Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, told the Most Rev Justin Welby, that he would lead the Church of England amid an age of seemingly unprecedented selfishness ”“ in a society obsessed with individualism and rights.

The New Archbishop was also formally charged with the task of providing “a voice for faith” in the face of attempts to marginalise religion.

The 57-year-old former oil executive’s election as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury was confirmed in a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

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Our bible reading in Church today is a letter from St Paul’s to the church in Corinth, in which he is trying to encourage church-members to work together for the glory of God. Everyone has different gifts and talents, Paul tells them. Each one of you is a body-part of the whole. Don’t all think you have to be the one who leads the prayers, or the one who preaches, the one who does the flowers, or the one who plays the music. He reminds them that our bodies are a marvellous piece of collaborative and co-ordinated working. We may think our eyes are our best feature. But if we decided we just wanted to be all eye, we wouldn’t be able to hear or speak. Similarly, though our football teams need to score goals to win games, if all our players were strikers, where would the defence be!

At the end of this week of prayer for Christian Unity, we need to remember that God has given us all wonderful gifts, but he’s given them to us not just for our own pleasure, and certainly not for our personal pride, but so that we can work together to do more wonderful things than we can do alone. Saint Teresa of Avila’s poem describes the miracle of how the world is changed by each one of us using our gifts and bringing them together to serve others.

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…social care is in crisis. There are now around 800,000 older people who desperately need social care but who get no help at all.

It is of deep concern to me that pensioners who have more than £23,500 have to pay for their social care costs in full. Many older people who have saved hard, but are by no means wealthy, see their hard earned savings disappear in a matter of months.
Each year around 20,000 older people have to sell their homes to pay for care, one in two people have to pay £20,000 in care costs. One in ten people pay more than £100,000. That is a national scandal. We should all have the peace of mind that that we will be cared for in the right way when our bodies start to fail.

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God, in Jesus Christ came to save ”“ not to judge. He lived in our unloving world, exiled from its Creator, for as long as we allowed him to. In the end, it wasn’t that Jesus rejected us because of all our failings, faults and a refusal to change, but that we rejected him. He suffered and completed God’s work of making us his friends.

If we are tempted to pull out of our Church families because there is too much hurt and lack of love ”“ we should remember Jesus of Nazareth. He never pulled out of our human race. And God the Father is no mere spectator, approving the sacrifice and applauding the actor ”“ Jesus of Nazareth. God’s love was the root, Christ’s death the fruit of stickability and self-sacrifice.

We are celebrating the birth of the Child of Bethlehem, with universal godly credentials. His little family did not absorb him. He was not the Son of Mary and Joseph, he was the Son of humanity and of heaven: “the Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus royalised our humanity by crowning his human nature with the Divine nature.

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Talking about the struggles faced by the working poor has become a social taboo. We would prefer to pretend that the problem wasn’t there ”“ but sadly it is.

It is a very grim reality that needs addressing urgently by all of us.

We will not make this country stronger by impoverishing others. Whether that is by offering unpaid internships and work experience to young people ”“ or by freezing Minimum Wage levels for the poorest ”“ the end result is that our society, our communities and our nation become sicker and less cohesive as a result….

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We need to recognise the personal cost of crime. We need to recognise the damage, hurt and pain crime causes to victims and their families. And we need to recognise the cost to the wider society. But the harsh reality is that 75% of young offenders re-offend within 12 months – 3 out of 4 – this has to stop!…”

“Reflex prison Outreach workers and volunteer mentors provide positive role models and ”˜father figures’. Their accredited education programmes provide creative opportunities for reflection and achievement, and their life skills help build ”˜character’, encouraging young people to take responsibility for their actions as part of the community. With God’s help, Reflex can place a worker in every Young Offenders Institution in the nation. We can turn the tide.”

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Over the years, the amount of money spent on adult social care initially stagnated and then decreased. It cannot be right that at a time when the numbers of older and disabled people are growing, there is a smaller pot of money to share amongst the growing need.

