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2008 the year in review
| January THE YEAR began worryingly, with the continuation of violence in Kenya, which had been relatively peaceful before. It proved difficult to contain the demons released after the disputed election. Elections in Pakistan proved dangerous, also, as the country realised after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto at the end of December. In the UK, those working in interfaith relations took issue with the Bishop of Rochester’s remark about “no-go areas” for non-Muslims. An attempt to preserve the mention of a need for a father in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was defeated. Anglican dissension began early, with the announcement of the forthcoming Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem, and the inhibition of the Bishop of San Joaquin in the United States for “renouncing the Church’s doctrine”. None the less, the agenda of the Lambeth Conference was announced (such as it was). The Revd Dennis Hibbert was readmitted to a Nottinghamshire cricket club after some jocular sledging (of his own side) had led to a 70-year ban. February THE BIGGEST religious story of the year, judging by press coverage, was Dr Williams’s suggestion that UK law might recognise aspects of sharia. He apologised for “unclarity”, but stood his ground. The General Synod welcomed a new draft of the Anglican Covenant, warned the Government off extending the period that suspected terrorists could be held without trial, refused to vest parsonages in dioceses, and contemplated a greater say in senior appointments. Attendance figures for the C of E showed a one-per-cent fall between 2005 and 2006, although 33 dioceses saw growth in at least one of the areas measured. The troubles in the Church in Zimbabwe began to be felt even more keenly, though they were later to be overshadowed by the travails of the whole nation. Dr Sebastian Bakare was enthroned as Bishop of Harare to replace the deposed Nolbert Kunonga, but access to the cathedral and other churches was blocked. Forty insurance claims amounting to £800,000 were made after an earthquake that was centred on Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. March THE Archbishop of Canterbury urged people to give up “selfish, controlling, greedy habits” in his Easter sermon. The Revd Professor Jim Packer was inhibited when the parish he officiated in ceded from the Anglican Church of Canada to the Province of the Southern Cone. It was confirmed that the Bishop of New Hampshire had not been invited to the Lambeth Conference. The Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Revd Carl Cooper, took leave of absence while his relationship with his chaplain was investigated. He resigned at the end of April. Faith communities were said to contribute £2 billion to the UK economy. A clause specifically permitting criticism of sexual orientation was proposed for the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. It was withdrawn, but passed by the Lords at a later reading in April. One of the year’s many opinion polls suggested that Richard Branson was a more popular role-model than Jesus. Another, of children under ten, suggested later that Simon Cowell was more famous than God or the Queen. On the other hand, 57 per cent in another poll agreed that Christ rose from the dead. April IN THE FIRST of several skirmishes over faith schools, the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, was reprimanded by Frank Field MP and the Revd Jan Ainsworth, the C of E’s chief education officer. He had criticised faith schools for manipulating entry, on scant evidence. A ten-year-old schoolgirl, Yvonne Namaganda, rescued six classmates from a dormitory fire in Uganda before being overcome by fumes when she returned for a seventh. An attempt to introduce women bishops in the Church in Wales failed. No provision for alternative oversight had been made for those who objected. In Australia, the first woman bishop was announced: the Very Revd Kay Goldsworthy. The troubled bookstore chain SSG attempted to put four of its shops up for sale, but legal restrictions meant that it had to withdraw them. Later it was to claim bankruptcy in a US court. An epidemic of lead thefts cost the Church £1 million a month. One group of churches in Derbyshire had 14 thefts in the year to April. (It has now reached 18, but security lights and CCTV seem to have worked.) Another church, in Teesside, used a Mosquito ultrasonic device to deter anti-social behaviour by young people. |
 Rescued: a young victim of the Sichuan earthquake receives sustenance REUTERS |
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May DELAYS in getting aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma were contrasted with the relative speed with which the Chinese government responded to the earthquake in Sichuan. Both took a serious toll, however. The Manchester report set out a series of options for introducing women bishops into the C of E, ranging from a single-clause Measure to the creation of new structures for traditionalists. The Church Commissioners announced a return of 9.4 per cent on their 2007 investments. Conservative attempts to restrict the Embryology Bill were defeated in the Commons. The Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt Revd Gene Robinson, visiting the UK for the launch of his book In the Eye of the Storm, spoke of “the fear” in which gay, partnered clergy live in the C of E. Calls for intervention in Zimbabwe grew in intensity, especially after a Mothers’ Union service was disrupted. A rector in Whitehaven, the Revd John Bannister, waded into the row over waste collection by organising a collection for a parishioner who had been fined for overfilling a wheelie bin. June CONSERVATIVES came out into the open at the GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem. More than 1000 pilgrims met to debate and visit the holy sites. Together, they produced the Jerusalem Declaration, basing their ethical and doctrinal foundation on the BCP and the Thirty-Nine Articles; created a new Primates’ Council; called for a new province in the US; and formed the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. A report, Moral, But No Compass, urged the Government to recognise the large contribution made by the Churches to social welfare in the UK. Inner-city churches joined the campaign to prevent a rash of stabbings by young people. The Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, in the City of London, the Revd Dr Martin Dudley, was reprimanded for conducting a “wedding-style” blessing of a civil partnership between two clerics. In California, same-sex weddings were declared legal (until November, as it transpired). The PCC in Haughley, Suffolk, bought its village post office when it was closed down. Few others were in a position to do so, despite the difficulty of winning a reprieve. |
 Sightseeing with a purpose: right: bishops break off from the Lambeth Conference to campaign for the Millennium Development Goals PA |
