You wonder whether taking on some particularly ghastly roles in the Church is a way of saying: ‘Look, I’ve done my service. . . I’m a good person, I can handle conflict. How about me?’

Helen King, General Synod member, quoted in “The race for Lambeth Palace” by Pippa Bailey, The New Statesman, 4 September

When Welby was appointed, there was enthusiasm for his secular professional experience, gained during 11 years in the oil industry. But there is today among some church leaders and congregants a weariness with reinvention and initiatives — even the belief that the Church has capitulated to market pressures. In reaction, the CNC [Crown Nominations Commission] may seek to appoint an archbishop considered more parochial and pastoral

Ibid.

We talk about a voice in the public square, but this square no longer really exists. Instead we have a series of unsupervised playgrounds in which bullies spit, kick and threaten. Adapting to this, while hoping to be smart, kind and dignified, is an unexpected prophetic challenge

Simon Burton-Jones, Bishop of Tonbridge, X/Twitter, 8 September

Why get rid of hereditary peers but leave the 26 bishops in place? I like the moral authority bishops bring to debates, often raising the vital issues of deprivation and poverty. But does having them vote on legislation still make sense in a country where less than half the population identify as Christian and fewer than two out of every 100 people regularly attend Church of England services?

Jenny Jones, Green Party peer, The Guardian, 10 September

He had written a book called The Sex Life of Primates and we, ignorant fellows that we were, thought that primates meant archbishops

Louis Mountbatten on the recruitment of the ape specialist Solly Zuckerman to join a team of scientists during the war, published in the first Observer Magazine in 1964, quoted in a 60th-birthday tribute

I used to do little communions at home for my family. I mean, I would make them do it. They had no choice. None of them are particularly religious, and I’m not a diehard Christian, but I liked the dressing-up aspect. I liked the ritual

William Hanson, writer and broadcaster on etiquette, on his childhood ambition to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, interview in The Times, 10 September

Vicarage dogs are as fundamental to the life of the Church of England as Fairtrade coffee and the Book of Common Prayer

Richard Coles, The Sunday Times, 8 September

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