News
THE House of Bishops will bring a motion to the General Synod on
Monday 8 July requesting the drafting of new legislation for women
bishops in time for November, so that the process can be concluded
in 2015.
THE "brutal murder" of a soldier in Woolwich on Wednesday, in a
suspected terrorist attack, had "no place in Islam", the Archbishop
of Canterbury said on Friday.
THEY did not break into song as the New Zealand Parliament did
last month, but applause broke out in the House of Commons on
Tuesday night, after MPs voted to send the Marriage (Same Sex
Couples) Bill to the House of Lords.
LAWYERS for the Church of Scotland are to draw up plans to
allow individual parishes to opt out of the Kirk's traditional
position on sexuality, and to appoint gay and lesbian ministers,
after a vote at the General Assembly on Monday.
FRESH legislation to enable women to become bishops should be
introduced at the General Synod in November and receive final
approval in 2015, the working group appointed to advise the House
of Bishops has recommended.
A RETIRED priest, Canon Gordon Rideout, was sentenced to ten
years' imprisonment on Monday for 36 sex offences against children.
He was the cause of "immeasurable and destructive suffering over a
long period of time", the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner,
has said.
A PRAYER for the 60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation has
been published, as churches and cathedrals around the country
prepare celebratory services to mark the event.
THE Bishop of Oklahoma, Dr Edward Konieczny, has asked for
prayers and financial support in the wake of the devastating
tornado which killed at least 24 people, including nine
children.
Sculptures inspired by a research trip to West Bengal and
Jharkhand by the artist Gerry Judah, who was commissioned by
Christian Aid to produce a series of works for "Tipping Point", a
new exhibition about climate change, in association with
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
AN ACCOUNT of a speech on religious liberty given by the
last Roman Catholic king of England has been published for the
first time, showing that he viewed freedom of conscience as a human
right.
A REPORT on a project working with marginalised young
people in the UK to develop their understanding of global issues,
such as poverty and international development, has found that it
changed their mindsets to the extent that they actively supported
charity campaigns, or chose to buy Fairtrade products.
At the source: students and staff from the Queen's Foundation,
a ministerial training college, stand outside the Shenstone UAV
factory, where engines for unmanned aerial vehicles are made, on 10
May, to protest about the use of drones in Pakistan
THE number of Christians in England and Wales fell by 4.1
million in the decade since 2001, new figures published by the
Office for National Statistics indicate.
A "MISSING generation" of young people has grown up outside the
Church, with only 11 per cent of regular churchgoers aged between
25 and 34, a new report by the Church Army suggests.
TRIBUTES have been paid to the the Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd
Keith Jukes, after his sudden death at the age of 59.
In the Holy Spirit: below: the Archbishop of York,
Dr Sentamu, baptises one of five children, at Wakefield
Cathedral; above: flags and flames, as 3000 people
celebrate Pentecost at Bradford City Park; bottom:
the Vicar of Christ Church, Widley, the Revd Andrew Wilson, gets
messy in the Great Portsdown Cake-Off
THE new Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland, the Rt Revd Lorna Hood, caused a stir when she took the
official Moderator's ring into a jewellery shop to have it
resized.
THE Church of Scotland revised its report on the Holy Land after
criticism from Jews and Christians. Objections were expressed to a
report by the Kirk's Church and Society Council, The Inheritance of
Abraham? The Promised Land at an emergency meeting on 8 May with
representatives of the Jewish community in Scotland and the Council
for Christians and Jews.
PARISHES in the Church of England could be in line for a
windfall of up to £20 million, under a new Gift Aid scheme for
small cash donations which came into force last month.
How green was my gown: Katherine Jenkins performs at St
David's, Neath, in Wales, in aid of the church's tower restoration
appeal, on 7 May
TWO Anglican universities - Bishop Grosseteste, Lincoln, and St
Mark and St John, Plymouth - have new Vice-Chancellors. Both took
up their posts this month.
WORK began earlier this month on the installation of two new
stained-glass windows in the Lady chapel at Westminster Abbey. They
will be dedicated on 4 June in the presence of the Queen, during a
service marking the 60th anniversary of her coronation at the
Abbey.
A VIKING drinking-horn that doubles as the original title-deeds
for York Minster, and "wallpaper" from the headquarters of the
Romans' Ninth Legion, which once stood on the same site, feature in
a new display that opens tomorrow at York Minster.
A ROW has erupted in North Yorkshire over the decision by the
diocese of Ripon & Leeds to sell one of the oldest allotment
sites in England, in the market town of Bedale.
THE Bishop of Mpwapwa, the Rt Revd Jacob Chimeledya, has been
enthroned as the new Archbishop of Tanzania, in a service in Dodoma
Cathedral attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
THE Commissary Court of Canterbury diocese has ordered builders
to stop work on an extension to St Mary's, Kenardington, near
Ashford, after the judge discovered that foundations had been laid
before a faculty had been granted.
Gut feeling 'must be listened to'; Youth workers are a
lifeline, says Batmanghelidjh; Church beauty contest open for
entries; Service to remember murdered wife; New head at
green charity
A BURSARY scheme to subsidise places on retreats has been
launched in the wake of the closure of two diocesan retreat houses
owing to financial pressures.
THE Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, has rebutted
accusations by a senior Labour politician that the Lords Spiritual
engage in "gesture politics", and do not participate enough in
parliamentary debates and votes.
YORK St John University, an Anglican foundation and a member of
the Cathedral Group, is among the ten universities most highly
rated by its students.
IN A news story on 26 April, we reported: "Roman Catholics who
marry members of the royal family will not be obliged to bring up
their children in their faith", based on a submission to Parliament
by Lord Wallace of Tankerness.
A WRITER and a photographer have spent 15 days retracing the
1660-mile route taken by medieval monks as they criss-crossed
northern England and Scotland in search of a safe resting-place for
the relics of St Cuthbert.
A SINGLE sermon was preached in most Church in Wales services
earlier this month, exhorting congregants to play their part in
spurring Church growth. The sermon was written jointly by bishops,
and delivered by the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory
Cameron.
TWO "conciliators" have been appointed by the Bishop of
Guildford, the Rt Revd Christopher Hill, to attempt to resolve a
complaint by the Board of Deputies of British Jews against the
Vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water, in Surrey, the Revd Dr
Stephen Sizer.
Likeness: a portrait of the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt
Revd Michael Langrish, painted by Harry Haysom, aged 25. The
painting was exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters'
Annual Exhibition at The Mall Galleries, London, this month.
THE charity that mobilised churches and schools to send out more
than 100 million shoeboxes packed with Christmas presents to
children in poverty, has launched a new initiative providing access
to health care, education, and food for families living in
poverty.
THE Bishop of Grafton, in northern New South Wales, has resigned
early after a safeguarding audit revealed that he had not referred
some sexual-abuse allegations to the diocese's
professional-standards director.