The curious case of Kristie Higgs: where is the Church of England?
Kristie Higgs is deemed to be a danger to children. So dangerous, in fact, that more than a year ago she was sacked for gross misconduct by the school where…
Children
Holy Innocents: why are we putting 12-year-olds in solitary confinement for 23½ hours a day?
Herod then with fear was filled: "A prince," he said, "in Jewry!" And all the little boys he killed At Bethl'hem in his fury. Childermas – the Feast of the Holy Innocents – is rarely referenced, still less observed, in…
As a child drowns in the Channel, the Bishop of Dover demands action
"What are we waiting for?" asked the Rt Rev'd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover. "Our children are being washed up on our beaches," she lamented, after the body of a…
Transgender aged seven; puberty blockers aged 11; detrans aged 18
There is an evil here which needs to be addressed. O, some will hurl 'transphobe', others 'bigot', and still others 'homophobe' or 'hater', but it still needs to be addressed,…
Revealed, reclaimed, restored
This is the fifth contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. The author has a 30-year itinerant preaching and teaching ministry. He leads a large public…
Screwtape: ‘The state’s desire is dressed up as “concern”…’
The second contribution to His Grace's emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence comes from someone who wishes to remain anonymous for professional reasons. Years ago, CS Lewis in…
Child sponsorship: giving children the power to choose their sponsor is nearer the kingdom of heaven
"It's a new thing a missionary priest started last term. You send five bob to some nuns in Africa and they christen a baby and name her after you. I've…
What bishop would tell a vicar: ‘You’re no longer welcome in the Church of England’?
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…
No-fault divorce won’t end the ‘blame game’; it will just displace resentment and anger
On the day plans were announced to reform the divorce laws in the UK to remove all reference to blame, the Daily Mail published a front page headline: 'How Boat…
Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the transgender-inculcated person
'Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man' is a Jesuit maxim attributed to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society…
Channel migrants: the greatest kindness we can show is to send them straight back to France
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…
Lowering the voting age to six isn’t a bad idea: it would give the family its rightful electoral status
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…
A quarterback and a porn star walk into a bar…
You might think this would be the set-up line for a bad joke, but, no, it’s for real. Amidst the typical National Football League off-season stories about murder, sexual assault,…
What if Alfie Evans had been named Ahmed Edris, and the flight were to Mecca, not Rome?
An awful lot has been written about the tragic case of Alfie Evans; so much, in fact, that there is absolutely no desire at all to add to the mountain…
Why is gassing Syrian children with sarin or chlorine worse than blowing them to smithereens?
The civil war in Syria is just appalling: the chaos and suffering; it's hell on earth. Hundreds of thousand have have been killed over the past seven years, many of…
Accepting more child refugees from Calais prolongs the heartache of those already in care
It appears that the perfidious French have ‘got one over on us’ again. Prime Minister Theresa May has agreed with President Macron to pay additional monies to assist the control…
Mandatory reporting of CofE child abuse is complicated, so let’s proceed incrementally
When judges are considering whether children can be returned to failing parents, they set the bar at a fairly low standard: ‘good enough parenting’ is sufficient. This approach does not…
Boys in tutus and tiara hysteria: media attack Church of England for totally the wrong reason
Today's furore is caused by the Church of England's declaration that unrepentant sinners will go to hell and only Jesus can save them boys ought to be able to wear…
West Midlands Police: FGM parents/cutters only prosecuted “if in the child’s best interests”
It has long been a cause of puzzlement why thousands of recorded cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK result in so few prosecutions and zero convictions. Now…
NSPCC Childline: rise of Corbyn and Clinton leads to rise in young people’s anxiety
Thousands of young people are very worried and seeking counselling from the NSPCC's Childline for unbearable levels of anxiety. Almost 12,000, to be exact. This isn't funny: mental health issues…