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July THE GENERAL SYNOD debated women bishops for many hours. It rejected the single-clause Measure wanted by supporters, but also attempts to establish a protective framework for opponents. The final motion entrusted those opposed to women in the episcopate to a statutory code of practice, still to be drafted. The Synod also reflected on relations with the Methodist and the Orthodox Churches, and considered Anglican governance, including another look at Crown appointments. The First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam Smith, warned of a coming recession, after cracks were revealed in the US banking system. Then came the Lambeth Conference. Several provinces discouraged their bishops from attending, but in the end 650 appeared out of a possible maximum of 880. Plenty of conservative voices were heard during the conference, which encouraged reflection and discussion (in indaba groups) rather than formal debate. Among other activities, the bishops marched through London in support of the Millennium Development Goals. Media transparency was sometimes sacrificed for intimacy. August THE Lambeth Conference closed with a 42-page set of Reflections, approved, more or less, by the bishops who attended. The US Presiding Bishop thought she detected “the birth pangs of something new”. The Reflections concluded that, since many were seeking “the sort of international community that we already have, it would be foolish to let such a gift fall apart”. Church leaders in Georgia expressed alarm at the invasion by Russian troops after an ill-judged move by the Georgian authorities. Christians in Orissa were targeted by Hindu extremists in a series of violent attacks. A Charismatic movement, the Florida Outpouring, was disturbed when its leader, Todd Bentley, was found to have formed “an inappropriate relationship” with one of his staff. A new book, Don’t Stop at the Lights, urged churches to consider their carbon footprint, looking at issues such as floodlighting and heating. A treasure-hunter unearthed an 18-carat gold cross dating from the 600s in a field near Newark. He described it as “warm, almost alive” to the touch. Another ancient cross, the chi-rho, was revealed as a possible fake. |
 the Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland PA |
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September FLOODS in Bihar, northern India, and Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike in Haiti and the southern states of the US, added to the sum of the year’s natural disasters. Storms of a financial kind began in the UK, as a general banking collapse heralded a full-blown recession. The chief executive of the C of E Pensions Fund said that the financial turmoil was “not helpful”. Many UK churches participated in Back to Church Sunday, attracting an estimated 37,000 extra churchgoers. The Archbishop of Canterbury visited Lourdes for the first time, and preached at the shrine. The US House of Bishops deposed the Bishop of Pittsburgh, in anticipation of his secession, with many in his diocese, to the Province of the Southern Cone. The Post Office announced that it would stick to its promise to produce religious stamps alongside the pantomime ones. Church Times readers showed tenacity in tracking these down, sometimes without the help of counter staff. London beat Chester in the Church Times Cricket Cup final. The rain held off. October GOVERNMENT bail-outs of banks in crisis came at regular intervals through the month. Church leaders said that the poor could suffer worst. Charities also worried about income. The Sydney synod voted to approve lay presidency, thus damaging relations with other Anglicans, including some of its GAFCON partners. The Lambeth Design Group reported that 56 per cent of bishops at the Lambeth Conference were content with the idea of the Anglican Covenant. This left 28.5 per cent who were not, and 16 per cent definitely not. The dangers of Afghanistan were highlighted by the murder of a British aid worker, Gayle Williams. Debby Purdy lost her case for a judicial review of the law on assisted dying, although it was later shown that it was largely disregarded. The new Marriages Measure came into force, which allows couples to marry in churches with which they have a looser connection than the law previously countenanced. Pope Benedict XVI said that every home should contain a Bible, “and safeguard it in a visible and dignified way”. A new version of the Bible, in Jamaican patois, had “Jiizas” tell of a “priis” who, going down the road, “si di man, and paas an di ada said”. November THE EASY election victory of the Democratic Senator Barack Obama (after the spending of $600 million) heralded an outpouring of hope and jubilation among many in the United States. The Bishop of Maryland said: “On this day the world is witnessing the breaking down of walls that human sin has erected for centuries.” The chief adjudicator of school admissions cleared church schools of “cherry-picking” bright pupils. Infringements of admissions procedures were largely technical, he ruled. The chairman of the Church of England Evangelical Council, the Revd Dr Richard Turnbull, later stood down after a dispute at the National Evangelical Anglican Consultation (NEAC5) endorsing the Jerusalem Declaration from GAFCON. Fort Worth became the latest US Episcopal diocese to join the Southern Cone. The Archbishop of Congo asked for prayers for his war-torn country. The first signs of cholera appeared in Zimbabwe. A rewriting of carols to reflect present-day tensions in the Holy Land provoked a reaction, as it was meant to do. Lines included: “Once in royal David’s city stood a big apartheid wall.” |
 children play in dirty water in cholera-stricken Zimbabwe REUTERS |
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December A TERRORIST ATTACK on tourists in Mumbai dragged on for three days, and left 200 dead. Prayers were offered by churches worldwide. An estimated 500-600 people were killed in rioting in Jos, Nigeria. The Bishop said Christians were not to blame. And the cholera outbreak took hold in Zimbabwe, despite denials by President Mugabe. The Archbishop of York and Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for Mr Mugabe to be deposed, forcibly if necessary. Fallout from the death of Baby P caused by his step-father and a lodger included a purge in Haringey social services. The priest who took the child’s funeral asked that he might be allowed to rest in peace. |
 Baby P, a failure of the social-care network PA |
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Conservatives in the United States formed the Anglican Church in North America, a coalition of about 650 congregations, most of which had broken away from the Episcopal Church. Debate centred on what the new province was a province of. Religious leaders in the UK expressed concern that faith was being marginalised.
The Revd Kate Bottley featured on the BBC website (and in the Church Times) by dressing up as a Christingle.
For a fully illustrated text of the Review of the Year, click the link below. |
