IN APRIL, the PCC of St Augustine’s, Highgate — a parish in a leafy, north-London suburb — met to pass unanimously a “resolution under the House of Bishops’ Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests”. That is, in the words of the Declaration, “on grounds of theological conviction”, to come under a traditionalist bishop. A broadly similar provision was first made in the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993 for parishes which felt “unable in conscience to accept the ordination of women as priests and bishops”.
The style at St Augustine’s is traditional Anglo-Catholic, with a focus on preaching and teaching, vestments, music, and liturgy. A dozen children attend its Sunday school. It shows all the signs of being a going concern. The church had been joined with a neighbouring parish for more than five years after an uncertain interregnum, which Mark Nevin, a member of the PCC, describes as “an unarmed truce”. “We are a small parish,” he says, “but one that needs its own priest.”
The congregation was not entirely of one mind about the gender of its next incumbent. It did not want to appear militant, for fear of looking awkward, and yet had a clear adherence to the apostolic succession shared with the Universal Church that male bishops ordain men as priests: “For the good of this parish and its unity, we concluded that its integrity was Anglo-Catholic and traditionalist. It’s the one vision we can all agree on, and now, with that made clear, we can move into the future with a strong sense we are respecting our past at the same time.”
The parish recently received a £250,000 financial bequest from a former parishioner, on the basis that it had a male incumbent at the time. The local archdeacon, and the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker (who ministers to traditionalist parishes in the dioceses of London and Southwark), are now helping the parish to find its feet again, and discern a solution for its future.
“This is a familiar story,” observes Tom Middleton, the director of Forward in Faith, the campaigning organisation established in the early 1990s to support parish congregations where there were fundamental misgivings about the ordination of women. “People are simply holding true to the faith as they first knew it, which is also that of the Universal Church. Parishes have felt confused by what has happened, and many have lost their identity as a result. It doesn’t help when they are accused of misogyny, either.”
IT IS 30 years since women were first ordained as priests in the Church of England, and almost ten years since the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 2014. The General Synod vote in November 2012 to introduce the legislation was lost, because not enough Synod members were persaded that it made adequate provision for theological differences. In July 2014, however, after some revision, legislation went through. The Synod rescinded the 1993 Act of Synod, enshrined greater protection for traditionalists, including a guaranteed bishop for conservative Evangelicals, and introduced the “Five Guiding Principles” along with a commitment to “mutual flourishing”.
These elements articulated that, although the C of E had “reached a clear decision on the matter”, and that ministry was “open equally to all, without reference to gender”, the move should still be “set within a broader process of discernment within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God”.
The declaration in the Principles allows traditionalists “to flourish within [the C of E’s] life and structures”, and is made “without specifying a limit of time and in a way that maintains the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church of England”.
About 450 parishes have a resolution in place for the provision of ministry by a traditionalist bishop: they add up in size to the equivalent of a large C of E diocese. They continue to play their part in the life of their dioceses and deaneries, maintain ecumenical relations, and have a functioning pipeline of candidates for ordination each year.
The sacramental ministry that they receive is from specific Provincial Episcopal Visitors (PEVs, or “flying bishops”) and about 15 others, either in retirement or in active ministry, who are in sympathy. This summer, seven traditionalist bishops have ordained 14 men to the diaconate, and a further 12 men as priests. The majority of these ordinands are under the age of 30.
Sarah Cuff/Blackburn dioceseThe Bishop of Lancaster, Dr Jill Duff, with the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North
One of them is the Revd William Allen, born in late 1997, when the first female curates were completing their curacies. He has just finished training at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and was ordained to the diaconate last month. While in training, he has studied and worshipped alongside female ordinands while holding the sacramental understanding that priesthood is apostolic and male.
“As a schoolboy, I attended a parish in Tavistock,” he says, of his youth in Devon. “The curate there had trained at St Stephen’s House, and took great care over the key elements of worship — of ritual, preaching, liturgy, music.” It nurtured within him an appreciation of these, and his commitment was further helped by an invitation to play the part of Jesus one year in a public Passion play.
“Later on, when I was an undergraduate in London, things came together and began to make sense. I felt everything connecting up. To put it theologically, it all became ‘incarnational’ in a very real way.” For Mr Allen, this was an “opening out” into the music, mystery, and liturgy of the Church. And that focus on its tradition included priesthood, which has been part of his vocational journey and influenced his formation.
While studying for his university degree, Mr Allen took a year out to be a pastoral assistant at an Anglo-Catholic parish in Camden Town, in north London. “It deepened my sense of worship, and brought me to focus on the altar. I came to experience something spiritually new, but also very old.
“It isn’t about women — or men, or, for that matter, any hot debate on ethics. Traditionalism is about revival, witness, and the ambitious, exciting project of reawakening the Catholic heart of the Church. The most important aspect of traditionalism is that way of looking at the Christian life which it calls ‘sacramental’ — and that means an attentiveness to all the traditions and ways which have distinguished Christian worship over the centuries.” It is a faithfulness to the apostles’ teaching, he says.
