Compassion

Stephen Cottrell Archbishop York safeguarding George Carey

Cottrell and Carey: why is some safeguarding secret, while others are thrown to the media?

It was announced yesterday that the Rt Rev'd Stephen Cottrell, who next week is to be formally installed as the 98th Archbishop of York, had been investigated over a past failure of safeguarding. The incident is a decade old, and…

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…

A nation unites to pray for Boris Johnson (well, almost)

April 7, 2020
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been stricken with coronavirus and now lies in intensive care in St Thomas' Hospital, London. He is manifestly quite frail and on oxygen support. Ostensibly,…

CofE insurers Ecclesiastical attempt to impede pastoral care

July 26, 2019
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It has been known for some time that Ecclesiastical Insurance (EIG), the favoured insurance company of the Church of England, has a tendency toward callousness, obstruction and indifference in their…

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Church of England guidance used against Christian in court

July 22, 2019
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There's something ever so slightly disquieting about this, but not for the reasons permeating the websites and chat-threads of Evangelical Christendom. Dr David Mackereth, who said in a Department of…

We need to make more space for silence

July 14, 2019
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High School student Jack Higgins has a severe form of autism which makes him hypersensitive to noise. His graduation rite of passage was looking to be an impossible occasion, with…

Child sexual abuse: the Blackburn Pastoral Letter is game-changer for the Church of England

June 21, 2019
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When St Paul began writing his letters I doubt he expected them to become as copied, shared, dissected and analysed as they are today. He wrote to help and support…

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…

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…

Curate’s egg or Archbishop’s omelette? Welby tells TUC: gig economy is “reincarnation of an ancient evil”

September 13, 2018
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Justin Welby delivered a speech to the TUC, which went down well in one quarter, and not so well in five eighths, most of whom were irked that he delivered…

Jimmy Carter acts justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with his God

August 19, 2018
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He was President of the United States when Charlie flirted with Angels, Starsky tore around with Hutch, and Steve Austin cost $6million ($33million in today's bionics). He's mostly remembered for…

John Smyth dies – just as the CPS gives police go-ahead for his extradition and prosecution

August 12, 2018
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John Smyth, who was accused of the sadistic beatings of young men under the guise of Christian discipleship, has died at his home in Cape Town. This brings to an…

Manchester suicide bomber rescued by Navy? Yes, it’s the price we pay for being Christian

July 31, 2018
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"The Manchester suicide bomber was rescued by the Navy from war-torn Libya three years before his pop concert atrocity, the Mail reveals today." It's a great opening line for an…

What if Alfie Evans had been named Ahmed Edris, and the flight were to Mecca, not Rome?

April 26, 2018
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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…

Windrush children: Home Office defames Conservatives, dismays Christians and shames the nation

April 16, 2018
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61-year-old Paulette Wilson (top centre) came to the UK at the age of 10 with her parents. She had sailed all the way from Jamaica aboard HMT Empire Windrush, a…

Anti-prayer ‘safe zones’ around abortion clinics are a threat to civil liberties

April 11, 2018
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Women who want an abortion will no longer be harassed by zealous pro-life protestors outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing. No longer will they be bludgeoned with choruses of…

Pope Francis: “There is no hell; there is the disappearance of sinful souls”

April 2, 2018
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In the continuing assessment of whether or not the Pope is Catholic, the latest doctrinal confusion comes (again) from a statement reported by Eugenio Scalfari in La Repubblica. When asked…

Banning beggars and fining the homeless: why do clergy only condemn Tory-run councils?

March 18, 2018
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Three women have been given a community protection warning (CPW), prohibiting them from begging outside the Hounslow Jamia Masjid & Islamic Centre. Cllr Hanif Khan said: "These individuals were specifically…

Labour MP’s campaign for the stillborn to be recognised by the State raises a few awkward questions about abortion

February 7, 2018
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When Labour MP Sharon Hodgson rose to deliver her contribution to the debate on the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill, the House was sparsely attended, but all…

Accepting more child refugees from Calais prolongs the heartache of those already in care

January 24, 2018
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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…