Hereford must wait longer for new diocesan
THE Crown Nominations Commission has failed to reach a decision
about its recommendation for the next Bishop of Hereford. On
Friday, the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote in a letter to the
diocese: "Following interviews, we did not feel able to make a
choice as to whom God is calling to be the next Bishop of Hereford
and felt that we needed more time to discern the next stages for
mission and ministry in the diocese." The Commission will reconvene
on 1 May and 6 June.
More Yes votes on women bishops from the
dioceses
ANOTHER five dioceses have voted on the women-bishops
legislation referred by the General Synod. Canterbury, Sheffield,
Sodor & Man, Southwark, and Wakefield all voted in favour.
Across all nine that have voted to date, all three Houses are at
least 90 per cent in favour of the legislation. In Sheffield, 76
per cent of all votes were in favour, as were 77 per cent in
Wakefield. So far, all bishops have voted in favour, except one in
the diocese of Wakefield.
Bishop of Dorchester to lead prayers in
churchyard
PRAYERS will be led by the Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Revd
Colin Fletcher, at 4 p.m on Sunday, in the churchyard of All
Saints', Didcot, where the body of the murdered teenager Jayden
Parkinson was found in a grave last year (News, 20 December). In
January, Ben Blakeley was charged with Miss Parkinson's murder (News, 3
January).
Dr Forster criticises Government's 'fiscal
individualism'
THE Bishop of Chester, Dr Peter Forster, has warned of a
"persistent tendency to marginalise children and their parents
financially" in the UK's tax system. In a foreword to a new report
by CARE - Taxation of Families: International comparisons
2012 - Dr Forster writes that the tax system since 2000 has
"treated Britain as a mass of individuals and had no regard for
family responsibility". The report suggests that, in 2012 a
single-income couple on the OECD average wage of £35,883 per year
faced a tax burden that was 45 per cent greater than the OECD
average. It also suggests that the tax levied on one-earner couple
families is more than 80 per cent of that levied on a single
person, compared with 55 per cent for the average OECD family.
www.care.org.uk
Lenten app a hit
CHURCH House Publishing's app for Lent was the most downloaded
paid-for books app on iTunes in the UK on Ash Wednesday.
Reflections for Lent Daily 2014: Bible notes from the Church of
England is available at www.chpublishing.co.uk/features/our-apps