Diners and drinkers in a popular area of London are leaving more than 100 prayer requests a month after they are invited in by a nearby church for a special evening where they light candles, listen to music and pray.

Congregation members at the Parish of Our Most Holy Redeemer in Clerkenwell, in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England,  head out on a Thursday night every month after Mass with votive candles and lanterns to invite people in the busy Exmouth Market area into the church.

Vicar Fr Christopher Trundle said the Night Light evening, focussed on prayer, contemplation and adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, is attracting up to 150 people, with more than 100 prayer requests left by those visiting.

He said that congregation members go out into the crowds in Exmouth Market to “invite people to encounter the love and beauty of God in Jesus Christ”.

Read it all.

Diners and drinkers in London are leaving more than 100 prayer requests a month after being invited in by a nearby church to light candles, listen to music and pray as part of a new initiative.

Read more at https://t.co/emJhkN5rdi.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) March 6, 2025

The Church of England has announced that the Revd Canon Samantha Brazier-Gibbs will take up the role in June.

She will be tasked with engaging younger people, enhancing community support, and increasing church attendance.

Currently, she is the parish priest for three rural churches in the Chelmsford Diocese and leads a team of ministers responsible for 14 parishes around Chipping Ongar.

Read it all.

ANNOUNCED TODAY
The Revd Canon Samantha Brazier-Gibbs has been appointed Archdeacon of Ipswich & Director of Inspiring Ipswich. Samantha is presently Vicar of Blackmore St Laurence and Stondon Massey Ss Peter & Paul with oversight of Fyfield St. Nicholas, diocese of Chelmsford. pic.twitter.com/spox6S1spE

— Rich Henderson (@archdeaconrich) March 9, 2025

“The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost is an extraordinary poem. In a deceptively simple narrative style, it relates the discussion between a farmer and his wife over whether to offer shelter to the itinerant labourer whose work has been somewhat unsatisfactory in the past.

Silas has arrived at their doorstep, “a miserable sight — and frightening too”. Warren is unwilling to offer him employment again, but Mary’s kind heart won’t allow him to turn away a man who has “nothing to look backward to with pride and nothing to look forward to with hope”. She believes that he has “come home to die”, which feeling gives rise to the well known phrases: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there They have to take you in,” and “I should have called it Something you somehow haven’t to deserve.” Warren is persuaded to offer Silas work in order to keep his pride, but this offer is redundant: Silas, worn out by life and aware of reaching sanctuary at last, has died.

In a strange, lyrical way, this poem sums up the joy and the challenge of the “welcoming church”: the grace-filled obligation to accept in Jesus’s name every person who seeks entry to the worshipping community, no matter who they are or what they might believe. Every church leader, I suspect, secretly prides themselves on their welcoming attitude to stranger and seasoned churchgoer alike, and, if we are occasionally troubled by a feeling that perhaps not everyone feels instantly “at home”, then how easy it is to reassure ourselves that the fault lies, if not with the congregation, then certainly with one or two trickier members of it.

Enter the mystery worshipper….

Read it all.

In the parish: Sally Welch begins a series on how to ensure parish churches are as welcoming as they would like to behttps://t.co/iDumAsZFGG

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 7, 2025

War broke out in August and in September 1914 Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy wrote these words in his parish magazine:

“I cannot say too strongly that I believe every able-bodied man ought to volunteer for service anywhere. Here ought to be no shirking of that duty.”

This from the man who would, before long be writing this, “Waste”:

“Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of Wealth,
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of Youth’s most precious years,
Waste of ways the Saints have trod,
Waste of glory, Waste of God–War!”

Read it all.

Delighted to be speaking on Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy at the Wantage Literary Festival on Sunday 21st @wantagelitfest pic.twitter.com/6O9REbmPks

— Linda Parker (@lindamparker56) October 18, 2018

The Synod’s failure to vote for such an approach, but to prefer more time to explore the legal and logistical barriers to outsourcing diocesan safeguarding teams while simultaneously creating a new, independent scrutiny body, was, Mr Myer said, “deeply disappointing”.

The decision, he said, “did not follow the recommendation from Professor Jay and many other specialists and professionals, or the preference of many survivors”.

