Mission

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Diocese of Oxford puts a green stumbling block into liturgy of baptism

On 15th June, the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, issued an ad clerum to the clergy in his Diocese: Dear xxxxx, In every service of baptism, confirmation and the renewal of baptismal promises there is a commission where the whole…

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Lucy Allan MP: “Is a Conservative welcome in the Church of England?”

June 20, 2022
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Conservative MP Lucy Allan has challenged the Archbishop of Canterbury directly on his 'robust' intervention in Priti Patel's (presently thwarted) policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. "When the Church…

Net Zero.. racial justice.. mental health.. What exactly are cathedrals for?

May 20, 2022
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Cathedrals can light the way to Net Zero, says the Rt Rev'd Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich and the Church of England's lead Bishop for Environmental Affairs. And he set…

Church of England contributes just 0.5% to the UK’s spiritual and religious narrative

April 11, 2022
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It's a crude headline-grabbing statistic, derived from a distinctly unscientific list of apparently random figures, but by no means without a degree of truth and reliability to it. There is…

The Archbishop Interviews: Justin Welby to host BBC Radio 4 chat show on faith and morality

February 4, 2022
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It would be a great honour indeed to be interviewed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and explore complex contemporary ethical issues and nuanced moral-political dilemmas in the context of the…

st paul's without the walls london church growth

Good food, good music, traditional liturgy and sound preaching: a recipe for church growth

January 26, 2022
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Attendance at the monthly Choral Evensong at St Paul's Without the Walls in Canterbury had fallen to just one, while the choir numbered a respectable 18. And when this lone…

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The Prime Minister partied while clergy lamented

January 13, 2022
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"Could the Minister advise those of us on these benches," ventured Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, "how we should respond to clergy who took an enormous personal toll in having…

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The Church cannot indefinitely sidestep its self-inflicted Covid damage

January 6, 2022
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There was an excellent letter to the Church Times just before Christmas from the Archdeacon of Hastings, the Rev'd Dr Edward Dowler. It was subtitled 'Deeper questions that Covid measures…

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…

Rev'd Will Pearson-Gee Buckingham Parish Church

Rev’d Will Pearson-Gee: “I am not going to close our services”

December 31, 2021
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As 2021 draws to a close, with Covid mutations multiplying, millions isolating, thousands dying, gas prices soaring, inflation pressing, poverty increasing, Putin and Xi agitating, and the Church of England…

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Bramble Welby introduces her human on a BBC Newscast

December 19, 2021
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Bramble Welby upstaged her human on a BBC Newcast this week. "Lie down. Can you lie down. That's a good girl," said the Archbishop of Canterbury. "Nope," thought Bramble. "Not…

Believe in a Marks & Spencer Christmas jumper

December 12, 2021
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Many consumers of social media will have noticed a growing number of women clergy posting photographs of themselves wearing a plain black Marks & Spencer Christmas jumper bearing the simple…

Church of England Christmas Single Charts No 1 In The Bleak Midwinter

Church of England releases its first ever Christmas single

December 1, 2021
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The Church of England is making a foray into the pop charts, releasing its first ever Christmas single, a new version of that glorious carol 'In the Bleak Midwinter'. It…

Lusa Nsenga-Ngo Bishop of Willesden Church of England Bishops

Why are schoolchildren selecting Church of England bishops?

November 29, 2021
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Caroline Boddington is barely out the door, and bishops are now being appointed by... schoolchildren called Temisan, Keziah, Honey and Sophia. With the retirement of the Rt Rev'd Pete Broadbent…

Matthew Parris just wants to be loved, accepted, and buried in the CofE

November 23, 2021
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Matthew Parris has written a strange a piece in the Times about the Church of England: 'Anglicanism was never really about God', he decrees, with a kind of semi-detached secular-papal…

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Durham Cathedral demands Covid passports for Christmas worship

November 19, 2021
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Durham Cathedral is dividing its flock into sheep and goats for Christmas. The Dean is setting the Covid-vaccinated sheep on his right hand, but the goats who lack an NHS…

Queen reminds General Synod of its essential mission

November 17, 2021
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The 11th General Synod of the Church of England was opened yesterday, and the Supreme Governor was absent for the first time since Synod was created more than 50 years…

New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference euthanasia assisted dying

Euthanasia: New Zealand Catholic Bishops make priests complicit

November 7, 2021
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Euthanasia (/Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide) is now legal in New Zealand. If you want to die there today, there is now someone to help you along your way with all the…

Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission has just one Conservative member

October 11, 2021
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The Archbishops' Racial Justice Commission was announced last week. It is a 12-member board, chaired by former Labour MP Paul Boateng, now Lord Boateng, and its members include just one…

Welby: there is no need to ‘save the parish’; there is no threat to it

September 28, 2021
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The Archbishop of Canterbury recently made a very subtle intervention in the process of elections to the General Synod. Indeed, so subtle was it that absolutely nobody noticed. Just as…