JANUARY
THE year began, extraordinarily, with the same story with which
it ended. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary,
criticised the Trussell Trust for political "scaremongering" over
foodbanks. Archbishop Welby's predecessor, Lord Williams, defended
the trust: it was not "political point-scoring" to highlight the
realities of those on the breadline. Fast forward to December, when
Archbishop Welby attempted to make the same point. In between, 27
Anglican bishops signed a letter that blamed increasing hunger on
welfare reforms.
It is, perhaps, predictable, but depressing, that the Government
of the day will want to deny evidence of hardship caused, in part,
by its policies and priorities. We saw the same with homelessness a
few years ago. The tactic of shaming a government into action is
unlikely to work if it can get a significant part of the electorate
behind it and shift the blame on to the poor's fecklessness.
In other news, St James's, Piccadilly, triggered months of
discussion with Jewish groups by erecting a "separation wall"
around the church to highlight the plight of Palestinians.
Relations were eased with the erection of a sukkah in
October. Another relationship was eased when pastoral
responsibility for the Channel Islands switched from the diocese of
Winchester to Canterbury. The Bishop's Palace in Wells was deemed
unsuitable for the next bishop - until local pressure forced the
Commissioners to reconsider.
FEBRUARY
THE uneasy peace in South Sudan was shattered by an outbreak of
savage violence between political and ethnic factions in South
Sudan, which began in December 2013. Archbishop Welby visited South
Sudan in February, and was shocked by what he saw, taking part in
the burial of the victims of a church massacre. Human Rights Watch
has talked of "extraordinary acts of cruelty". More than 10,000 are
thought to have been killed during the year, and 1.9 million
displaced from their homes. Oil exports, the country's main source
of income, have more than halved, and the conflict has interrupted
the growing and harvesting of food, leaving thousands starving.
The Church Times embarked on its health-check of the C
of E. More than one quarter of congregations declined in the decade
after 2000; only 18 per cent grew. We exposed the extent of the
division within the Church over sexuality. Only 20 per cent of
Evangelicals agreed that partnered homosexuals could be priests or
bishops; among other church traditions, the figure was 60 per
cent.
The House of Bishops issued its St Valentine's Day statement
asserting its opposition to same-sex marriage. It was reported
later in the year that 22 of the Bishops had abstained.
We also uncovered a significant preference for southern parishes
among the English clergy: northern dioceses have struggled to fill
posts.
MARCH
THE crisis in Ukraine escalated, as Russian troops -
consistently downplayed by President Putin - surrounded Ukrainian
barracks and assisted with the annexation of the Crimean
Peninsular. The Orthodox Church in Ukraine, already divided, could
contribute little towards reconciliation, not least because of the
close relationship between the Moscow Patriarchate and President
Putin. As the year progressed, the language of the Cold War became
more applicable. NATO countries, at last extricating themselves
from Afghanistan, were slow to move against Russia; but economic
sanctions have begun to bite. Another inhibitor has been the
conduct of the Ukranian government, an uneasy democracy.
Flooded areas in the West Country and the Thames Valley began
the process of drying out, after one of the UK's wettest ever
winters. The Government found itself criticised for having
withdrawn funds from the Environment Agency, responsible for
flood-plain management. Other critics pointed to the human causes
of climate change.
There was a surprise windfall for the Churches from the
Chancellor: in March, £20 million was granted to cathedrals for
repairs, related to First World War commemorations; in December,
another £15 million was granted to parish churches and other places
of worship.
APRIL
THE Prime Minister made waves at Easter with a robust
declaration of faith in an article for the Church Times.
He wrote: "I believe we should be more confident about our status
as a Christian country, more ambitious about expanding the role of
faith-based organisations, and, frankly, more evangelical about a
faith that compels us to get out there and make a difference to
people's lives." Political commentators saw the article as a play
for middle-England voters, currently being wooed by UKIP; we saw it
as an expression of faith and gratitude from a parent who had
experienced the pastoral care of the Church at a time of trial.
Other politicians, by and large, concurred.