Two separate surveys have suggested that about three-quarters of the victims and survivors questioned supported Professor Jay’s recommendations; but her advice was not supported by all safeguarding professionals.

Jim Gamble, the head of the INEQE Safeguarding Group, which is auditing all Church of England dioceses and cathedrals, was among those to disagree with Professor Jay. In a report published the day before the Synod’s debate, he wrote: “When it comes to delivering effective safeguarding practice — practice that genuinely works and makes a difference — it is most effectively delivered from within, not imposed from without”….

Read it all.

In a House of Commons debate on Monday evening, MPs criticised the General Synod’s decision last month not to outsource all safeguarding functions immediately to an independent body https://t.co/phh7IAy7FJ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 6, 2025

A review of Winchester Cathedral identified “significant failings in leadership and management”, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, said on Monday, when a summary of the review was published.

The Dean, the Very Revd Catherine Ogle, has announced that she will immediately hand over leadership of the cathedral, before her previously announced retirement on 1 May. The Vice-Dean, Canon Roly Riem, is to take charge of implementing the review’s recommendations, many of which, Dean Ogle said, were “already under way”.

In a statement, the Dean apologised on behalf of the Chapter to “everyone who has been hurt by the events of the last few months”. The Chapter, she said, had to accept “collective responsibility”, but, as its leader, she was stepping back.

Bishop Mounstephen said that “no one person is entirely to blame.” He also sought to emphasise that Winchester was not a “failing cathedral”, and that the reviewers had found “much to celebrate”.

Read it all.

It's difficult to understand exactly what happened at Winchester Cathedral, but review refers to failures of management & a “culture of secrecy, due to a misunderstanding of appropriate confidentiality and the aversion of key individuals to conflict”. https://t.co/E7rFLuvkoG

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) March 4, 2025

Churches such as Holy Trinity, Brompton (HTB), are better at connecting with younger generations on social media. I would much rather repost HTB’s beautifully curated content, with thought-provoking questions and soothing low-fi beats, than the C of E’s reels about Anglican history or what has been going on as the Synod sits. Recent content has highlighted the goings-on in the House of Laity, which, I think, most of my friends would assume was a new reality-TV show.

Before even getting into debates over the place of liturgy or the finer details of Anglican theology, this is a generation who still struggle with the concept of “sin” and “salvation”. The rhetoric that they remember from religious-studies lessons at school (for many, the only time when they have encountered Christianity) is that of judgement and wrath. In conversations with my friends, church has become synonymous with guilt. It is not seen as a place of community or inclusion, but of ostracism and hypocrisy. As a generation who have come of age during a pandemic and a crippling cost-of-living crisis, we are all too acquainted with the reality of a fallen world. What Gen Z are looking for is a Church that will offer them leaders with integrity and a better plan for the world.

Looking to the Gospels, both Jesus’s leadership and the hope that he offers the world seem very far from the reality of organised Christianity which my generation see in the media. The Church’s reputation in the media is so important because Gen Z church attendance is staggeringly low. They are not sitting in churches or opening the Bible: they are opening Instagram and having their views formed by the snippets of news which they see on their feeds.

Read it all.

Gen Z are open to faith — but not to the Church of England

When it comes to connecting with younger people, the Church has a communication problem, argues Abigail Kinghttps://t.co/Jj0uukXrGQ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 23, 2025

Ten members of the clergy, including two bishops, could be subject to disciplinary proceedings in connection with the abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, if the President of the Tribunals permits the National Safeguarding Team (NST) to bring complaints under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) out of time.

They include a former Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, and Lord Carey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury.

The announcement, made by the NST on Tuesday, concludes a four-stage process considering the actions of clergy named in the Makin review of Smyth’s abuse (News, 5 December 2024). The review culminated in recommendations by a panel; and these were reviewed by an independent barrister.

The Church House statement said that the panel had “considered the safeguarding policies and guidance which were in force at the relevant time, the facts of the particular case, the relevant legal considerations and whether there is sufficient evidence to justify proceedings”. The barrister had concurred with all of the panel’s decisions.

