Archbishop Cranmer

Martyn Percy Bishop of Oxford forces of darkness

Bishop of Oxford “colluded with the forces of darkness”, and is considered by some to be a safeguarding risk

May 8, 2022
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Liberated from the purgatorial shackles of Christ Church, Oxford, Martyn Percy is now free to speak, and he has done so. Andrew Billen in The Times Magazine recounts the tortuous…

Boris Johnson’s ‘disgraceful slur’ against the Archbishop of Canterbury

April 20, 2022
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The Prime Minister sat rather dejected in the House of Commons yesterday, and spent two hours iterating (and reiterating) how sorry he was for sharing the Cabinet Room of No.10…

Tutufication is not the solution to division and oppression

January 3, 2022
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Canon Mark Oakley wrote to the Times over the weekend with a plea for the Church of England to adopt Tutufication: It is an interesting thesis, not least because quite…

Christ Church Oxford University Dean Martyn Percy Show Trial Kangaroo Court

Christ Church cannot afford the perception of a ‘Show Trial’

November 26, 2021
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Integrity should lie at the heart of every public institution. In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty the Queen models the highest standards of behaviour which ought to be followed across…

Sarah Mullally Bishop of London the buck stops here

Fr Alan Griffin (RIP): the buck stops with Bishop Sarah Mullally

August 27, 2021
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Upon taking office as 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman famously placed a sign on his desk to remind himself of the awesome responsibility which the Office…

I do trust Tories, says Bishop of St Davids, lying through her smiles

June 7, 2021
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The apology issued by the Bishop of St Davids (of the Church in Wales) in the wake of her 'Never never never trust a Tory' tweet is disingenuous. It is…

Bishop of St David's Bishop of St Davids Joanna Penberthy

Bishop of St Davids says all Tories are duplicitous liars

June 3, 2021
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The Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Rev'd Joanna Penberthy, was the first woman to be elected a bishop in the Church in Wales, and into an archbishopric which can…

Jonathan Fletcher presents the Church of England with a crisis of integrity

January 2, 2020
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On Boxing Day the nation was entertained on a bi-partisan basis by the tragi-comic story of Jolyon Maugham QC and his vulpine intruder. It will take some of us a…

Tory leadership contest: how ‘Christian’ are the candidates?

May 30, 2019
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We have arrived at the final two candidates in the Tory leadership contest: either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and…

Iwerne David Conner Dean Windsor John Smyth

Iwerne: what did David Conner (now Dean of Windsor) and others know about John Smyth’s regime of abuse?

November 6, 2018
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Many years ago, I worked as a duty solicitor, undertaking day and night visits to the local police stations. There were not many on the rota and it was a…

Gerald Coates says Justin Welby denied saying that the EU was “the greatest dream realised for human beings since the fall of the Western Roman Empire”

June 8, 2018
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Gerald Coates attended a Lambeth Palace garden party, and has published an account on his Facebook page: Now this is curious, not to say confusing. Gerald Coates is one of…

Why is the General Synod of the Church of England so poor at holding Bishops to account?

May 1, 2018
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Travel is said to broaden the mind, but occasionally it reminds us to pay more attention to what is closer to home, right under our noses. Many years ago, on…

‘Sorry’ seems to be the hardest word: apologetics and apologies in the Bishop Bell case

February 16, 2018
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This is a guest post by the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. _________ An apology is a written or spoken expression of regret and remorse;…

Justin Welby has staked his reputation and legacy on the maintenance of a profound injustice to Bishop George Bell

January 23, 2018
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There are times when you really, really don't want to write any kind of response to a contentious issue, no matter how burning it may be, not least because by…

Welby: “I really, genuinely do not understand” Christian support for Trump

November 28, 2017
249 Comments

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was interviewed by Robert Peston on Sunday. He spoke about the British economic model, economic justice, investment, skills, apprenticeships, automation, robotics, AI, equality for…

Bishop of Sheffield: Martyn Percy asked for bread; Sentamu and Welby give a stone

March 27, 2017
625 Comments

No doubt there has been a lot of frantic to-ing and fro-ing between the palaces of Bishopthorpe and Lambeth since Philip North felt unable to take up the nomination as…

Church in Wales being hounded to appoint Jeffrey John the next Bishop of Llandaff

March 22, 2017
283 Comments

The Church in Wales is the Anglican Church in Wales, and it is disestablished. It's appointments procedure is therefore an entirely internal matter, at some arms' length from the kingdom…

Those who attacked +Philip North have made same-sex blessing compromise impossible

March 10, 2017
358 Comments

Remember that "radical new Christian inclusion" Justin Welby spoke of in the wake of Synod's decision not to 'take note' of the Bishops' report on marriage and same-sex relations? Well,…

If Philip North can’t be Bishop of Sheffield, the Church of England ceases to be catholic

February 25, 2017
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The Dean of Christ Church, Professor Martyn Percy, has issued an ultimatum circumspectly entitled 'Questions of Ambiguity and Integrity'. It's quite long, but essentially it boils down to a choice:…