Birmingham schools were embroiled in a row over Islamist
infiltration. A document of dubious provenance was sent to a city
councillor, alleging the existence of a plot, "Operation Trojan
Horse", to take over the governing bodies of various schools. A
government inspection found evidence to support the claim.
Canon Jeremy Pemberton married his partner, Laurence Cunnington,
in the first wave of same-sex marriages in the UK. As a result, his
appointment to an NHS post was blocked (his bishop denied him
permission to officiate) and what looks to be an expensive
employment tribunal was initiated.
MAY
BOKO HARAM caught the public's attention when one of its militia
groups in northern Nigeria kidnapped 187 girls from a boarding
school in April. News filtered out slowly, but, by May, an
international campaign for their release had built up. The Nigerian
government was ambivalent, especially when some rallies turned into
protests at its inability to deal with the terrorist organisation.
The girls are still untraced. "The area is vast, with poor
communications," Archbishop Welby warned, writing in the Church
Times of his experience of Nigeria. External help needed to be
offered tactfully, he said, given Britain's colonial past and the
US's unpopular present: "External help should involve advice where
it can be offered, support for those who are displaced, expertise
in training and development, and, above all, support for
reconciliation, which will be long and difficult."
Pope Francis visited Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, and
Israel - in that order, which was deemed significant by analysts.
In a more obvious gesture, the Pope prayed at the separation wall
next to Bethlehem, just as he prayed at the Western Wall of the
temple in Jerusalem.
The Church Commissioners celebrated their best results for nine
years. And Leicester Cathedral won the right to bury the remains of
King Richard III.
JUNE
SEXUAL violence is not a new phenomenon, of course, but 2014
brought a new awareness of its prevalence. In June, the actor
Angelina Jolie joined William Hague, then Foreign Secretary, at an
international summit in London. One of the topics was how religion
both helped and hindered: many church groups in Africa were active
in educating men that rape was not an acceptable element in
conflict, but religion also contributed to the stigma experienced
by victims. The Archbishop of Canterbury told the summit of the
"breathtakingly terrible" experiences of women in the Democratic
Republic of Congo: "The Churches are the main bulwark against this
brutalisation." In April, the Church Times had highlighted
work being done with victims of sexual violence in countries such
as the DRC and Sudan. Another awakening in the UK was to the
continued practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in North and
East Africa - but also among some immigrant communities in this
country. It became a crime not to report evidence of FGM.
Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian mother forced to give birth in
shackles in a Sudanese prison, after being condemned to death for
apostasy, was freed after international outrage at her
sentence.
The latest attempt to relax the law on assisted dying
failed.
JULY
THE Pope's pleas for peace in the Middle East fell on deaf ears.
The abduction and murder of three teenage Israelis prompted a
violent reaction from the Israeli government. A 50-day assault
damaged buildings and the infrastructure in Gaza. The Israelis lost
73 people, all but six of them soldiers; an estimated 2200
Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians. The Pope was
moved to break into his Sunday homily: "Please stop. I ask you with
all my heart, it's time to stop. Stop, please." Archbishop Welby
spoke of his fears for the Palestinians: "Populations condemned to
hopelessness, or living under fear, will be violent."
The new women-bishops legislation passed safely through the
General Synod session in York (see November). The Methodist
Conference, meanwhile, voted to progress further down the road
towards the Anglicans - having seen the two Churches in Ireland
speed along the road a few weeks earlier.
The toll of innocent deaths in Ukraine increased dramatically
with the downing of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, with the loss
of all 298 passengers and crew. Access to the site was restricted
for a time, prompting speculation about responsibility for the
crash.
A Church Urban Fund survey suggested that ten million people had
benefited from the services of the Church (not including church
services).
AUGUST
THE rise of Islamic State, and its ability to act brutally and
with impunity across the Syrian/Iraqi border, finally prompted a
concerted response from the West, not least when Baghdad itself was
threatened. Beheadings and mass shootings, publicised widely
through social media, created terror throughout Iraq. Christians,
Muslims, and members of the small Yazidi sect fled across the
desert towards Kurdish territory to avoid the IS militia. "The most
terrible atrocities are now being carried out in Iraq," Baroness
Nicholson said. Many of the victims are Muslim, and Islamic leaders
in the UK repeatedly stated their horror at the conduct of the
militia. In September, a coalition involving neighbouring Arab
countries began shelling IS positions, and the advance was
slowed.
