in practice would allow a nominated bishop to step in when requested.

This would secure the status of women bishops with no derogation of their powers while also appeasing those who do not want the oversight of someone whose authority depends on a woman bishop, the Archbishops claimed.

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From here:

The Catholic Group in General Synod is grateful to the Archbishops for their suggestion of a possible way forward for the Church of England, both to enable the consecration of women bishops and to provide for those who cannot in conscience accept the ministry of women bishops. We are particularly grateful for their recognition of the need for bishops with jurisdiction in their own right to minister to us, and to all those who share our convictions.

We look forward to studying the amendments in detail when they are published. We very much hope that they will provide ‘nominated bishops’ who will be real leaders in mission and ministry. It is also be vital that the amendments provide for us to continue to hold a principled theological position, looking to the faith and order of the undivided Church. We believe that the Church will be better served by the consistency of a national scheme of provision.

The Catholic Group is wholly committed to securing provision within the Church of England.

Canon Simon Killwick

(Chairman of the Catholic Group)

Forward in Faith has welcomed the amendments which the two Archbishops are proposing. I am less sanguine than FiF about this attempt to get round the Revision Committee’s proposals concerning women in the Episcopate in England.

The notion the Archbishops are pressing is “co-ordinate jurisdiction” ”“ by which they mean that the ”˜nominated bishop’, a sort of downgraded PEV, will exercise those functions which the Diocesan Bishop decides to hand over in his or her diocese.

Now I have had to deal with diocesan bishops. Some of them see no problem in letting Flying Bishops operate. Others have allowed only minimal functions to be undertaken; for instance, not allowing them to ordain candidates within their diocese, even when the candidate has requested it from the start of training. There has been a Code of Practice agreed by the House of Bishops, and this Code has been undermined and ignored in far too many instances. Each diocesan has decided for himself how much of the Code to implement, and how much to ignore. The Archbishops’ proposals make this situation potentially much worse.

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The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are planning to force the General Synod to offer safeguards to traditionalists unhappy with women bishops. And I do mean force, since the Synod had already decided not to offer those safeguards.

Whatever. Although it’s none of my business, and if I was a supporter of women bishops I’d be outraged, I sort of hope that Dr Williams and Dr Sentamu get their way. As Fr Ed Tomlinson SSC notes on his blog, the Primates’ plan would separate worshippers who are serious about belonging to a Catholic Church as it was understood by the founders of Anglo-Catholicism ”“ none of whom would countenance any degree of communion, however remote, with women bishops ”“ from those prepared to turn a blind eye to the DIY ecclesiology of “alternative oversight”.

Fr Tomlinson, a supporter of the Ordinariate, makes a neat (if mischievous) distinction between those who want to be part of the “Catholic faith” and those who want to be part of “Catholic tradition”.

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5.The amendments we intend to propose involve neither delegation nor depriving a diocesan of any part of his or her jurisdiction. Instead we seek to give effect to the idea of a ‘co-ordinate’ jurisdiction.

6. What this would mean is that:

the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop ”“ whether male or female ”“ remains intact; he or she would remain the bishop of the whole area of the diocese and would be legally entitled to exercise any episcopal function in any parish of the diocese;
*
*
* where a parish had requested arrangements, by issuing a Letter of Request, the diocesan would in practice refrain from exercising certain of his or her functions in such a parishand would leave the nominated bishop to exercise those functions in the parish in question;

*
* the legal authority of the nominated bishop to minister in this way would derive from the Measure itself ”“ and would not, therefore, be conferred by way of delegation; but the identity of such a bishop and the scope of his functions would be defined by the scheme made by the diocesan for his or her diocese, in the light of the provisions contained in the national statutory Code of Practice drawn up by the House of Bishops and agreed by General Synod;
*

* thus both the diocesan and the nominated bishop would possess ‘ordinary jurisdiction’; the diocesan would retain the complete jurisdiction of a diocesan in law, and the nominated bishop would have jurisdiction by virtue of the Measure to the extent provided for in the diocesan scheme ”“ in effect holding jurisdiction by the decision of the Church as a whole, as expressed in the Measure;
*

* in respect of the aspects of episcopal ministry for which the diocesan scheme made provision, the diocesan and the nominated bishop would be ‘co-ordinaries’, and to that extent, their jurisdiction could be described as co-ordinate ”“ that is to say, each would have an ordinary jurisdiction in relation to those matters; and
*

* the Code of Practice would contain guidelines for effective co-ordination of episcopal functions so as to avoid duplication or conflict in the exercise of episcopal ministry.

Read it all.

Family breakdowns have a huge impact on children.

A report by the Centre for Social Justice entitled ‘Every Family Matters’ called upon Parliament and parties across the political spectrum to recognise that healthy marriages build healthy families, and healthy families build a healthy society.