Read it all.

NEW: Ten members of the clergy, incl Lord Carey and Bishop Paul Butler, could be subject to disciplinary proceedings in connection with the abuse perpetrated by John Smyth. I've had a look at the ten, & context for bringing such complaints under the CDMhttps://t.co/6xdMFl6x9v

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) February 25, 2025

Eternal God,
whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
through your Spirit help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives as they are transformed
into the image of Christ our Lord.
Amen (slightly edited; KSH).

The early birds of Lindisfarne#Northumberland #Photography #landscapephotography pic.twitter.com/SqtGgMIep5

— Jim Scott (@jimscottphoto) February 22, 2025

“We want to show people what can be done in a small place,” said Priest-in-Charge, the Rev Kay Jones. “So, we started with the church environment being different.”

Inside the building, a legacy provided for LED lighting and thermal boards, helping the church lower its carbon emissions, as well as providing a warm space for the community. “It’s not freezing anymore,” said Kay. “We can have warm-space activities. People like being here.”

And people are connecting with it. An open day to launch the potting shed brought 17 adults and 27 children together. “It was hard to get rid of them at the end,” Kay joked. “It is changing things for small numbers of people,” she added.

“What I’m seeing is people wanting to be part of what we do,” she said. “People are trying different foods grown in the garden, learning how – and what – to recycle in the church’s recycling bins, and crucially, learning where food comes from, helping to reduce their food bills.”

Read it all.

"We want to show people what can be done in a small place."

A church in one of the country’s most deprived areas is bringing people together and helping them with their wellbeing – thanks to the launch of a series of environmental projects.

Read more at https://t.co/Joa7q8MizC.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) February 21, 2025

Bell then comments:

‘Such a vision of unity is surely what must lie at the heart of any theological vision for the Anglican Communion. The gift of unity, intertwined with truth and holiness, empowered and initiated through and by love, flowing from its Trinitarian source, and finding its visibility not only in our structures and institutions but in our relationships and lives of Christian service, witness mission. Unity as gift and imperative sits above our disagreements requiring us not to contort ourselves into pseudo- agreement, but instead to recognise that metaphysical unity precedes our disagreements and will be revealed in different visible ways as we journey on together.’ (p.191)

What conservative Anglicans would want to say in response to these paragraphs is that Archbishop Rowan is right to say that the unity that all true Christians possess is the ‘pure gift’ of  ‘being summoned and drawn into the same place before the Father’s throne.’ However, they would want to add that this pure gift also includes a summons to ‘bear much fruit’ (John 15:8) or in other words to begin to live a new life enabled by the Holy Spirit which fulfils God’s intentions for his human creatures. In addition they would want to say that according to the witness of Scripture, and the uniform tradition of the Christian Church based on Scripture, living this new life involves living as the men and women God created us to be and observing a strict sexual ethic involving sexual faithfulness within (heterosexual) marriage and sexual abstinence outside it.  

Because they would want to say this, they would also want to say that unity is broken not only when Christians are not ‘able to see in each other the same kind of conviction of being called by authoritative voice into a place where none of us has an automatic right to stand,’ but also when they are not able to see in each other a recognition of God’s call to bear fruit in the ways just described. They would also add that this is what is currently the case in the Anglican Communion and in the Church of England.

In response to Bell’s comments conservative Anglicans  would agree that unity is both a gift and an imperative and would also agree that it is ‘revealed in different visible ways.’ However, they would say that these ways have to include Christians living as the men and women God created them to be and observing the Christian sexual ethic as outlined above.

Read it all.

We may subjectively dislike what God has said, but true Christian humility lies in accepting what God has said and acting upon it anyway' Martin Davie https://t.co/EUCULJ0Bk1 #anglican #marriage #theology #sexualethics #anthropology #scripture #religion #uk pic.twitter.com/WyjgnobT0k

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) February 10, 2023

The Church of England will be “a little less central to the common life [of the Anglican Communion]” if proposed changes in its leadership and structure are approved, Bishop Graham Tomlin, who chairs the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO), acknowledged at a webinar on the Lambeth Call on Christian Unity.

