Archbishop Cranmer

Catholic Herald stokes sectarianism with ‘Heretic of the Week’

January 6, 2019
Archbishop Cranmer
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The Catholic Herald runs a column called 'Heretic of the Week'. It hasn't been running for many weeks, which is probably why it isn't that widely known, but a recent tweet featuring Menno Simons – an influential Anabaptist and founder…

Ding-Dong Merrily Online: what can the bust-up over Greggs vegan sausage roll tell us about the Nativity?

January 3, 2019
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In Gilbert and Sullivan's (probably mercifully) under-performed final collaboration The Grand Duke, a group of political degenerates try and bring down the government of a second-rate European power by means…

Channel migrants: the greatest kindness we can show is to send them straight back to France

January 2, 2019
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The Bishop of Dover the Rt Rev'd Trevor Willmott has called for a kind and compassionate response to the Channel migrants – those from Iran or Iraq who are desperately…

Happy Brexit Year: control the language, control the argument

December 31, 2018
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"An ennui hangs over British politics and the prime minister is depending on it", wrote Matthew Parris in the Times a few days ago. "Like a thin, wearisome fog it…

The Last Chronicle of Barset

December 29, 2018
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Goodness! Well my dears, here we are. The end of a year and, sadly, the end of my weekly missives. If I have managed to raise a smile, or even…

Hunt shunts Foreign Office to do more to defend persecuted Christians

December 26, 2018
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Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has ordered a major shift in government policy toward persecuted Christians worldwide. Or, rather, he has ordered an independent review into the extent to which Christians…

Follow that star tonight, Bethlehem, Bethlehem…

December 24, 2018
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Thousands upon thousands of people will go to church tonight, and that'll be it for another year. They'll hear about Mary and a donkey, a star and three kings, shepherds…

Have a wonderful, roast-chestnut and marshmallow Christmas with lashings of eggnog, stilton and sprouts

December 22, 2018
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A very festive ‘Goodness!’ to you all! Well, I must say The Palace is looking rather splendid, the decorations this year being a riot of green, gold and red. Mr.…

‘Light in the Darkness’ – Rev’d Jonathan Aitken preaches Christmas sermon to the Foreign Office

December 20, 2018
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Here is the sermon preached by the Rev'd Jonathan Aitken at the Foreign Office Carol Service, Grand Locarno Room, King Charles St, Westminster, on Tuesday 18th December 2018: It is a…

Jeffrey Archer: “I’m what I call an agnostic moving towards believer”

December 19, 2018
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Jesus Christ is "the best known person on earth", says Jeffrey Archer in a recent interview on Premier Christian Radio. "If the name Jesus Christ has survived for 2,000 plus…

Legal Aid is in crisis: can the Church of England help ensure justice?

December 18, 2018
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The Brexit drama is sucking the oxygen of publicity away from many other newsworthy stories, and one of the more regrettable casualties is the parlous state of our Legal Aid…

Spectator Archbishop Justin Welby mugged

Spectator urges knife attack on Archbishop of Canterbury

December 17, 2018
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Peace on earth and good will toward men? Not from the Spectator toward Justin Welby there isn't. The magazine has just published its Christmas edition which includes a Santa's wish-list…

‘God rest ye merry gentlethings, Let gender not dismay…’

December 15, 2018
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Goodness! What an interesting week and no mistake. Mr. Harding and the Cathedral choir have been out and about wassailing, bringing good cheer to the inhabitants of our little town,…

Following CofE guidance for gender transition services, bishops weigh the possibility of political transition services

December 13, 2018
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The Church of England has issued new guidance for parishes planning gender transition services to help transgender people mark their transition to their new identity. Since there is now no…

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

December 12, 2018
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'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…

jonathan aitken times credo pray for parliament

Rev’d Jonathan Aitken calls the nation to pray for Parliament

December 9, 2018
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From The Times' 'Credo' column yesterday, by the Rev'd Jonathan Aitken, reproduced here with permission: After a seismic week of political and constitutional upheavals at Westminster, might this be a…

“When it comes down to selling one’s soul to the Devil or to Brussels, one should opt for sulphur every time”

December 8, 2018
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Goodness! The festive season does come around with amazing regularity, does it not? Snow has yet to settle on the rooftops and gables of Barchester, though a cold wind rattles…

Lowering the voting age to six isn’t a bad idea: it would give the family its rightful electoral status

December 7, 2018
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Prof David Runciman (Cambridge University) is of the view that an ageing population is creating a democratic crisis: the views of those beneath the age of 18 – the current…

Charles, Defender of the Faithful persecuted for Jesus’ sake

December 5, 2018
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Yesterday, from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey, the Prince of Wales made a plea for peace; and not only peace, but for reconciliation. And not only did he make a…

Church in Wonderland: the Clergy Discipline Measure shoves victims down a rabbit hole

December 4, 2018
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On 22nd November 2017 the Rt Rev'd Peter Burrows, Bishop of Doncaster, was having lunch in a cafe when his chaplain began a discussion about the case of Fr Matt…