The other big story was the spread of the Ebola virus, as
promised resources failed to appear in Sierra Leone and Liberia,
and infection spread rapidly because of poor hygiene and lack of
knowledge. The public in the West became interested when medics who
had contracted the disease returned from Africa.
The Greenbelt Festival had its first year at a new site:
Boughton, in Northamptonshire. Numbers were down, but once people
were on the site, they enjoyed themselves. And various cathedral
chapters goaded each other to take the Ice Bucket challenge.
SEPTEMBER
THE Churches stayed strictly neutral, officially at least,
throughout the campaign for Scottish independence. The vote on 18
September was close, though not as close as feared by Westminster
politicians, who spent the last few days of the campaign promising
greater autonomy, paradoxically, if the Scots voted to retain the
Union. The Primus remarked afterwards that the nature of the
discourse, fierce at times, had distressed some people. "It will
take some time for those passions to fade." One of the unintended
consequences was to spark debate on the nature of Britishness and
Englishness - a topic that has benefited from being under-discussed
and vaguely defined.
The Church Times was distracted by cricket. First, a
close final between London and Lichfield in the Church
Times Cricket Cup; next, the paper's first international: a
match between an Archbishop of Canterbury's XI and a team from the
Vatican. Played under floodlights at Kent County Cricket Club, the
match, followed by a gala dinner, was a glittering affair, and
proved that ecumenical encounters need not be dull and wordy. (The
C of E won, though the match was close.)
New York hosted the latest climate-change summit. The global
climate continued to provide examples of instability.
OCTOBER
AS REVOLUTIONS go, it was a modest one. The photographs of ranks
of cardinals and archbishops, all male of course, attending the
extraordinary synod on the family in Rome reminded Roman Catholics
that life under Pope Francis would not be that different, despite
the unprecedented step of asking for the views of his Church
beforehand. There was a significant shift, none the less:
statements that appeared to welcome homosexuals and those who had
married again after divorce, although watered down in the final
report from the synod, failed to secure a two-thirds majority by a
only few votes. There will be another synod next October.
Attention in the C of E was focused on safeguarding issues. An
independent inquiry reported on the Church's failings over the late
Robert Waddington, a former Dean of Manchester. Victims of abuse
were disbelieved in the face of Waddington's denials, and his only
sanction was the loss of his permission to officiate, three years
before he died. Dr Sentamu said that he was "deeply ashamed" of the
Church's lack of vigilance; his predecessor, Lord Hope, resigned as
an honorary assistant bishop.
In a survey for the Oxford Faith Debates, 1500 clergy confirmed
the parable of the lost sheep: only five per cent thought that the
C of E should prioritise regular churchgoers.
NOVEMBER
MONDAY 17 November 2014 was the date when the General Synod
finally passed legislation to permit women to be bishops in the
Church of England. The moment was undramatic: a show of hands and
the signing of a canon by the Archbishops. A former secretary
general of the General Synod, Sir Philip Mawer, was appointed to
act as ombudsman should disputes arise over the provisions for
traditionalist priests and parishes. In short order, the Archbishop
of York appointed a traditionalist, Fr Philip North CMP, to be
Bishop of Burnley; and the Archbishop of Canterbury resurrected the
post of Bishop of Maidstone to be filled by a conservative
Evangelical. In the mean time, the media convinced themselves that
the announcement of the first woman bishop was imminent.
The plight of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria
was highlighted by the Prince of Wales, who later showed his
concern by visiting exiled congregations. The threat to
Christianity in the Middle East was an "indescribable tragedy", he
said.
Pope Francis used language of a similar force when addressing
the European Parliament. EU funding for the maritime rescue service
for migrants, and those being trafficked from north Africa, had
just been cut. "We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast
cemetery," the Pope warned.
