Bishops

Clergy sexual abuse: why can’t the Church cleanse its own temple?

August 18, 2019
Archbishop Cranmer
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"The gross evil of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy would have gone unexposed had it not been for three principal agencies, all secular." That's the damning opening sentence of an article in The Tablet which raises so many complex…

Brexit Derangement Syndrome: the contagion reaches the Bishops

August 7, 2019
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Every profession seems to have been infected, and within each there is notable carrier who is especially unwell. Brexit Derangement Syndrome is spreading like the Plague of Justinian, and there…

Boris Johnson becomes the first baptised Catholic to made Prime Minister

July 24, 2019
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Today is the Feast Day of St Boris (really). And today Boris Johnson kisses hands with the Queen (not the hand of the Queen) to become the 55th person to…

vicar john parker bishop stephen cottrell

What bishop would tell a vicar: ‘You’re no longer welcome in the Church of England’?

June 6, 2019
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It made the pages of the Daily Mail, so it's serious: 'Vicar resigns after being 'silenced' over a Church of England school's plan to keep an eight-year-old pupil's sex change…

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

May 13, 2019
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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…

Bishop Graham Kings Farage Hannan traitors to EU

Bishop says Brexit Euro candidates are ‘Traitors to the EU’

April 28, 2019
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The Rt Rev'd Dr Graham Kings is Hon Assistant Bishop & World Mission Adviser in the Diocese of Southwark. He is a Senior Member of St Chad's College, Durham, and…

The Conservative Party does not govern – or even exist – by divine right

April 5, 2019
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The Conservative Party is often referred to as "the natural party of government". Certainly, they dominated much of the 20th century – being in power for half of it, while…

CofE brexit prayer together peoples vote

Bemused by Brexit? Come to church for tea and prayer – unless your vicar is a Remainer

March 25, 2019
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At this moment of national crisis and international humiliation (which it is), the Church of England is encouraging people to come to church to be 'Together' for a cup of…

Emotional abuse in the Church: Bishops need psychological help

March 8, 2019
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There is a Jewish proverb that a good name is worth more than precious stones. In this reflective and penitential season of Lent, members of the Church of England House…

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

March 5, 2019
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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
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"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…

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

February 20, 2019
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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…

How far is Bishop George Bell’s reputation restored? When is a cloud not a cloud?

January 25, 2019
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This is a guest post by Synod members Martin Sewell and David Lamming. _______ The Church of England has now published the Briden Report into the further allegations against Bishop…

Parliamentary prayers chaplain house of commons prayer

Parliamentary prayers give strength and instil humility: they impose nothing and exclude no one

January 21, 2019
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"If MPs don’t want to attend prayers, they wait outside for five minutes until they are over", tweeted Nadine Dorries MP, in response to those who are agitating anew for…

Welby Brexit debate no deal moral failure

Brexit and the ‘moral failure’ of ‘no deal’

January 17, 2019
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In his speech to the House of Lords last week on Brexit, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke eloquently about the moral responsibility that comes with parliamentary sovereignty, and of the…

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…

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…

While bishops bicker over Brexit, there is one who shows a better way

November 22, 2018
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Should there be a second referendum (aka a 'People's Vote') on Brexit, the Bishop of Oxford was asked. "My own view is that it would make things worse and it…

What makes Jair “God above everything” Bolsonaro a far-right politician?

October 29, 2018
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Those stupid people have gone and done it again. Not content with Brexit, Trump and Orbán, or the rise of the National Front, Alternative for Germany, Golden Dawn or the…

Gay cake: why don’t CofE bishops care about freedom of religion?

October 11, 2018
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It was a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court. The queer case of the 'gay cake' has been rumbling on for four long years, and the highest court in the…