Discussions focused on the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals from IASCUFO, which would mean that the 42 Churches of the Communion would no longer be described as “in communion with the See of Canterbury”, but as having “a historic connection” with it (News, 6 December 2024).

Further reinforcing the autonomy and equality of each, the presidency of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), traditionally held by Archbishops of Canterbury, would rotate around the Communion, a move made “in service of a de-centred, polycentric understanding of the mission of the Church. . . The leadership of the Communion should look like the Communion,” the report suggests.

Read it all.

Anglicans envisage ‘polycentric’ future https://t.co/50poLLNkZr

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 14, 2025

The Church of England’s governing body has rejected a fully independent safeguarding model to deal with abuse cases.

Synod members instead adopted an alternative proposal described as a “way forward in the short term” ahead of a move to full independence in the future.

But child safety expert Prof Alexis Jay – who had called for a fully independent model – described the decision as “deeply disappointing” and “devastating for victims and survivors”.

The vote comes after a turbulent period for the Church, which has seen the resignation of former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby over his handling of an abuse case and criticism of Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell’s links to another.

Read it all.

This is disappointing, short-sighted, and very concerning. Fully independent oversight of safeguarding is essential.

BBC News – Church of England rejects fully independent safeguardinghttps://t.co/2IzYb8sKYN

— Prof Michael Green FCCT (@Michael_S_Green) February 11, 2025

Read it all.

The Archbishop of York @CottrellStephen , giving his presidential address at the beginning of the General Synod’s meeting in London on Monday afternoon, pleaded to be given time to lead the Church of England out of its #safeguarding crisis#synod https://t.co/AzMDrJhoNP

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 11, 2025

The Archbishop of York, giving his presidential address at the beginning of the General Synod’s meeting in London on Monday afternoon, pleaded to be given time to lead the Church of England out of its safeguarding crisis.

Having headed off an attempt by one member to prevent him from delivering his presidential address, the Archbishop apologised again for failures, and insisted that he could be trusted to steer the Church back into calmer waters before the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

“I know that trust has been broken and confidence damaged. And I am more sorry about this than I can say. I know mistakes have been made. I know that I have made mistakes. But I am determined to do what I can with the time given to me to work with others.”

In recent weeks, some Synod members on social-media and other platforms had urged Archbishop Cottrell not to give the presidential address, in view of the calls for his resignation over his handling of the David Tudor safeguarding matter while he was Bishop of Chelmsford (News, 20/27 December 2024).

Read it all.

The Archbishop of York @CottrellStephen , giving his presidential address at the beginning of the General Synod’s meeting in London on Monday afternoon, pleaded to be given time to lead the Church of England out of its #safeguarding crisis#synod https://t.co/5Fc4pxqkve

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 10, 2025

O God of Love, thou didst deliver servant Josephine Margaret Bakhita from the bondage of slavery to serve you in true freedom; by her example help us to see those enslaved among us, and work to release them from their chains. In your mercy, give to all survivors healing from their wounds and joy in their liberation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself, 'Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?'" Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869 – 1947). More: https://t.co/WWzvuOO3sW pic.twitter.com/qVR9QNI4mA

— Bishop Earl Boyea (@BishopBoyea) February 8, 2025

“The Makin Review already made clear that information about Smyth’s abuse was reported to the police (on a number of occasions) and to ACSA. ACSA’s own review confirms today that they did receive this information from the Diocese of Ely in 2013. While they state that they have not found any evidence of abuse by Smyth within their churches, they do admit that the Diocese of Cape Town’s communication of the danger which Smyth posed between when they were informed of that danger (2013) and when he died (2018) fell short of what the circumstances demanded.

“This is sobering to read. I am glad both that ACSA rapidly commissioned their own review in response to the Makin Review, and that they are now transparent about its findings. We join them in penitence for the failings of our Churches and in redoubling our efforts to care for and listen to victims and survivors, and to take all necessary and possible steps to respond well to all allegations of abuse.”

Read it all.