DECEMBER
THE foodbank row was revisited. The bishops were also
off-message on the issue of Syrian migrants, comparing the dozens
accepted for refuge in the UK with the thousands accepted by other
EU countries. The British Government was being "miserably mean",
one bishop said. Any concession, though, would have bumped into the
immigration row: the Government and the Opposition were conscious
of their vulnerability on this issue, given the number of
defections to the UK Independence Party. The coming of winter
raised concerns about the welfare of the hundreds of thousands
displaced by the fighting.
Internal matters came to the fore with news of the Green report
on talent management, reviewing training for those destined for
senior posts. Correspondents were unhappy with both the proposals,
and the way they were being implemented without wider consultation.
One episcopal defender said that the reforms were vital, since the
C of E was in the "last-chance saloon".
Church of England news hotted up, however, on 17 December, when
the next Bishop of Stockport was unveiled: the Revd Libby Lane, one
of the women invited to participate in the House of Bishops in lieu
of any women bishops. A Bill was tabled to fast-track future women
diocesans into the House of Lords.
THE Royal College of Organists celebrated its 150th birthday in
2014, and C. P. E. Bach's tercentenary fell during the year; but it
was the First World War centenary that provided the theme for the
largest number of special exhibitions and concerts, some of which
included special commissions.
ARTS
Art exhibitions included "Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of
War" (Somerset House); Giorgio di Chirico (Estorick Collection);
Veronese and late Rembrandt (National Gallery); Michael Kenny
(Bath); "Art and Ownership" (Sam Fogg); John Ruskin's photos (Watts
Gallery, Compton); Matisse's cut-outs (Tate Modern); Feller
Collection embroideries (Ashmolean, Oxford); El Greco (Prado,
Madrid); Richard Wilson (National, Cardiff); and Edwin Smith's
photos (RIBA).
Contemporary art included Sean Scully (Pallant House); Jeremy
Deller (Walthamstow); Chris Gollon (Guildford); many-handers such
as the Stations of the Cross (St Marylebone Church, and Tube), the
Manchester Lenten art trail, and "Crucible 2" (Gloucester
Cathedral), and "The Way of the Wilderness" at Discoed; Geoffrey
Clarke (Woking), just before he died; Martin Creed (Hayward
Gallery); Angela Wright and Edmund de Waal (Southwark Cathedral);
Stephen Raw (Bloxham); Gerry Judah (St Paul's); Paul Benney
(touring); John Maine (Salisbury Cathedral); Martin Cosgrove
(Bradford); Barbara Kruger (MoMA, Oxford); Hynek Martinec (Parafin,
London); and, of course, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
(Tower of London), Paul Cummins and Tom Piper's poppies.
In churches, the Judas window by Laurence Whistler was installed
in St Nicholas's, Moreton; Chichester's Consistory Court refused a
faculty for a Richard Whincop painting in Lavant; and Gloucester's
lambasted the sale of Franz Ittenbach's Mary, Queen of
Heaven, at Emmanuel, Leckhampton. St Paul's acquired Bill
Viola's Martyrs; Aidan Hart's Virgin and Child was put in
Lincoln Cathedral; Timothy Schmalz's Jesus the Homeless
sought a resting-place; the Wells Jesse Tree was restored.
Musically, Handel's Theodora was revived, and the
première of Messiah was recreated in costume. Other works
given an outing during the year included Janáček's Glagolitic
Mass (Proms); Somervell's The Passion of Christ
(Leeds); Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien
(Edinburgh); and Maurice Greene's Jephtha (Oxford).
Roderic Dunnett reviewed an emotionally charged concert in the
cathedral in Kiev.
New works included Maxwell Davies's Tenth Symphony; St Luke
Passion by James MacMillan, who also initiated a music
festival in Cumnock; June Boyce-Tillman's The Great
Turning; Gabriel Jackson's The Passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ (Merton College, Oxford); Torsten Rasch's A Foreign
Field (Three Choirs, Worcester); Alexander L'Estrange's
Song Cycle: Vive la vélorution! (York); Stabat
Mater settings by Alissa Firsova, Matthew Martin, and Tŏnu
Kõrvits (The Sixteen); Requiem Fragments (Tavener, Proms);
Paul Spicer's Unfinished Remembering; Jonathan Rathbone's
Under the Shadow of His Wing; Roger Shelmerdine's The
Poppies Blow and Requiem for George Butterworth;
Laurence Armstrong Hughes's English Requiem; Patrick
Hawes's Eventide: In Memoriam Edith Cavell (Norwich
Cathedral) and The Angel of Mons (Edenham); and Jonathan
Dove's For an Unknown Soldier. Karl Jenkins's The
Armed Man and Jonathan Harvey's Passion and
Resurrection were revived.
