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…
Salvation
Welby: most Anglicans recognise the Pope as “the father of the Church in the West”
As the Lambeth Conference drew to a close, the Archbishop of Canterbury waded into ecumenism, declaring he believed that most Anglicans in England now recognise the Pope as "the father of the Church in the West". His exact words aren't…
Net Zero.. racial justice.. mental health.. What exactly are cathedrals for?
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…
Patriarch Kirill: Ukraine is paying for its Gay Pride
We know that Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, doesn't recognise the His Beatitude Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and that he wants the schismatic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine to…
Ukraine: no grave is large enough to contain the spirit of freedom
President Putin is turning cities to rubble, making life unlivable, and bombing civilians to kingdom come. The sacred Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial to the 33,000 Ukrainian Jews who were summarily…
‘Legal but harmful’: making social media the arbiter of gospel truth
WARNING: This blog post is legal but harmful (potentially). If you proceed, there is a significant risk that the nature of the content might cause adverse psychological impact on an…
Damned by a pronoun: priest invalidates baptism of hundreds by changing one word
The rite of baptism in the Roman Catholic Church is clear: the priest must say, "I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of…
Tutufication is not the solution to division and oppression
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…
Bramble Welby introduces her human on a BBC Newscast
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…
Matthew Parris just wants to be loved, accepted, and buried in the CofE
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…
Queen reminds General Synod of its essential mission
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…
Euthanasia: New Zealand Catholic Bishops make priests complicit
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…
The Pope, the Patriarch and the Archbishop unite for Earth’s sake
Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Canterbury have united for the first time in history to issue an urgent appeal for the future of the planet. Never before…
Does it matter if Church of England parishes wither on the vine?
At the inaugural meeting of 'Save the Parish' this week at Great St Bartholomew's in Smithfield, London, the Rev'd Marcus Walker was animated and agitated. Time is short, he told…
Radical progressive activism and the Church of England
Civitas have published a new report: Rotting from the Head: Radical progressive activism and the Church of England. 'Radical progressive activism' is a slippery concept, not least because not all…
Three Lions — a Psalm of England
Three Lions — a Psalm of England It's coming home It's coming home It's coming Football's coming home (we'll go getting bad results) It's coming home It's coming home It's…
If ‘contested’ monuments, statues and memorials must fall, who shall stand?
The guidance issued by the Church of England in respect of its 'contested heritage' (specifically monuments, statues and monuments relating to the slave trade and/or colonialism) is confusing (to put…
Nicola Sturgeon broke the law in banning Christians from church
Thank God for Christian Concern, the Christian Legal Centre, and the intrepid Andrea Minichiello Williams. No-one else seemed to care about the SNP's ban on church worship – at least…
Archbishops call the nation to prayer as Covid deaths reach 100,000
As the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 passes 100,000, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written an Epistle to the Nation calling everyone to prayer. And if you…
Anglican spinach – a primary challenge for the Church’s mission
There was a subtitle fail in the Zoom service from Guildford Cathedral on Advent Sunday. It caused a bit of amusement on Twitter, but it presents an opportunity to explore…