There is a measurable financial cost to family breakdown, but there is a greater cost in the impact on young people which is incalculable.

Many who would argue that individual lifestyle choice must be taken into account in any discussion of marriage. But my own view is that the exclusive emphasis on individual choice ignores the cost of that choice to society as a whole.

There are of course inhibiting factors in getting married, whether it be the cost of a wedding or the fear of commitment. But the danger is that Society at large loses out.

There are other basic commitments needed for a healthy society. Honesty is one. Who is setting an example?

A recent study suggests that among adults there is no longer a universal standard of what honesty means, and the academic researchers concluded that attitudes to honesty are so variable that the legal standard needs to be revised.

Read the whole thing.

Chris, your listeners will recall that 25 years ago, 56 supporters lost their lives and hundreds were injured as fire engulfed the stand at Bradford City’s ground.

When tragedy struck, humanity surfaced. Human beings helped each other regardless of the colour of their shirts. On that day humans acted like heroes and links remain in place today.

Last December, Millwall and Charlton Athletic played a charity match to highlight the alarming issue of street violence.

This match was dedicated to the memories of two young boys, Jimmy Mizen and Robert Knox, murdered in 2008 for standing up to violent thugs. Jimmy had links to Millwall and Robert had links with Charlton and for this match the team shirts’ logos were replaced with the words ‘street violence ruins lives’.

You see football can be a powerful tool to drive change. Funds raised by the match went to help young people get out of crime and into positive activities.

Read it all.

You should have been at my home last weekend when dozens of teenagers gathered to write their post-election manifesto. Only three were actually old enough to vote, but they were all as keen as mustard to get to grips with the issues of the day and list their priorities. They really cared about their country and beyond.

And now that the General Election has dawned, with the major parties competing for your vote in a number of marginal seats here in Yorkshire, there should be at least as much commitment to voting as anywhere else.

Can it be true that some will not be sufficiently motivated to vote at all?

From the long line of shpuld have already been posted material–read it all.

The Revd Richard Carew, currently curate at Beverley Minster, has been appointed Domestic Chaplain to the Archbishop of York.

He will begin his new ministry at Bishopthorpe at the end of June. The Domestic Chaplain supports the Archbishop in all aspects of his ministry within the Archdiocese of York.

Richard grew up in Zimbabwe with both parents active Christians. He went to York University to study history and has been in the Diocese ever since, with St Michael le Belfrey being his home church for 13 years. On leaving university he went into teaching, before following a call to ordination. He has served a curacy at Beverley Minster.

Read the rest there.

A fairer distribution of wealth is at the centre of a call to voters issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York this week.

Writing in the Church Times, Dr Williams and Dr Sentamu say that the “deepest challenge” to the UK is “how the wealth we possess collectively is to become a real ”˜common wealth’, wealth that serves a whole population not just the powerful and privileged”.

Despite the recession, they write that “many in the United Kingdom are still better off financially than they have ever been.” The concept of “com­mon wealth” is central to the Chris­tian understanding of “what a just and sustainable society looks like”.

The Archbishops list six areas where voters need to examine the values promoted by the different parties: equality, stability, global re-sponsibility, law and justice, and the needs of older people. Unless people vote according to their values, they say, the General Election will be little more than a “celebrity contest”.

Read it all.

In the middle of the cacophony of competing voices as we prepare to vote this coming Thursday, there is a need for some quiet, some distance from the stridency, so that we can listen again for a moment to the basic questions about what kind of society we want to choose. Listening for the still small voice that speaks of these fundamental possibilities is something restorative and energising. It is time we made space for it.

Many people have been asking, in the wake of the crises both in financial markets and in political life, how we can recover confidence in our society and its direction. We have been drawn back repeatedly to the language of the ‘common good’, to questions about the real meaning of wealth and well-being, to the need for a robust vision of what is due to human beings and human society. If the general election is to be more than a celebrity contest, we must vote with our values. We must be clear about what we think is involved in being a citizen, and so what we can expect of and for citizens in this country now.

Our society needs a rebirth of civic values and virtues ”“ which is why we believe it is important both to vote and to encourage people of gifts and integrity to consider public office. We can all become real participants in the common life of a society that is working hard to clarify and realise its moral vision.

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…Christians are fighting an uphill battle for recognition. There are signs, however, that society is beginning to take more notice of Church leaders for positive reasons ”“ and the proof of this is in Yorkshire. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, was right to use Holy Week to urge the Church of England to use pubs to get its message across ”“ however much it confused traditional worshippers.