More older people are now having to face spiralling care costs just to be able to live with dignity. The generation that saved for their old age, and paid their dues, now often see all that they worked for is sucked into a vortex of social care costs.

My concern is that even when people give up all their life’s assets, achieved after a lifetime of hard work and diligence, there is no guarantee even that the quality of care they receive is assured.

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Delay in appointing a successor to the Most Rev. Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury is prompting questions about the viability of the role. Williams joined the debate last weekend, saying it was inevitable that changes would be made to lighten the archbishop’s workload.

He told the Compass Rose Society meeting in Canterbury there was clearly too much on his plate. He said there were always efforts to relieve him of a committee or two “so I get a five-minute break between meetings” but sooner or later significant changes need to be put in place.

The archbishop’s workload, effectively four jobs, will be an issue weighing on the chosen person….

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Ten years ago I was part of a movement called Jubilee 2000 which changed the way people think about debt. It challenged a deeply held principle ”˜that debts must always be repaid’ by showing how, in the case of many debts owed by impoverished countries, the consequences of repayments was creating nearly unimaginable suffering.

We were not calling for an act of charity, but a realisation that the economy we had created was structured in a way which was deeply unfair, exaggerating inequality and poverty in many parts of the world. We didn’t want donations, but a change in the rules of engagement.

The change in values which the Jubilee movement effected, forced decision-makers to enact policies which went someway to redressing this injustice. $125 billion of debt was wiped out, government’s were able to start spending money in ways that benefited their people.

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In the past, the Church has divided along the tribal lines of evangelicals, liberals and Anglo-Catholics. The totemic issues which mark its dividing lines ”“ over the acceptability of gay relationships, women priests and now women bishops ”“ are completely settled for the vast majority of the population. Interestingly, there are suggestions that they are now being settled in the Church too; though conservative evangelicals remain implacably opposed to modern views on gender and sexuality, the terms in which they debate have subtly shifted in ways which suggest that it is only a matter of time before liberal tolerance prevails.

Instead, there is a new division inside the Church. It is between those who want a safe pair of hands to keep Anglicans together long enough for the old differences to dissolve and those who want someone who will reimagine the institution for the modern age with a bolder vision of purpose. The choice has significant implications for the rest of society….

….stalemate seems to have been reached in successive secret ballots. Welby is seen as too inexperienced and possibly too conservative and James as too liberal and a bit uninspiring. It may be time for a caretaker until the qualities of the new generation of bishops have become more clear. In the circumstances, the Church should consider the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones…..

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At each appearance throughout the day, there are questions about whether he will wear his dog collar after it was torn up on live television five years ago in protest at Robert Mugabe’s tyranny in Zimbabwe.

The answer is an emphatic and passionate one: this protest will continue until Mugabe no longer has any influence over his people, or has shown to repent.

The one subject off limits is the likelihood of Dr John Sentamu becoming the first black Archbishop of Canterbury.

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These are the 16 members of the Crown Nominations Commission, the panel selected to appoint Dr Rowan Williams’s successor as Archbishop of Canterbury….

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David Cameron may have to break the deadlock over the choice of the next Archbishop of Canterbury, according to a former member of the committee charged with nominating Rowan Williams’s successor.

The call came as sources said that the Crown Nominations Commission had agreed on the first name but was divided over the “runner-up” to submit to Downing Street. Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham and a former oil industry executive, has secured the necessary two-thirds majority to be recommended as first choice. But members seem divided over whether the Bishop of Norwich, Graham James, or the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, should be the second choice.

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I’ve spoken at length this afternoon with Arun Arora (the Church of England Director of Communications) and it’s clear that what he was trying to communicate through various parties yesterday was not a confirmation that the CNC hadn’t decided a name but rather was simply a “no comment”. If we’ve given the impression that Arun was trying to pass on a clear message that CNC hadn’t decided on a candidate then we apologise.