The Panel of Inquiry into the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's handling of serial abuser John Smyth’s presence in South Africa has noted a disturbing delay in fully implementing measures evolved over decades to grapple with abuse within the church

🔗https://t.co/mHIeJRMche

— Cape Times (@CapeTimesSA) February 4, 2025

Drawing on focus groups and interviews with 55 clerics, it highlights the extent to which the Church’s wider challenges, from financial deficits to division over the Living in Love and Faith process, are impacting on clergy well-being.

The report notes “the extremely difficult financial situation of many parishes” — described by one participant as “hugely, hugely horrible” — and the “high awareness of stipendiary ministers of the relationship between their stipend and parish finances, via the parish share”. This is, it says, “often emphasised to local churches by dioceses to incentivise them to pay their parish share in full, and, amid the current economic challenges, some participants report that their dioceses are reviewing the viability of parishes that do not do so.”

For stipendiary clergy, this could provoke concern for their parish. One participant described thinking: “If we don’t pay our common fund, then when I move, then are they going to say, ‘Well, you can’t have a vicar any more?’ And I feel the responsibility for that.”

For some, the question of parish share could “provoke a sense of shame within the diocese”. One commented that, when the diocese set out the cost of a stipendiary priest in a parish share request, they were “made to feel really expensive”. There was an assumption that the priest was the recipient of the cost (£70,000).

Read it all.

Always interesting reading latest from the Living Ministry study tracking clergy over 10 years. One finding was the impact of parish share requests on clergy themselves, including feeling "expensive" when the cost of the stipend is set out by the diocese https://t.co/fXiRDNpqJW

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) February 4, 2025

Safeguarding dominates the agenda for the first three days of the upcoming General Synod session, a five-day meeting beginning on Monday 10 February. The business will “help with the journey of improvement that the Church of England is on”, the secretary-general, William Nye, told a press briefing on Thursday.

In response to the Wilkinson (News, 11 December 2023) and Jay (News, 21 February 2024) reports, detailed proposals for a new structural model of organisations to deliver and scrutinise safeguarding on behalf of the Church of England, published on Thursday, set out two possible models, which will be put to the vote.

The first would see safeguarding officers currently working in dioceses, cathedrals and the national Church transfer to work for a new organisation. The second would see diocesan and cathedral officers remain with their current employers but most national staff move to a new body. In both cases, safeguarding work would be scrutinised by a second external body.

A motion responding to the Makin report (News, 7 November 2024) comes as early as Monday afternoon, with a presentation and debate on the proposed new structures beginning mid-morning on Tuesday and continuing into the afternoon if needed. 

Read it all.

Safeguarding dominates the agenda for the first three days of the upcoming General Synod session. The business will “help with the journey of improvement that the Church of England is on”, the secretary-general, William Nye, told a press briefing today.https://t.co/bhm38pVuF4

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 23, 2025

Disciplinary action against individuals criticised in the Makin report is to be considered by a panel including a lawyer known for his work prosecuting Rochdale grooming gangs, it was announced on Thursday.

The lawyer Nazir Afzal will sit as one of the three decision-makers on a panel also comprising the Church of England’s National Director of Safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, and a former Director of People at Croydon Council, Barbara Peacock.

Mr Afzal is also chair of the C of E’s National Safeguarding Panel (NSP), which offers independent scrutiny and guidance to the Church’s National Safeguarding Team, led by Mr Kubeyinje (News, 13 September).

The announcement from Church House on Thursday says that Mr Afzal’s work on the new panel “is separate [from] and independent” of his position with the NSP.

Read it all.

Disciplinary action against individuals criticised in the Makin report is to be considered by a panel including a lawyer known for his work prosecuting Rochdale grooming gangs, it was announced on Thursday https://t.co/qwJzYxSbsy

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 22, 2025

We need a radically different solution. The way forward that I propose for our consideration and debate is one of “Truth and Accountability”. Backed by a comprehensive and generous redress scheme, such a process would be modelled on approaches such as those of the Hillsborough Inquiry (News, 3 November 2017), the Anglican Church of Canada’s examination of abuse in its residential schools (News, 8 January 2016), and the experiences of post-apartheid South Africa.