We are all too familiar with studies showing Britons pay remarkably little attention to Easter. The latest of this type showed that more than half of six to 10-year-olds are unaware of its religious significance. So reaching out, as Dr Sentamu is trying to do, is vital. It’s not just in the local hostelry, however, that new audiences can be found. It’s also in the boardroom. That’s why the diocese of Ripon and Leeds appointed the Rev Rob Hinton as its first minister to the business community. When I met him, he pointed out that simply yelling at bankers ”“ much as it sounds good fun ”“ will not make them change their ways, and that it is understanding which helps people live their lives differently.

It’s an unfashionable view but he’s right. Even more unorthodox, however, was the now infamous Nativity sermon from a York parish priest, which was dubbed “Thou shalt steal”. Father Tim Jones’ message ”“ that stealing from large national chains could sometimes be justified for vulnerable people ”“ rather got lost in the outrage that followed, which reached its height when a man threw a bucket of spaghetti and ravioli at him. But he had a point, even if he expressed it badly. Stealing is wrong, but if you are homeless, starving and cold it could be the seen as the least-worst option. Rather that than breaking into somebody’s home.

Read it all.

Believing in the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth has the following implications:

1. It carries a pledge of the future resurrection of believers, for ‘though in Adam all die,

in Christ all shall be made alive’ (1 Corinthians 15:22).

2. Jesus isn’t a memory, but a living presence ”“ even the dearest memory fades.

3. Jesus isn’t a figure in a book but a living person to be met.

4. To be a Christian isn’t about knowing about Jesus, but one of knowing Jesus and trusting him implicitly.

5. There is an endless quality of life offered by Jesus Christ. He isn’t simply a model for life; he is a living presence to help us to live.

6. Christ did for us that which we couldn’t do for ourselves: He died ‘with us’, ‘for us’, and ‘instead of us’. And his Resurrection cut us loose from the chains of death and made it possible for us to be given new life in a new community for all, where God’s will is being done.

Read it all.

Listen to it all (a little under 40 minutes) (and, yes, it requires an audio player). There are a lot of topics covered including growing up in Uganda, his role as Archbishop of York, mutliculturalism, Zimbabwe, and the Anglican same sex union debate–KSH.

Listen to it all (a little under 40 minutes) (and, yes, it requires an audio player). There are a lot of topics covered including growing up in Uganda, his role as Archbishop of York, mutliculturalism, Zimbabwe, and the Anglican same sex union debate–KSH.

1) Some of you insist this provision is not for England. Then why did the Pope specifically request the English hierarchy to welcome us, stating that we have something to offer as well as receive?

2) Might this distinct gift we bring with us be the reason for not simply being subsumed into the larger body? Certainly my church would offer a very distinct Eastward facing, biretta-wearing Solemn Mass which is very different to the modern rite at the other end of town.

3) Many of us have not already come accross because we were tending to our flock. I could never have individually converted as it felt like an act of escape. This however feels like an act of exodus which allows me to prepare the people and bring them with me, should we decide to accept the offer. That is tremendously exciting but also very, very scary. Rejection on the other side would be hugely damaging ”“please welcome us. We have not been loved for a very long time and may need some TLC and patience.

Read it all.

We give people private space but do not encourage public discussion and debate on key areas which are seen as ‘difficult’ such as religion, immigration, the optimum funding for public services. In consequence, these areas of difference are thrust into the margins where they do not go away but instead, tend to fester.

A similar trend can be seen in France in relation to the use of the word ‘tolerance’. There too it has become understood, at least in part, in the sense of something you put up with rather than as a positive virtue. An amusing example of this is the description of French brothels as ‘maisons de tolérance’! Houses of tolerance!

I therefore believe that for all our judicial tolerance, Britain has become in many ways, a less tolerant society today.

One of the main areas in which we see this is in the government’s treatment of Religion which they now prefer to call ‘faith communities’. The Equality Bill which is going through the House of Lords, had contained a ‘Genuine Occupation Clause’ which would have made it very difficult for a religious group to employ someone of that religion for a position within their organisation, except in the very restricted role of leading worship, explaining or proclaiming doctrines.

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Archbishop Sentamu: “If people genuinely realise that they want to be Roman Catholic, they should convert properly, and go through catechesis and be made proper Catholics. This kind of creation [the Apostolic Constitution] — well, all I can say is, we wish them every blessing and may the Lord encourage them. But as far as I am concerned, if I was really, genuinely wanting to convert, I wouldn’t go into an Ordinariate. I would actually go into catechesis and become a truly converted Roman Catholic and be accepted.”

William Crawley: “So those Anglicans who take advantage of the Apostolic Constitution, you’re saying, would not be ‘proper Catholics’?”

Archbishop Sentamu: “Well, I mean, I’d be very surprised –”

William Crawley: “What would they be if they are not ‘proper Catholics’?”

Archbishop Sentamu: “They would be what they are: an Ordinariate of the Vatican.”