We’re still left with the mysterious line in the press statement of “the work of the Commission continues”.

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The secretive panel choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury is rumoured to have turned down the original frontrunner, the Archbishop of York John Sentamu, amid signs that it is deadlocked.

Speculation was rife last night that the 16-strong Crown Nominations Commission was not convinced the high-profile Dr Sentamu was the best candidate, and was torn between two other candidates, the Bishop of Norwich Graham James and the Bishop of Durham Justin Welby.

Sources said Ugandan-born Dr Sentamu, who had been tipped as the Church’s first black Archbishop of Canterbury, was a popular and charismatic leader, but may lack the diplomatic skills for Lambeth Palace.

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[London Bishop Richard] Chartres, a friend of the Prince of Wales, had been seen as a leading candidate. But it is understood that representatives from the Canterbury diocese objected to his refusal to ordain women, demanding that Williams’s successor be supportive of female clergy.

“I’ve been told that the Bishop of Dover is exercising a lot of influence over the whole process and that the Canterbury six [representatives from the diocese] are making life very difficult,” a senior cleric said. “They have too much say, with six out of the 16 votes, and can block anyone.”

With Chartres out of contention, the commission is thought to have reduced the shortlist to Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich, Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, and Sentamu.

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According to the Sunday Times, the panel has a three name shortlist:

* Bishop of Norwich Graham James, 61, a keen amateur actor and cricketer who said last week he would “hope and pray” someone else gets the job.

* Archbishop of York John Sentamu, 63, a Ugandan-born traditionalist who holds the second most senior post in the Church of England and writes a column for the Sun newspaper.

* Bishop of Durham Justin Welby, 56, a former oil industry executive who has been a bishop for less than a year.

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The choice of a successor to Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury may not take place for several months, the Church of England has said.

It comes after speculation that the latest meeting of the panel given the task of nominating a new Church leader had not chosen a candidate.

Officials reiterated that the work of choosing a successor could go on throughout the autumn.

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The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), which met last week to choose a new Archbishop of Canterbury, has been unable to agree on the two names it submits to the Prime Minister. A short statement put out by the C of E communications department on Friday does not admit this as such, but this is the only reasonable interpretation of the phrase: “The work of the Commission continues.”

All meetings of the CNC are confidential, and it was a new departure this time to let it be known that a meeting was taking place. Church House staff were careful beforehand not to be drawn on whether this was the CNC’s final meeting, with good reason as it now appears.

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One of the country’s leading Anglican priests has attacked the “secrecy” surrounding the appointment of the next archbishop of Canterbury, amid claims that the committee making the choice has been unable to reach a decision.

Dr Giles Fraser, former canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, said there was “no good reason for secrecy. “[It] always looks like an Establishment stitch up,” he said. “We ought to have open elections.”

He spoke amid confusion over who will succeed Dr Rowan Williams as the leader of the Anglican church.

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Anglican Ink’s Peter Ould told host Kevin Kallsen that he interpreted the statement to mean the committee had deadlocked. He speculated the likely cause of the deadlock could have been the potential selection of the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, or Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby.

Dr. Sentamu has angered liberals within the Church of England over his robust rejection of same-sex marriage and a small but vocal minority of opponents has consistently objected to his candidacy. The Bishop of Durham has been in office for less than a year, and Mr. Ould speculated his selection for the church’s top post would be a cause of concern due to his inexperience. Sources have also informed Anglican Ink that a third contender, the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres ”“ whose chances for selection have risen sharply in the past few weeks, has been passed over for the post.

The way forward is unclear. At the present time no further meetings have been set for the commission, but no other body is able to submit names to the Prime Minister.

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The body responsible for choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to agree who should be the successor to Dr Rowan Williams.

Despite a three day session, aided by prayers invoked on Twitter with the hashtage #prayforthecnc, the 16-member committee has been unable to decide on who should take on the job that the present incumbent today implied was “impossible”.