The Church’s version would need to bring together those who have been so hurt with those whose mishandling of their concerns has done so much to traumatise and reabuse them. Its aim would be to enable a series of humane encounters where all the lies and extenuating circumstances of the past would be laid down in an environment designed to enable vulnerability and truth. The aim of such an approach would be to enable transparency and light, the establishment of facts, and an honouring of the stories and experiences of those who have been denied justice for so long.

The remit of this work would not be to investigate those suspected guilty of acts of poor ethical intent or that fall under the criminal law — that is the job of the disciplinary process and/or the police. Rather, it would be to hear, investigate, and explore actions of omission, deficient process, and the deliberate exercise of “learned helplessness” which have compounded the original abuse of survivors over time.

Those called to account would do so in the knowledge that admission of their omissions, misdeeds, and shortcomings would not result in their prosecution or defenestration, being sued, or cancelled. Rather, the aim would be to bring them face to face with a justice that would promote their learning, repentance, and change, enabling them to become the strongest voices for doing things differently next time.

Read it all.

"The way forward that I propose for our consideration and debate is one of 'Truth and Accountability''".https://t.co/qA0JWjDKzJ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 15, 2025

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

6 days to Christmas in my mini advent calendar, on a narrow lane in the #peakdistrict, through the fields and trees, over the streams and hills. It was shining and perfect after a fresh fall of snow, the little cottages cosy in the valley. pic.twitter.com/Zzio1MehjO

— peaklass (@peaklass1) December 19, 2024

Attendance at Christmas services leapt by 20 per cent last year and the number of worshippers at Easter was up 8.6 per cent as Church of England congregations experienced a third year of growth, the latest full annual statistics show.

The number of regular worshippers in the Church of England edged above a million in 2023 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Statistics for Mission 2023 report.

Overall attendance remains below 2019 levels but the report published today shows numbers recovering towards the pre-pandemic trend.

The report confirms the pattern highlighted in preliminary headline figures for 2023 published in May of this year, with some upward revisions.

Read it all.

Welcome Advent. Welcome 240 to our church. Welcome, welcome, welcome. pic.twitter.com/EjRY5eNmv3

— Tom Sander 🚴 (@RevThomasSander) December 2, 2024

Yesterday, I gave my farewell speech in the House of Lords, as part of a debate on housing and homelessness.I would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt that my speech has caused.I understand that my words – the things that I said, and those I omitted to say – have caused further distress for those who were traumatised, and continue to be harmed, by John Smyth’s heinous abuse, and by the far reaching effects of other perpetrators of abuse.I did not intend to overlook the experience of survivors, or to make light of the situation – and I am very sorry for having done so.It remains the case that I take both personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period after 2013, and the harm that this has caused survivors.I continue to feel a profound sense of shame at the Church of England’s historic safeguarding failures.

(Found here).

A head had to roll for safeguarding failures in the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s is the only one that “rolls well enough”, Archbishop Welby told the House of Lords on Thursday.

He began his valedictory speech with some remarks about his decision to resign — the first public comments that he has made since the statement three weeks ago announcing his decision (News, 12 November).

“The reality is that there comes a time, if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll. And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough,” he said.

Read it all.

‘I had to stand down,’ Archbishop Welby tells House of Lords https://t.co/I0ji3ArbyE

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 5, 2024

MPs have backed proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales in a historic vote which paves the way for a change in the law.

In the first Commons vote on the issue in nearly a decade, MPs supported a bill which would allow terminally ill adults expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life by 330 to 275, a majority of 55.

It followed an emotional debate in the chamber, where MPs from both sides shared personal stories which had informed their decisions.

The bill will now face many more months of debate and scrutiny by MPs and peers, who could choose to amend it, with the approval of both Houses of Parliament required before it becomes law.

Read it all.

MPs back proposals to legalise assisted dying https://t.co/fPRg05cakA

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 29, 2024

Dozens of chaplains gathered in Ipswich to celebrate their work across Suffolk.

The event, held on Tuesday at the St Nicholas Centre in Ipswich, was organised by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

It aimed to highlight the significant impact chaplains have in various sectors across the county.

Archdeacon Rich Henderson said: The work of chaplains touches all areas of Suffolk life – from prisons, police and the military to healthcare, education, farming and much, much more.

