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Letters to the Editor

by
10 February 2023

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Revocation of European legislation

From Fay Wilson-Rudd

Sir, — Had I still been a member of the General Synod, I would be wondering why, in view of the concern expressed by many MPs, there hasn’t been any mention by the Church, or the Bench of Bishops, of the Government’s proposal to remove many of the rights that we enjoyed pre-Brexit, including VAT relief on repairs to listed buildings.

Has the House or Bench of Bishops expressed any view on the proposed legislation? If not, why not?

According to some reports that I have read, if the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is carried, then Ministers, not Parliament, will be allowed to amend or repeal all legislation carried over from our membership of the EU. Apparently, there are at least 2400 pieces of law, and maybe as many as 3800.

If no replacement legislation is in place before the end of 2024, all laws involved will expire and no longer be applicable to our country. Does this not put at risk the hard-fought-for rights and protections not just for British workers, but also for consumers? The impact on the environment, if the use of banned substances returns, will be disastrous.

Deregulation of much that is important will make a mockery of the efforts of the many who have sought to protect these critical aspects of life, both for the individual but also the nation.

FAY WILSON-RUDD
(Bath & Wells 1993-2015)
Flat 19, Manadon Gardens
Greenacres, 12 Pearn Road
Plymouth PL3 5JF


Remarks by new C of E Director of Safeguarding

From Jane Chevous and four others

Sir, — In a report to the General Synod, the Church of England’s Director of Safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, says that he has been shocked that staff of the National Safeguarding Team (NST) have experienced “abuse, bullying and harassment . . . and threat to life on occasions” (News, 24 January). If what he says is true, it is a very serious matter. We hope that any church staff who have been threatened in their workplace will be supported to deal with this appropriately.

His statement has been perceived by some, however, as an attempt to paint the victim as the offender and vice versa: a technique that is all too familiar from our understanding of domestic and institutional abuse. This approach only fuels the toxic relationship that the Church currently has with people whom it has harmed.

We all need to think carefully about what has brought the relationship between the Church and its victims to such a toxic place. Many victims and survivors of abuse feel deeply damaged and aggrieved, not only by the original abuse that they have suffered at the hands of clergy and church officers, but also because of the cruel and sometimes malevolent treatment that they have received from the Church at national or diocesan level. In our experience, this has got worse over the past three years. If you make everything a battle, you shouldn’t be surprised if some people come out fighting.

The Church’s own records show that there are many hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who have suffered abuse at the hands of Church of England clergy and other officers. We listen to them every single day. If some survivors have been robust and persistent in standing up for themselves, we applaud them for it. We would hope and expect that safeguarding professionals would also recognise this as a positive way in which victims assert their self-worth in the face of the crushing experiences that the Church has dealt them.

Mr Kubeyinje has taken up his appointment at a time when the levels of trust and hope among survivors are at an all-time low. His comments have made it worse. We have approached him to see whether it is still possible to find safe ways for survivors to engage with the NST. At the time of writing, we have had no reply.

JANE CHEVOUS (Survivors’ Voices); ROZ ETWARIA (LittleRo.org); ANDREW GRAYSTONE (survivor advocate); COL LERCZAK (survivor advocate); GRAHAM WILMER (The Lantern Project)
Address supplied


Opportunity to introduce coadjutor incumbents

From Canon Nicholas Cranfield

Sir, — The increasing propensity for Chapters to appoint an interim dean and for dioceses to have acting bishops and archdeacons suggests a coadjutor-like model that is a novelty in the Church of England, but known elsewhere across the Anglican Communion. Where the locum tenens cleric becomes the post-holder, this has significant repercussions for any appointment processes.

The pattern, however, is one that should be readily adopted across the parishes. This would provide for continued clerical ministry rather than tolerating increasingly long vacancies at the resignation of beneficed clergy, a widespread abuse that allows dioceses to save money.

Unrealistically, parishes are often told that an interregnum is an opportunity for laypeople to celebrate their gifts for lay ministry. If ever that were true, it is simply not the case nowadays, when so few people have time to volunteer or the resources to manage quite often complex structures, and have not had the appropriate training that the clergy are always told is vital for their continuing in work.

We will, no doubt, be told that there is no money for the continuous maintenance of stipendiary clergy across our parishes. Having seen the ease with which money for a £100-million impact investment fund can be established (News, 13 January), parishioners need be left in no doubt that the money is there to support front-line ministries.

NICHOLAS CRANFIELD
All Saints’ Vicarage
10 Duke Humphrey Road
London SE3 0TY


Blessing same-sex unions: the debate continues

From Dr Mark Vernon

Sir, — The oversight in the theological summary of the 14 bishops in defence of traditional marriage (News, 3 February) is that there is no such thing. Rather, as anthropologists and historians have shown (I would recommend Thomas Lacquer and Kyle Harper), the understanding of biological difference, and the associated theology and symbolism, have changed radically over the centuries.