Drama included Inheritance by Bridget Foreman
(touring); 14-18, Dirk Brosse's musical (Flanders);
Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites (Covent Garden);
Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini and John Adams's The
Gospel According to the Other Mary (ENO); Holy
Warriors by David Eldridge (Shakespeare's Globe);
Perseverance Drive by Robin Soans (Bush Theatre); the York
Mystery Plays; Rona Munro's The James Plays (Edinburgh and
London); Matthew Hurt's The Man Jesus (Simon Callow,
touring); and Love Beyond, a musical by Richard Haley.
In the year when Richard Attenborough died, films included:
Mandela; The Railway Man; The Fold;
Noah; Calvary; Looking for Light: Jane
Bown; Age of Uprising; Camille Claudel 1915;
Deliver Us from Evil; The Remaining; Stations
of the Cross; Exodus; and The Hobbit: The Battle
of Five Armies.
BOOKS
ST AUGUSTINE's Confessions topped the Church
Times list of the best 100 Christian books.
Among the Lent titles, the most prominent were Looking
Through the Cross by Graham Tomlin, and Barefoot
Prayers by Stephen Cherry. Marriage was the subject of many
books, including More Perfect Union? by Alan Wilson;
Love, Sex and Marriage by Dan Cohn-Sherbok, George D.
Chryssides, and Dawould El-Alami; and Covenant and Calling
by Robert Song.
Books on the God debate included The God Argument by A.
C. Grayling; The God Confusion by Gary Cox; and
Atheists by Nick Spencer. Apologetics included The
Living God by Alister McGrath; The Question that Never
Goes Away by Philip Yancey; and God Matters by Peter
and Charlotte Vardy.
Among titles on liturgy and worship were Why
Sacraments? by Andrew Davison; Echoing the Word by
Paula Gooder and Michael Perham; Table Manners by Simon
Reynolds; and At All Times and In All Places by Simon
Jones.
Books on the Bible included Old Testament Theology by
R. W. L. Moberly; The Book of Job: A biography by Mark
Larrimore; Finding God in the Psalms by Tom Wright;
Journey to the Empty Tomb by Paula Gooder; Pauline
Perspectives by N. T. Wright; and The True Herod by
the late Geza Vermes.
Ageing and end-of-life issues were tackled in At the End of
the Day by David Winter; Still Caring by Dorothy M.
Stewart; and Inside Grief by Stephen Oliver; mental health
in Psychology for Pastoral Contexts by Jessica Rose, and
Spirituality, Theology and Mental Health by Christopher C.
H. Cook.
Books by well-known authors included The Soul of the
World by Roger Scruton; Are You An Illusion by Mary
Midgley; Culture and the Death of God by Terry Eagleton;
The Fields of Blood by Karen Armstrong; The Book of
Forgiving by Desmond and Mpho Tutu; and The Heart in
Pilgrimage by Eamon Duffy.
Among titles exploring multi-culturalism were Jews,
Christians and Muslims in Encounter by Edward Kessler;
Making Sense of Pluralism by Alan Race; and Traditions
and Modernity by David Marshall. Titles by Rowan Williams
included his Being Christian, and The Edge of
Words.
The memoir Fathomless Riches by Richard Coles featured
in our Christmas Books, and there were lives of Cardinal Pole,
George Herbert, Hensley Henson, Edward Thring, Billy Graham, Norman
Nicholson, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Novels reviewed included Lila by Marilynne Robinson;
Eyrie by Tim Winton; The Book of Strange New
Things by Michel Faber; and Acts and Omissions by
Catherine Fox.
