Chaplaincy

Sabbatical problematical: give the Archbishop a break, for God’s sake

November 26, 2020
Archbishop Cranmer
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"Unlike the archbishop, Jesus could not retire to cultivate his personal spirituality because he was perpetually besieged by desperate people", writes Karen Armstrong in the Guardian's 'Comment is Free', objecting rather sourly to Justin Welby's decision to take a three-month…

Care in a covid climate: in defence of Justin Welby

May 14, 2020
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"The Archbishop of Canterbury has been secretly volunteering as a chaplain at St Thomas’s Hospital during the coronavirus lockdown, the Telegraph has learned." The Telegraph learned this when the rest…

Canon Simon Butler responds to Archbishop Cranmer & Fr Marcus Walker

April 22, 2020
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This is a guest post from Canon Simon Butler, vicar of St Mary's, Battersea. ____________ I’m grateful for being given a right of reply to the article about an exchange…

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…

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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…

Chaplain General Paul Cowley Michael Spurr

Sir Humphrey sneers at the CofE to appoint Chaplain General of Prisons

August 8, 2018
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There is a vacancy for the post of Chaplain General of Prisons (or, to give it its full title: Head of Chaplaincy and Faith Services at Her Majesty’s Prison and…

Prison chaplains may no longer convict offenders of sin: preaching must be ‘sensitive’

August 2, 2017
360 Comments

Remember the case of the Rev'd Barry Trayhorn, the 'tent-maker' (gardener) volunteer prison chaplain at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire? Being an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Church, he quoted Scripture…

Nurse sacked for offering to pray with patients? Draconian, but not persecution

December 11, 2016
434 Comments

To read that Sister Sarah Kuteh has been sacked by Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, for the crime of offering to pray with her patients, is a cause of…

Should Christians in the public sector 'keep mum' to get on?

January 4, 2016
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"Christianity is being subtly 'silenced' within the public sector in the UK because of a civil service culture which treats speaking about faith as 'not the done thing'," writes…

Rev'd Barry Trayhorn "forced to resign" as prison worker – for quoting the Bible in chapel

November 2, 2015
462 Comments

HMP Littlehey is a 'Category C' men's prison ("Those who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who are unlikely to try to escape") and Young Offender Institute near…

The power of God's love to transform hardened criminals

November 23, 2014
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Over the course of the last week, the Church of England has been running a fascinating series of podcasts talking to offenders currently in prison about finding God and the difference…