At least three different meanings are easily detectable since the emergence of Christianity: a man possessing women in his household in the Roman period; a man completing a woman, which was the dominant understanding until the 18th century; then the shift to the main view now, of the two symmetrically complementing each other.

The notion that the relationship between God and God’s creation, which is markedly asymmetric, be reflected in a modern marriage of equals has already been overwritten. But what has actually happened across time is that the revelation of God’s presence through human relatedness has developed and, thankfully, will continue to unfold, to be discerned afresh today, judged by what is unchanging — namely, sustaining love.

MARK VERNON
200 Benhill Road
London SE5 7LL


From Mr Philip Belben

Sir, — I have seen a number of definitions of marriage in the columns of your paper in recent years, and — as, no doubt, most readers will concur — some I can agree with; others give me more difficulty.

Never, however, have I come across any as absurd as the statement from the Church of England’s legal office (News, 3 February) that claims that the church and secular definitions of marriage are “mutually exclusive”.

Were this true, it would mean that anyone married under one definition could not be married under the other. Notwithstanding recent controversies, I understand that anyone married in church is still also married in secular law, and I should be very surprised if this ceased to be the case — and more surprised still if the law (on either side) changed so that the one excluded the other.

PHILIP BELBEN
The Chapel, Maitlands Close
Nettlebridge, Radstock BA3 5AA


From Kathryn Morfey

Sir, — Amid recent controversies over what constitutes “holy matrimony” and what makes, or may make it, distinct from civil marriage, I am reminded that the civil law itself distinguishes between heterosexual and same-sex marriage. As explained on the gov.uk website, a marriage is “voidable” (i.e. can be annulled) if “it was not consummated — you have not had sexual intercourse with the person you married since the wedding (does not apply for same sex couples).”

KATHRYN MORFEY
23 Stanley Road
Leicester LE2 1RG


From the Revd Richard Adams

Sir, — During the current debate about same-sex marriage, the relationship between the C of E, the State, and the people has been subject to occasional confusion, by some of your correspondents as well as others. Sandy Toksvig expressed that confusion well when she talked about the C of E’s being there to represent the people of England (News, 3 February) and, therefore, to do the people’s bidding.

That is not the case: the C of E is there to represent God to the country, and, while that calls it to serve the whole population in many different ways, it is not required to comply with every request that society or the Government makes, whatever the apparent rightness of the cause. If that were to change, it would cease to be a Christian Church.

RICHARD ADAMS
Tros y Mor, Llangoed
Beaumaris, Anglesey LL58 8SB


From Mr A. C. Porter

Sir, — I find it ironic that those who say that opponents of same-sex marriage can be compared to the Pharisees whom Jesus reprimanded seem to forget that he reprimanded them for following the thinking of the world (Mark 7.8) rather than the thinking of God.

TONY PORTER
21 Saddington Road
Fleckney LE8 8AX


Episcopal consecration

From the Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby

Sir, — “Gracious restraint” (News, 3 February) is, surely, a characteristic of Anglican Christianity. It means that you don’t prioritise your own convictions, however strongly held, over giving collegial support and recognition to others, specifically other bishops, however deep your disagreement with an individual candidate may be.

The instruction to bishops assisting at the two separate consecration services on 2 February to show “gracious restraint” clearly meant something quite different: we were to avoid holding a single shared liturgy or participating in the shared laying-on of hands; doing so might suggest that we could be in full collegiality. Rather, we must prioritise displaying our separating convictions.

It would be important for the House of Bishops to clarify which meaning we are now to accept, before the next occasion when we offer in a public liturgy the image of the Church of England as a collection of factions anxious to make sure that they remain unsullied by collegiality across their differences. If we wish to continue to present ourselves as that kind of Church, perhaps some such phrase as “anxious dissociation” would better convey our meaning.

PETER SELBY
57 Girton Road
London SE26 5DJ


From the Revd David Ackerman

Sir, — Having watched the live streaming of the service of consecration of the Bishop of Oswestry, which Canterbury Cathedral initially declined to show, I can commend a recording to ordinands as an exercise in how not to conduct worship.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, between the opening hymn and mandate from the King, in the tone and manner of an infant-school headmistress, scolded the congregation for asking the cathedral for the service to be streamed live. His graceless and ill-mannered welcome contrasted sharply with the dignified welcome of the Orthodox representatives.

A current fad, introduced like so many others in the Welby years, is the preponderance of interim deans and the like. May we hope that it will be an Interim Archbishop of Canterbury who crowns the King in May, or may we look forward to a similar outburst of temper between Parry’s “I was Glad” and the recognition at the Coronation?

DAVID ACKERMAN
The Vicarage, Kilburn Lane
London W10 4AA

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