Read it all.

Dozens of chaplains celebrate their work supporting people across Suffolk https://t.co/sPX0vZkV2r

— Ipswich Star (@ipswichstar24) December 1, 2024

Although the procedure for formally choosing and appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury is thus clear, what is much less clear is how it will prove possible for the CNC to choose a candidate who is acceptable across the breadth of both the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

The deep divisions within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion over the issue of human sexuality which have opened up since 2003 and which have become even more pronounced during the tenure of Archbishop Welby, mean that it will become very difficult, if not impossible, to find someone who the Church of England as a whole and the Anglican Communion as a whole will be able to agree upon. If a candidate takes a conservative view on human sexuality this will make them unacceptable to the liberals in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion and vice versa.

The question that therefore arises is whether it might not be sensible to hold off from appointing a new archbishop until there is the sort of reconfiguration of the Anglican Communion suggested by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches and the sort of reconfiguration of the Church of England suggested by the Church of England Evangelical Council and the Alliance.

This would solve the problem because a liberal Archbishop of Canterbury could be appointed who would be acceptable to liberals in the Church of England and across the Communion, but conservatives in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion would no longer come under his archepiscopal authority.

Read it all.

Why the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury may prove challenging https://t.co/fzDRacSfnt

— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) November 19, 2024

The Most Rev Justin Welby will formally “complete his duties” as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, passing his official functions to his number two, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act as caretaker.

Following his historic resignation last week amid criticism over his handling of abuse allegations and safeguarding policy, Lambeth Palace has said that Welby would continue to serve as the lead cleric of the church until Epiphany in the first week of January, allowing him to serve over Christmas.

After Epiphany, his duties will be “delegated to the Archbishop of York”. Cottrell will fulfil the role until a new appointment is made, which is unlikely to be before next summer.

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The Most Rev Justin Welby will formally “complete his duties” as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, passing his official functions to his number two, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act as caretakerhttps://t.co/xKNhA4OLpL

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) November 20, 2024

Patterson is correct when he says that process set out in Canon B2 provides the opportunity for General Synod to approve liturgical texts after agreeing that they do not depart from the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter. This does not mean, however, as Patterson suggests, that the decisions to ordain women as priests and bishops and the decision to permit the re-marriage of divorcees in church did not involve changes in doctrine. They clearly did, in that they involved the Church of England accepting that something was permissible which it had previously said was impermissible. The reordering of the Church of England’s common life that took place was a consequence of this change of doctrine. However, General Synod took the view that this change of doctrine was not in conflict with the doctrine found in the Articles, Prayer Book and Ordinal, and on that basis said that both this change, and the reordering of the Church’s life that flowed from it, were acceptable.

In similar fashion Synod could decide to permit same-sex marriages on the grounds that they were not contrary to what is taught by the Articles, the Prayer Book and the 1662 Ordinal and that therefore changing the Church’s teaching to allow these things to take place would be a legitimate thing to do. However, it would need to show good grounds for making this decision and this would be impossibly difficult to do given that the Prayer Book marriage service is absolutely clear that marriage was ordained by God to be between two people of the opposite sex and that ‘so many as are coupled together otherwise than God’s Word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their matrimony lawful.’

Fourthly, Patterson declares concerning the Prayers of Love and Faith commended by the House of Bishops in December 2023 for use in regular services:

‘I agree that they are not a change in doctrine, but they are a change. In response to the legalisation of civil partnerships in 2005, the then House of Bishops declared that ‘clergy…should not provide services of blessing for those who register a civil partnership’ and on the introduction of same-sex marriage in 2014, repeated the instruction,  ‘Services of blessing should not be provided.’ Whereas now they have very clearly commended a set of prayers that may be used with those who have formed a civil partnership or same-sex marriage.’

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Martin Davie–'The…problem with this statement is that the idea that the Church of England does not have a ‘straightforward statement of doctrine’ is simply untrue. The Church of England does have a straightforward statement of its doctrine, and this is found in the Thirty Nine… pic.twitter.com/8jtUCwrQDb

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 21, 2024