Leadership

Rev Jonathan Fletcher Emmanuel Church Wimbledon

Rev’d Jonathan Fletcher: CofE and GAFCON co-operate to manage risk to the vulnerable

June 28, 2019
Martin Sewell
0 Comments

The weeks leading up to General Synod were never going to be a happy time for the Church of England. Anyone in touch with the survivors of Anglican abuse across its various traditions knew there was trouble brewing after receiving…

Tory leadership contest: when did vice signalling become a virtue?

June 10, 2019
0 Comments

The Tory leadership contest has taken a strange turn. Perhaps it's a purposeful distraction from their (non-)strategies for realising Brexit, but they seem to have taken to vice signalling (or,…

Tory leadership contest: how ‘Christian’ are the candidates?

May 30, 2019
0 Comments

We have arrived at the final two candidates in the Tory leadership contest: either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and…

Is a diocesan bishop about to break ranks over historic child abuse in the Church of England?

May 13, 2019
0 Comments

The past few weeks have seen a huge escalation in the accumulation of evidence and opinion on the tragic story of the Church’s safeguarding failures. I write in the context…

Church of England’s Brexit prayers – what exactly do they mean?

March 5, 2019
0 Comments

A few months ago the Archbishop of York issued a Brexit prayer, or, rather, 'A Prayer for Parliament in Time of Brexit Trouble'. It was a fairly benign effort which…

Bishop Steven Croft Lords ambition Brexit

Bishop says Brexit is marred by politicians’ personal ambition, and calls for ‘strong, compelling and united vision of the future’

March 1, 2019
0 Comments

"My Lords, I always rise to speak in this Chamber with some fear and trepidation but never more so than today," confessed the Lord Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev'd…

Project apocalypse: Welby calls the nation to prayer over Brexit

February 27, 2019
0 Comments

In his 'State of the Nation' address to the General Synod of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is calling the nation to prayer because "social divisions feel…

Independent group selfie division defection

Defections, divisions, tribalism and schisms

February 21, 2019
0 Comments

'What causes fights and quarrels among you?' asked James the brother of Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. And then he proceeds to answer his own question: Don’t…

‘General Synod has no confidence in the Church of England’s capacity to regulate its own safeguarding culture’

February 20, 2019
0 Comments

The laicisation of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick by the Roman Catholic Church was one more step on the long journey towards cleansing that institution of sexual abuse, much of it…

Darkness and devils: the inescapable framework of Brexit betrayal

February 11, 2019
0 Comments

"I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted #Brexit," tweeted Donald Tusk last week, as he made his State of the UK address…

John Shepherd anglican centre rome resurrection

Anglican Ambassador to Rome denies the Resurrection of Christ

January 11, 2019
0 Comments

The Anglican Centre in Rome is the Embassy of the Worldwide Anglican Communion to the Roman Catholic Church. Its Director is effectively the Archbishop of Canterbury's Ambassador to the Vatican;…

Brexit impasse: democracy can be messy – but the alternative is terrifying

December 12, 2018
0 Comments

'And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee' (1Sam 8:7). It might not end well, but never let…

Iwerne David Conner Dean Windsor John Smyth

Iwerne: what did David Conner (now Dean of Windsor) and others know about John Smyth’s regime of abuse?

November 6, 2018
0 Comments

Many years ago, I worked as a duty solicitor, undertaking day and night visits to the local police stations. There were not many on the rota and it was a…

John Smyth tortured Christian boys at Iwerne – where’s the CofE inquiry?

August 6, 2018
0 Comments

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) hearings into the crimes and cover-up relating to Peter Ball have rightly shocked many in the Church of England, yet what may…

synod church of england evangelism kenneth williams

CofE General Synod couldn’t find time to discuss evangelism… “Oh, what’s the bloody point?”

July 11, 2018
0 Comments

Kenneth Williams of ‘Carry On’ fame was not, alas and alack, a member of the Church of England’s General Synod. And yet his are the words for which I find…

Jumping, skipping, dabbing and bouncing clergy – are we ordaining Tigger?

June 25, 2018
0 Comments

'Likewise must the deacons be grave', writes St Paul in his first pastoral letter to Timothy (3:8), expounding the necessary character and qualifications for Church leadership. The adjective is associated…

transgender transgenderism LGBT equality church of england

When did Transgenderism supplant Anglican orthodoxy as a qualification for Holy Orders?

June 4, 2018
0 Comments

If you believe that women may not be priests; that Holy Orders are a male preserve; that a woman may not represent Christ at the altar; that 'woman priest' is…

Why is the General Synod of the Church of England so poor at holding Bishops to account?

May 1, 2018
0 Comments

Travel is said to broaden the mind, but occasionally it reminds us to pay more attention to what is closer to home, right under our noses. Many years ago, on…

Where’s the headline: ‘Welby slams Sentamu’s lack of humanity and leadership’?

March 24, 2018
0 Comments

Giving evidence to the Independent Investigation into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was asked: The other thing that we have seen a lot…

Welby IICSA clericalism deference ashamed

Welby condemns the church’s deferential culture of clericalism and tribalism

March 22, 2018
0 Comments

"I have seen afresh the insanity of clericalism and of a deferential culture and how we have to struggle against that," the Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday in his evidence…