Other books of interest reviewed included Learning to Dream
Again by Sam Wells; Morality, Autonomy, and God by
Keith Ward; Ten by John Pritchard; The Ark Before
Noah by Irving Finkel; A Brief Theology of Sport by
Lincoln Harvey; Walking with God Through Pain and
Suffering by Timothy Keller; Managing Clergy Lives by
Nigel Peyton and Caroline Gatrell; The Dark Box by John
Cornwell; The Love of Wisdom by Andrew Davison; The
Experience of God by David Bentley Hart; Women in
Waiting by Julia Ogilvy; Learning to Walk in the Dark
by Barbara Brown Taylor; A Silent Melody by Shirley Du
Boulay; What Clergy Do by Emma Percy; Bread Not
Stones by Una Kroll; and Walking Backwards to
Christmas by Stephen Cottrell.
APPOINTMENTS
THE Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, was elected
Primate of Australia during the year.
Other episcopal appointments included those of the Rt Revd
Robert Atwell as Bishop of Exeter, translated from Stockport; the
Rt Revd Nicholas Baines as first Bishop of Leeds, translated from
Bradford; the Revd Robert Gillion as Bishop of Riverina, NSW.
Canon Robert Innes as Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe; the Rt Revd
Paul Bayes as Bishop of Liverpool, translated from Hertford; the Rt
Revd Richard Frith as Bishop of Hereford, translated from Hull; the
Revd Kenneth Kearon as Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe,
Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh & Emly; the Rt Revd
Andrew Watson as Bishop of Guildford, translated from Aston.
Canon Martin Seeley as Bishop of St Edmundsbury &
Ipswich.
Suffragan appointments included those of the Revd Richard
Jackson as Bishop of Lewes; the Ven. Peter Hill as Bishop of
Barking; Canon John Thomson as Bishop of Selby; the Ven. Roger
Morris as Bishop of Colchester; the Ven. Paul Ferguson as Bishop of
Whitby; the Revd Dr David Court as Bishop of Grimsby; Canon David
Williams as Bishop of Basingstoke.
Canon Toby Howarth as first Area Bishop of Bradford; the Revd Dr
Jonathan Gibbs as first Bishop of Huddersfield; Fr Philip North CMP
as Bishop of Burnley; the Rt Revd Nicholas McKinnel as Bishop of
Plymouth; and the Rt Revd Libby Lane as Bishop of Stockport, the
Church of England's first woman bishop.
The Bishop at Lambeth, the Rt Revd Nigel Stock, to be also
Bishop of the Falkland Islands and to the Forces; the Bishop of
Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, was appointed Visitor of the
Church Army; the Bishop of Ely, the Rt Revd Steven Conway, as
Chairman of the Board of Education; the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt
Revd Nicholas Holtam, as Lead Bishop for environmental affairs; the
Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, as Lead Bishop for cathedrals
and church buildings; the Bishop of Sherwood, the Rt Revd Tony
Porter, as Archbishops' Sport Ambassador; the Bishop of Pontefract,
the Rt Revd Tony Robinson, as Chairman of Forward in Faith.
The Rt Revd Humphrey Southern has resigned as Bishop of Repton
to be Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon.
THE Revd Dr Alan Gregory was appointed Principal of the South
East Institute for Theological Education; the Revd Dr Emma Ineson
as Principal of Trinity College, Bristol; the Revd Dr Jeremy Morris
as Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge; the Revd Gerwyn Capon as Dean
of Llandaff; Canon Jane Hedges as Dean of Norwich; the Revd Paul
Bogle as Dean of Clonmacnoise; the Revd Dudan Watterson as
Archdeacon of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe; the Revd Helene Steed
as Archdeacon of Clogher.
The Revd Judith French as Archdeacon of Dorchester; Canon John
Dobson as Dean of Ripon Cathedral; the Ven. David Butterfield as
York Diocesan Archdeacon for Generous Giving, and Canon
Residentiary of York Minster; the Ven. Christopher Long as
Archdeacon of Waterford, Lismore, and part of Cashel; the Revd
Andrew Orr as Archdeacon of Ossory and Leighlin, and more of
Cashel; the Revd Adrian Wilkinson as Archdeacon of Cork, Cloyne
& Ross; the Revd Arthur Barrett as Dean of Raphoe; the Revd Dr
Alexander Hughes as Archdeacon of Cambridge; the Revd Dr Paul Moore
as Winchester diocesan Archdeacon for Mission Development.