A source told The Times that a decision on who should succeed Dr Rowan Williams was not expected soon. “A decision is not imminent,” he said.

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So, who will it be?

If the Commission wants to boost Anglican traditionalists, placate Africa, raise St George’s Day to an English national holiday and take a swipe at institutional racism, they’ll appoint John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. If they wish to hold a steady-as-she-goes via media, with interminably tedious increments in an inevitable direction, they’ll appoint Richard Chartres, Bishop of London. If they choose to accelerate the liberal trajectory, with a nod toward North America and an ”˜inclusive’ mission which embraces all sexual proclivities and environmental causes, they could do a lot worse than James Jones, presently Bishop of Liverpool.
These aren’t the only possibilities, of course: while Sentamu is utterly colourful and wonderfully unique, you could replace the authoritative Chartres of London with Graham James of Norwich; and Jones of Liverpool could easily be supplanted by Cocksworth of Coventry. We are talking about the Church of England here: it isn’t going to be suddenly re-reformed or catholicised by anyone overnight.

If, however, the Commission is concerned to appoint God’s choice ”“ a thoughtful and gifted communicator, deeply committed to upholding the orthodoxy of the Christian faith ”“ ”˜the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ ”“ in the fraught context of cultural diversity, social upheaval, political cynicism and theological conflict, the lot must fall to Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham….

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The Church of England will almost certainly take a swing to the right as a conclave of powerful figures from within the Anglican Communion meet to decide who should become the new Archbishop of Canterbury over the coming days.

Almost all the front runners who have been put forward for the role are noticeably more conservative than Rowan Williams was before he took leadership of the church nine years ago – particularly when it comes to the thorny issue of homosexuality….

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Check it out. For those of you following this closely, you will notice there have been significant changes and movements.

The York Fairness Commission will present its Final Report to the leaders of City of York Council on Thursday 27th September at an event at Bishopthorpe Palace.

The presentation of the report will be the culmination of months of work to see how inequality and unfairness can be tackled across York, in the face of a difficult economic situation nationally.

Whilst research shows two fifths of York residents are relatively well off, living in the best 20% of places in the country, around 13,000 residents in the City live in the most deprived 20% of the country. In addition , City of York Council must make £19.7m worth of savings over the next two years due to cuts imposed by central government.

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Whilst the British Government seem to be considering easing some sanctions against Mr Mugabe and his personal allies, I am not convinced that the time has come to weaken international opposition to the President of Zimbabwe’s irresponsible, undemocratic, lawless, and at times brutal regime. I certainly won’t be placing an order for a new clerical collar at Wippells just yet.

We cannot allow Robert Mugabe off the hook. When I cut up my clerical collar, I said I would not put it on again until Mr Mugabe had gone from office ”“ we need to stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and not forget the abuses and exploitation they have suffered at the hands of that administration.

The reason given by Her Majesty’s Government for this ”˜step change’ in relations with Zimbabwe is the work going in to drafting a new constitution for that country. The recent meeting of European Union foreign ministers, which agreed to lift these restrictions on Mr Mugabe’s colleagues, have made this decision dependent only upon whether a ”˜credible’ referendum is held on the new constitution. Perhaps if they had read the draft constitution they might have taken a different view.

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Would it be a bad thing if the Church of England were disestablished?

It would be a very bad thing. I don’t think that we always appreciate as a society the role that the Church of England plays in being there for us all. Being the spiritual glue that cements the social fabric of our society. It’s not just about the important role that Bishops play in the House of Lords or on state occasions, the Church of England has a far wider role than that.

Did you know that more people volunteer for church organisations than any other organisation or group in the country? Up and down the country the Church of England is present in every community, in the North and in the South, in rural and urban settings, everywhere ”“ it has a unique role to play in maintaining and promoting community.

It’s not just about tradition, it’s about recognising that even on a basic societal level the Church of England by Law Established is looking out for those in need. As Archbishop William Temple once said, the Church is the only organisation that exists for the wellbeing of its non-members….

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