Westminster Canon to assist in Egypt
CANON Anthony Ball of Westminster Abbey has been appointed an assistant bishop in the diocese of Egypt, with responsibilities across the new Province of Alexandria (News, 30 July 2020). After university, he was a diplomat in the Middle East and Spain. His last posting was in Damascus, where, while working in the British Embassy and as the Anglican Chaplain, he was also the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Heads of the Orthodox Churches in Syria and Lebanon. While on Archbishop Williams’s staff at Lambeth Palace, he was adviser on Anglican Communion, ecumenical, inter-religious and international relations, and was the Archbishop’s Chaplain. He will carry out his episcopal duties alongside while remaining a Canon of Westminster, where he will still be based. He is to be consecrated in Cairo on 30 November.
Caroline Boddington to leave NCIs after 17 years
THE Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments and Development, Caroline Boddington, is to leave the National Church Institutions (NCIs) after 17 years, it was announced on Wednesday. She has been a senior adviser to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York since she joined the NCIs in 2004. A press release said that she had “transformed the process by which senior appointments are made in the Church of England— with a particular focus on ensuring greater diversity among candidates for senior roles. . . Caroline has led the modernisation of the processes that ensure the recruitment for appointments to senior ecclesiastical office is fair and transparent — as well as grounded in prayer and guided by the Holy Spirit.”
‘Monumental’ tax deal at G7 welcomed by campaigners
A DEAL by the G7, struck on Saturday, under which multinational companies must pay a tax rate of at least 15 per cent in each county in which they operate has been welcomed by Christian charities. Church Action on Poverty (CAP) described it as a “monumental step forward in the fight for tax justice”. The campaign to date has included a “tax-justice” bus tour organised by CAP and Christian Aid in 2012. At the time, Christian Aid estimated that that multinationals trading in the developing world deprived developing countries of $160 billion in lost tax revenues annually by using tax havens (News, 29 June 2012).
Wreath to be laid for Chinese Labour Corps
THREE members of The Teahouse, a national network of C of E clergy of Chinese heritage (News, 20 August), will be laying a wreath at the Cenotaph in London on 11 November, in memory of the Chinese Labour Corps — Chinese workers enlisted by the British during the First World War. The Revd Mark Nam, Assistant Curate of St Anne’s, Oldland, and All Saints’, Longwell Green, Bristol, who founded The Teahouse, was invited by the organisers of the Western Front Association Armistice Day Ceremony. The wreath has been provided by the Bitton and Oldland branch of the Royal British Legion, and he plans to ask British-Chinese children in Bristol to help decorate it. He will be joined by the Revd Harry Ching, Assistant Vicar for International Ministry at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Joanne McCrone, a first-year ordinand. It is estimated that 140,000 men served in the Corps.
Sister Wendy recording released 28 years on
A RECORDING of Sister Wendy Beckett reading Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love has been released on CD 28 years after it was made. Donna K. Triggs, the publisher who originally worked with Sister Wendy on it, said: “When we finally got hold of the tape again, there was a fear it might be suffering from ‘Sticky Shed Syndrome’. Luckily, my sound engineer was able to do an amazing job of restoring the old analogue tape, and Sister Wendy’s voice remains as clear and joyful as it was the day I first heard her read Julian’s words.” Sister Wendy, who died in 2018 (News, 4 January 2019), said at the time that she had studied the book as a student at Oxford, and that her copy had smelt of sandalwood. “Julian is forever associated in my mind with sandalwood, and I hope that a sandalwood smell comes across in the recording.” Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich read by Sister Wendy Beckett Audio CD (ISBN 9781527281189)
Churches invited to promote teenagers’ ‘stepping stone’
CHURCHES could encourage worshippers to consider becoming supported-lodgings hosts for older teenagers in care, the fostering and adoption charity Home for Good suggests. Its report Brimming with Potential: The case for supported lodgings includes the findings of a ComRes poll that 69 per cent of respondents had never heard of supported lodgings, but that 25 per cent would consider becoming a host, rising to 49 per cent among regular churchgoers. In supported lodgings, a young person aged 16 or above lives in the room of a host usually for 18-24 months, who provides emotional support and helps them to develop life skills: “a good stepping stone” to adulthood.
Commissioners help to fund homes for women
A £1.6-MILLION commitment to the Women in Safe Homes fund is the first investment of the C of E’s Social Impact Investment Programme, it was announced this week. The fund is a joint venture between the fund managers Resonance and Patron Capital, who work in partnership with specialist organisations to provide safe, stable, and affordable homes for women and their children considered who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. It aims to house 6000 women over its lifetime. The Social Impact Investment Programme was set up this year within the Archbishops’ Council with £16 million from the Church Commissioners. This first investment will support the purchase and refurbishment of properties to be leased to women’s support organisations.