Canon Professor Martyn Percy as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford;
the Revd Timothy Harford as Director of Fundraising of the United
Society; the Very Revd Alison Simpson as Dean of Moray, Ross &
Caithness diocese; Canon Paul Shackerley as Dean of Brecon; the
Revd Nigel Genders as Chief Education Officer; the Revd Fiona
Windsor as Archdeacon of Horsham; Canon Andrew Broom as Archdeacon
of the East Riding.
The Revd Jonathan Chaffey as Chaplain-in-Chief and Archdeacon of
the RAF; the Ven. Philip Jones as Archdeacon of Hastings; the Revd
Martin Lloyd Williams as Archdeacon of Brighton and Lewes; the Revd
Robert Jones as Archdeacon of Worcester; the Revd Sarah Clark as
Archdeacon of Nottingham; the Revd John Lomas as Archdeacon of St
Asaph; the Revd Simon Heathfield as Archdeacon of Aston; Canon John
Gibaut as Director of Unity, Faith and Order of the Anglican
Communion, and Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan as interim
Secretary-General.
The Ven. Terence Scott as Archdeacon of Armagh; the Ven. Michael
Edson as Acting Archdeacon of Barnstaple; the Revd Anders Litzell
as Prior of the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth; the Ven. Simon
Waine as Dean of Chichester; the Revd Mark Poulson as the
Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary for Inter-Religious
Affairs.
Canon Alan Billings was elected as South Yorkshire Police and
Crime Commissioner; and the Revd Dr Samuel McVeigh was appointed
Deputy Lieutenant of Londonderry.
LAY appointments included those of Poppy Allonby and Graham
Oldroyd as Church Commissioners; Sam Richardson as Chief Executive
of SPCK; Tracey Byrne as Chief Executive of the Lesbian and Gay
Christian Movement; Baroness Eaton as Guardian of the Anglican
Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham; Martin Richards as Chichester
Diocesan Panel Chair of Safeguarding; Judge Singleton QC as
Diocesan Chancellor of Sheffield; Graham Tilby as Church of England
Adviser for Safeguarding; Professor Linda Woodhead as President of
Modern Church.
OTHER appointments included those of Dr Michael Barry as
Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; Mor Ignatius
Aphrem II as Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church; the Revd John
Proctor as General Secretary of the United Reformed Church; Dr Jane
Clements as Director of the Council of Christians and Jews.
Bishop Donald Bolt as Overseer of the New Testament Church of
God; Dr Krish Kandiah as President of the London School of
Theology; and the Revd Gareth Powell as Secretary of the Methodist
Conference.
OBITUARIES
THE Most Revd Dr Solomon Tilewa Johnson, Bishop of The Gambia,
and Primate of West Africa, died suddenly in January.
Other deaths in the episcopate during the year included those of
the Rt Revd Peter Hall, former Bishop of Woolwich; the Rt Revd
Clifford Wright, former Bishop of Monmouth; the Rt Revd Christopher
Luxmoore, former Bishop of Bermuda; the Rt Revd Michael Henley, the
first Director General of the Naval Chaplaincy Services, and later
Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane.
The Rt Revd Colin Scott, former Bishop of Hulme; the Rt Revd
John Austin Baker, former Bishop of Salisbury; the Rt Revd John
Richard Satterthwaite, first Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe; the Rt
Revd Donald Arden, former Bishop of Nyasaland and Archbishop of
Central Africa; the Rt Revd John Bone, former Bishop of Reading;
the Rt Revd Stephen Sykes, theologian and former Bishop of Ely.
The Rt Revd Mark Wood, former Bishop of Matabeleland, and later
of Ludlow; the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, former Bishop
successively of Stafford and of Winchester; the Rt Revd Colin
Docker, former Bishop of Horsham; and the Rt Revd Michael Hare
Duke, former Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane.
THE Revd Dr John Hughes, Dean of Jesus College, Cambridge, died
after a car crash in July.
