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Daily Archives: May 27, 2022

(Church Times) Cathedral safeguarding processes were too slow to stop sex offender

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

Three cathedrals have been criticised for safeguarding failings in the case of William Scott Farrell, a sex offender.

Mr Farrell, a former director of music at Rochester Cathedral. was sentenced to five years imprisonment in August 2019 for sexual offences involving children (News, 16 August 2019).

The “lessons-learnt” review, which was published on Thursday, found that there were “a number of opportunities” to challenge his behaviour that were missed by the cathedrals that employed him. The review makes 11 recommendations to the Church of England to “improve culture, support and develop existing good practice, remove barriers, and improve safeguarding outcomes”.

In 2019, Mr Farrell pleaded guilty to three counts of gross indecency with a boy under 16 (relating to three different victims), which occurred while he was assistant organist of Ely Cathedral from 1999 to 2002, and to two counts of voyeurism and one count of taking indecent images of a child, committed in Rochester (News, 31 May 2019).

Mr Farrell was also employed by Newcastle Cathedral between 2002 and 2008. He was not charged with any offences the occurred during this time; however, the review found that there were “a number of concerns raised and missed opportunities to deal with inappropriate behaviour” during his time in Newcastle.

Read it all.

Posted in Church of England (CoE), Ethics / Moral Theology, Parish Ministry

(Economist) Asia’s advanced economies now have lower birth rates than Japan

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

Japanese fertility is still ultra-low compared with almost any society in human history. Yet it is now higher than that of any well-off East Asian or South-East Asian economy. The numbers in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan ranged between 0.8 and 1.1 in 2020 (see chart). Nor is this a temporary blip caused by the pandemic: Japan’s figure was higher than all those countries in 2019, too.

Rich, baby-averse Asian countries in the region have three things in common. First, their people rarely have children outside marriage. Only around 2% of births in Japan and South Korea are to unmarried mothers, the lowest levels in the oecd, a club of rich countries. In wealthy Western countries that figure is typically between 30% and 60%. In China, the few who become pregnant out of wedlock are often denied benefits. The region’s decline in births has closely tracked a decline in marriages. The age at which people commit to a lifetime of entanglement has also been rising, further delaying child-bearing.

A second shared factor is expensive schooling. Pricey private tutoring and other wallet-emptying forms of “shadow education”, as such extras are known, are common in East Asia. The most frequent reason cited by Japanese couples for having fewer children is the cost of raising and educating them. Lucy Crehan, an education researcher, says that these problems might be even worse in other parts of Asia. Japanese pupils face their first high-stakes exams only at the age of 15. In contrast, children in Shanghai and Singapore must take such tests as early as primary school, piling on the parental pressure to perform and adding to the family’s tuition bills.

Yet it is the third factor that might explain why Japan is out-sprogging its rich Asian peers. A flurry of research in recent years suggests that high house prices cause young couples to delay having children.

Read it all.

Posted in Aging / the Elderly, Asia, Children, Marriage & Family

Canon Rob Saner-Haigh will be the new Bishop of Penrith

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

Prior to joining our Diocese in 2020, Rob ministered in Cumbria for 15 years, so this is a return to a county he knows extremely well and where he had served all his ordained ministry before moving to the North East.

Speaking about his move, Rob said: “It has come as something of a surprise to be appointed to this post back in Cumbria where I have spent most of my ordained ministry. I have loved being part of Newcastle Diocese and it has been such a blessing to get to know different people and parishes over the past couple of years. It all started on Zoom, of course, but more recently it has been a great joy to get out and about across the Diocese and to be part of the community at the cathedral.

“I’m grateful for the kindness, warmth, humour and deep faith of those I’ve worked with, and for such great colleagues. Over the past couple of years, we have re-shaped the Mission and Ministry Team and I am excited to see the many different ways in which they are already serving local parishes and supporting different ministries.

“As I return to Cumbria, I want to say a huge thank you. It has been a privilege to be part of this diocese, and you will all remain very much in my prayers as you seek to serve your communities and share the love and hope of God with them.”

Read it all.

Posted in Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

N.T. Wright on the Ascension and Second Coming of Jesus

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

Additionally, early Christians were not, as is commonly assumed, bound to a three-tier vision of the universe, i.e., heaven, hell, and earth.

[W]hen the Bible speaks of heaven and earth it is not talking about two localities related to each other within the same space-time continuum or about a nonphysical world contrasted with a physical one but about two different kinds of what we call space, two different kinds of what we call matter, and also quite possibly (though this does not necessarily follow from the other two) two different kinds of what we call time.

So heaven and earth, understood in this way, are two dimensions of the same reality. They “interlock and intersect in a whole variety of ways even while they retain, for the moment at least, their separate identities and roles.” Combine this with the doctrine of the ascension and we do not have a Jesus who floats up into a heaven “up there” but disappears into a reality we cannot yet see. Because heaven and earth are not yet joined Jesus is physically absent from us. At the same time he is present with us through the Holy Spirit and the sacraments, linkages where the two realities meet in the present age.

Read it all.

Posted in Ascension, Eschatology

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Queen Bertha and King Ethelbert

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

God our ruler and guide, we honor thee for Queen Bertha and King Ethelbert of Kent who, gently persuaded by the truth of thy Gospel, encouraged others by their godly example to follow freely the path of discipleship; and we pray that we, like them, may show the goodness of thy Word not only by our words but in our lives; through Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Posted in Church History, England / UK, Spirituality/Prayer

A Prayer for Ascension from the Church of England

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ
to have ascended into the heavens,
so we in heart and mind may also ascend
and with him continually dwell;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Posted in Ascension, Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Kendall Harmon

Hannah also prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in thy salvation.

“There is none holy like the Lord,
there is none besides thee;
there is no rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones;
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
for not by might shall a man prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king,
and exalt the power of his anointed.”

–1 Samuel 2:1-10

Posted in Theology: Scripture