I highly recommend you follow the audio link and listen to the whole interview.

You may find information about it here.

Mercy killing is being legalised on the back of a celebrity-driven campaign and without reference to Parliament, the Archbishop of York claimed yesterday.

Dr John Sentamu condemned the current bandwagon of fashionable opinion seeking to allow relatives to help the sick and dying commit suicide without fear of prosecution.

He spoke out on the day of a high-profile pro-euthanasia intervention by bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett along with the publication of two opinion polls suggesting a backing for reform.

Referring to the polls, the Archbishop said: ‘The silent majority never get asked. One thousand people out of about 61million really is not very much guidance.

Read it all.

The Archbishop…[said]: “There are, I know, those who struggle with the concept of allowing any exemptions provision for religious organisations in relation to discrimination in the field of employment. But the argument is a very simple one: religious organisations, like all organisations, need to be able to impose genuine occupational requirements in relation to those who serve them.

“Successive legislation over the past 35 years has always recognised the principle that religious organisations need the freedom to impose requirements in relation to belief and conduct which go beyond what a secular employer should be able to require.

“Noble Lords may believe that the Roman Catholic Church should allow priests to be married, they may think that the Church of England should hurry up with allowing women to become bishops. They may feel that many Churches and other religious organisations are wrong on matters of sexual ethics. But, if religious freedom means anything it must mean that those are matters for the churches and other religious organisations to determine for themselves in accordance with their own convictions. They are not matters for the law to impose. Start down that road and you will put law and conscience into inevitable collision. That way lies ruin.

“As Edmund Burke said: ‘Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.’ The onus is on Her Majesty’s Government to demonstrate why any narrowing of the provisions in existing legislation under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2003 needs to be made. There is absolutely no doubt that paragraph 2 of Schedule 9 to the Bill as introduced would constitute a significant narrowing of the present law for the reasons that I set out at the Second Reading. The Government’s Amendment 99A goes some way but does not go far enough to meeting these objections.

Read the whole article.

[Interviewer]This is an appalling tragedy, the UN are saying that it may well be the biggest natural disaster in history. How do we reconcile our faith with this terrible tragedy on this scale?

ABY: I think it is not an easy thing to reconcile, the heart of it because it is just so so awful and the people suffering terribly. We tend to look for answers actually where there are sometimes no answers.

I think the reconciliation for me comes in my understanding of God as I see him in Jesus Christ. A God who is almighty and powerful is born like a little baby, grows up and is crucified, doing for us that which we can not do for ourselves. On the cross you hear him say “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” But that’s not the end. He rises from death, conquering evil and death and pointing out to us that actually in the end it is life in God which matters. So a God who has becomes like one of us, dies, rises, sends his Spirit, that we may be forgiven for the wrongs we have done in the past, and given new life in the present and hope for the future.

That kind of a God is neither to be seen as the sort of grand puppet master who just pulls pulleys nor is he a Dr Who, or a Wonderwoman or Superman but actually a God who is there with us. Rabbi Hugo Gryn was a survivor of the Holocaust and was asked the same question “Where was God when the Jews were being gassed? Why did he allow it to happen?” and Rabbi Hugo Gryn said “God in those gas chambers was being violated and blasphemed”. That God is always around us, with us, suffering with us and giving us the hope that in tragedy and death and things we can’t explain – in the end these things are not the end.

Read the whole thing (or use the audio link at the bottom).

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have condemned the recent resurgence of police intimidation of Anglicans in Zimbabwe. Church goers, including clergy and local bishops, have been barred from entering their churches and threatened with arrest and violence.

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In the birth and birthplace of Jesus there is something which corresponds beautifully with his personal biography as well as the fortunes of his Gospel.

Two thousand years on, he still comes waiting to find room. And there is scant room for him.

The reason why Jesus can’t find room for his Gospel ”“ which he embodied in his person at his first coming ”“ is closely analogous to that which he encountered in his birth ”“ namely that people’s hearts are preoccupied. They are filled to the brim with their own agendas already. And we, who are his followers, so poorly represent the worth and largeness of Christ and his Gospel. Preoccupied with the presenting and controverted issues of the day, we lack the inspiration he offers, and we end up giving him the stable, when we should be giving him the inn. Instead of putting him at the centre of our living, thinking and planning, we leave him at the margins.

A story is told by a Jewish Rabbi of a town which was given three days’ warning of the arrival of a hurricane. A Roman Catholic priest called all the Catholics together and impressed on them the need to go to confession. An Anglican vicar gathered his congregation and told them to ask forgiveness from those they had wronged, and to make amends.

The Rabbi met the Jewish community in the synagogue and told them, “You have three days in which to learn how to live under water”.

Read it all.