Leadership

“Impeach Trump,” they cried. “Impeach him!” “Why, what evil has he done?”

January 15, 2021
Archbishop Cranmer
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Donald Trump has become the first President in US history to be impeached twice. He exhorted his supporters to "march on the Capitol" and to "fight like hell", and this has been deemed to have been "incitement of insurrection" against…

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Bishop of Reading: ‘Evolution is God incarnate; the whole earth is God’s body’

October 13, 2020
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The Rt Rev'd Olivia Graham, Bishop of Reading, has been reading a book. Perhaps she has been reading two or three. Her subject is Creation and Incarnation; her passion is…

Lord Carey: Bishops exacerbate the “hysterical, coarsened and divisive nature of our debate”

June 1, 2020
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Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has publicly admonished those Bishops who decided to "speak truth to power" by joining the onslaught against Dominic Cummings. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph,…

‘Stay Alert’ is a perfectly sensible slogan

May 12, 2020
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The Government is coming under a lot of criticism for its 'Stay Alert' messaging as we move incrementally out of the coronavirus lockdown. 'What exactly does this mean?' has become…

Coronavirus and the Kingdom of God: we reap what we sow

April 3, 2020
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This is the 10th contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. It comes from Graham Wood, an ex-police local government officer, now retired, and author of…

Rev Jonathan Fletcher Emmanuel Church Wimbledon

Rev’d Jonathan Fletcher: CofE and GAFCON co-operate to manage risk to the vulnerable

June 28, 2019
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The weeks leading up to General Synod were never going to be a happy time for the Church of England. Anyone in touch with the survivors of Anglican abuse across…

Tory leadership contest: when did vice signalling become a virtue?

June 10, 2019
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The Tory leadership contest has taken a strange turn. Perhaps it's a purposeful distraction from their (non-)strategies for realising Brexit, but they seem to have taken to vice signalling (or,…

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…

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…

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…

Project apocalypse: Welby calls the nation to prayer over Brexit

February 27, 2019
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In his 'State of the Nation' address to the General Synod of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is calling the nation to prayer because "social divisions feel…

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Defections, divisions, tribalism and schisms

February 21, 2019
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'What causes fights and quarrels among you?' asked James the brother of Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. And then he proceeds to answer his own question: Don’t…

‘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…

Darkness and devils: the inescapable framework of Brexit betrayal

February 11, 2019
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"I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted #Brexit," tweeted Donald Tusk last week, as he made his State of the UK address…

John Shepherd anglican centre rome resurrection

Anglican Ambassador to Rome denies the Resurrection of Christ

January 11, 2019
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The Anglican Centre in Rome is the Embassy of the Worldwide Anglican Communion to the Roman Catholic Church. Its Director is effectively the Archbishop of Canterbury's Ambassador to the Vatican;…

Brexit impasse: democracy can be messy – but the alternative is terrifying

December 12, 2018
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'And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee' (1Sam 8:7). It might not end well, but never let…

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…

John Smyth tortured Christian boys at Iwerne – where’s the CofE inquiry?

August 6, 2018
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The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) hearings into the crimes and cover-up relating to Peter Ball have rightly shocked many in the Church of England, yet what may…

synod church of england evangelism kenneth williams

CofE General Synod couldn’t find time to discuss evangelism… “Oh, what’s the bloody point?”

July 11, 2018
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Kenneth Williams of ‘Carry On’ fame was not, alas and alack, a member of the Church of England’s General Synod. And yet his are the words for which I find…