Other deaths among the clergy which were noted during the year
included those of the Revd Christopher Courtauld, former Chaplain
of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Vicar of St Paul's,
Knightsbridge; the Revd Francis Vere Hodge, former Rural Dean of
Glastonbury and Prebendary of Wells Cathedral; Canon John Pretyman
Waller, Suffolk squarson and yachtsman; the Revd Kenneth Ward,
long-serving Rector of Daventry; the Revd Michael Hardy, former
Appointments Secretary of USPG, Rector of Stretford, and Team
Rector in Keighley.
The Revd Brian Bason, long-serving Vicar of St Hilda's,
Audenshaw; the Ven. James Rone, former Archdeacon of Wisbech; the
Revd Desmond Parsons, a respected contributor to the Irish peace
process; Canon Donald Johnson, for four decades an incumbent in
Chichester diocese; the Revd John Richardson, a well-known
Evangelical figure; the Revd James Cotter, first Hon. Secretary of
LGCM; the Revd Ivan (Snowy) Davoll, noted youth worker and NSM in
Bermondsey; the Revd Fred Wright, former Rector of St Kenelm's,
Romsley.
The Ven. Walter Ewbank, former Archdeacon successively of
Westmorland and Furness, and then of Carlisle; the Revd Barbara
Clement, pioneer of women's ministry; the Revd Desmond Probets,
former Dean of St Barnabas's Cathedral, Honiara, Melanesia; the
Ven. Geoffrey Sidaway, former Archdeacon of Gloucester; Canon Alan
Pyburn, former Rector and Rural Dean of Henley.
The Revd Dr Basil Bevan, biblical scholar; the Revd Beryl
Morgan, former Head Deaconess in Lichfield diocese; the Revd Dr
Malcolm France, author and theologian; the Revd John Wickens,
pastoral theological educator; the Revd John Roland Morgan, parish
priest in Birmingham and Oxford dioceses; the Revd Philip
Brownless, rural incumbent in Hampshire; the Ven. Ernest Stroud,
former Archdeacon of Colchester and Chairman of the Church Union
and of the Additional Curates' Society.
The Revd Desmond Ker, former Rector of Bovey Tracey and
Rothesay; the Revd Ronald Treasure, former incumbent in York
diocese; the Ven. David Jenkins, former Archdeacon of Westmorland
and Furness; Prebendary Michael Moreton, successively Rector and
Priest-in-Charge of St Mary Steps in Exeter for more than three
decades.
AMONG lay people whose deaths were recorded were Geoffrey
Wheeler, broadcaster and Reader; Paul Goggins MP, former director
of Church Action on Poverty; Shirley Temple Black, former child
star and ambassador; Helen Lee, evangelist; Alan Spedding, for 42
years Organist and Director of Music at Beverley Minster.
Tony Benn, former peer and cabinet minister; Margaret Pawley,
former SOE operative, and widow of Canon Bernard Pawley; Dr Denise
Inge, writer and authority on Traherne; Margaret Laird, former
Third Church Estates Commissioner; Oscar Turnill, Church
Times designer; Barry Lyndon, former Clerk of the Royal
College of Organists; Dora Bryan, actress; Robin Williams, actor;
Mark Cole, noted lay servant of Chelmsford diocese; Frances Martin,
former President of the Church of England Moral Welfare Workers'
Association.
Sir Douglas Lovelock, former First Church Estates Commissioner;
Helen Bamber, founder of the Medical Foundation for the Care of
Victims of Torture; Jim Dobbin MP, who chaired the All-Party
Pro-Life Group: Anthony Sadler, former Archbishops' Secretary for
Appointments.
Alvin Stardust, musician; David Trendell, Organist and Lecturer
in Music of King's College, London; Anne Frances Potts, former
Church Times Children's Editor; Baroness James (P. D.
James), novelist; Peter Middlemiss, founder of ARCHWAY; and John
Holroyd, former Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary.
ALSO noted were the deaths of the Revd Dr Kenneth Greet, former
President and Secretary of the Methodist Conference; Patriarch
Zakka of the Syriac Orthodox Church; Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev,
Ukrainian Primate; and Lord Bannside (the Revd Ian Paisley),
Northern Irish politician.