TRADITIONALISTS are often accused of being faithful only to members of their own tribe, but the commitment to mutual flourishing can become very personal. The Revd Gemma Fleury (born 1991) and the Revd Jonathan Fleury (born 1995) were married in 2020, and minister in parishes near to each other in Yorkshire. Fr Fleury is a traditionalist. They met during their theological training at Mirfield, and were each ordained priest in 2022, by different bishops.
“Ironically, I have experienced more opposition from others for being married to a traditionalist than I have on the account of my being a woman in Holy Orders,” Mrs Fleury says. “However, I have listened carefully and considered the verbal opposition I received during my discernment to priesthood, as I have taken it to be both part of the process of discernment to ministry in the Church of England, and of our being part of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.”
Fr Fleury recalls numerous confrontations over his position, “particularly from those of a male, liberal persuasion”. He describes being on a placement while at theological college when the female curate asked him at the end whether seeing her at the altar had changed his mind over the ordination of women. He has, he says, felt “often misunderstood and misrepresented”.
“Another dimension people find confusing is how I can hold to the traditional teaching and practice of Holy Orders and my wife be ordained at the same time. I would hope that we demonstrate a model of integrity to the wider Church that shows how a difference of views can work together in love, sharing a foundation of basic credal orthodoxy: ‘mutual flourishing’ in action.”
Mrs Fleury agrees. “I enjoy open and honest encounters with traditionalists. I understand us all to be endeavouring to be faithful to the ministry God has called us to, and our discernment of that will continue throughout our lives.”
Many bishops also model this practice of co-operation and mutuality, which has been essential since the consecration of women and their incorporation into the highest level of diocesan structures. The Bishop of Fulham is the traditionalist suffragan to the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally. They work “successfully and respectfully together”, he says.
Bishop Mullally was present at the traditionalist chrism mass for the blessing of oils and renewal of ordination vows during Holy Week this year; it occurred on her birthday, and she was presented with a gift and applause at the same time.
IN THE diocese of Blackburn, the Bishop of Lancaster, Dr Jill Duff, and the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North (then Bishop of Burnley, served alongside one another as suffragan bishops. When the announcement of Bishop North’s elevation to diocesan bishop was made by Dr Duff, who had chaired the diocesan vacancy-in-see committee, it was with obvious joy. With the Revd Anne Beverley, diocesan Dean of Women’s Ministry, Dr Duff paid tribute to Bishop North, saying that he had “never held back the flourishing of women in Blackburn; quite the opposite”, and that, although there may have been pain, “he’s not caused that pain” (News, 12 January 2023).
In the diocese of Chichester, the Bishop of Horsham is the Rt Revd Ruth Bushyager, and the Bishop of Lewes is the Rt Revd Will Hazlewood, a traditionalist. Both were consecrated on the same day in July 2020, and serve under the traditionalist Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner.
The Archdeacon of Manchester, the Ven. Karen Best (right) and the Revd Paul Hutchins (second from left) on the sponsored cycle ride
In Manchester, there is another example of collaboration. The Archdeacon of Manchester, the Ven. Karen Best, describes the Revd Paul Hutchins as “not only a colleague but a friend”. They recently completed a sponsored cycle ride together to raise funds for young people in Fr Hutchins’s traditionalist parishes — Holy Family, Failsworth; the Most Holy Trinity, Blackley; and St Luke’s, Lightbowne — to attend the Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage in August.
“Holy Trinity is a parish of much diversity, and many of our people live in challenging circumstances,” Fr Hutchins says. “When we take these kids to Norfolk for a week, usually 30 of them, it’s the first time that most of them have been out of the city to the countryside.” The sponsored cycle ride is important, because it means that costs can be met for ensuring that the young people get to go on the trip.
Archdeacon Best describes Fr Hutchins as “an amazing priest”, and values the work that he does in the parish, as well as across the diocese. Manchester has a mutual-flourishing group of which they are both members. She was touched that, for the recent diocesan celebration of 30 years of women’s ministry, at which she presided, Fr Hutchins was there in Manchester Cathedral to show his support.
Fr Hutchins says that he doesn’t feel “excluded or marginalised in any way”, and that it’s important to maintain “a place at the table, through mutuality, networking, loving friendships”. He sees himself as “very supported by the diocesan structure”, and says that “because we are clear on order, people can do business with us,” particularly when it comes to sacramental worship, which traditionalists “offer with depth”.
It is a busy parish. There are usually more than 20 confirmations a year (34 last year), with “lots of baptisms”. Holy Trinity has a thriving youth congregation: at least 30 young people under the age of 16 are at the parish mass each Sunday. A monthly group of under-18-year-olds meets as “God’s Pilgrim Servants” for worship, study, food, and fellowship.
Archdeacon Best points to the “space and attention given to ministry” in traditionalist parishes, and says that “there is integrity in holding that: it’s a convicted theology.” She enjoys visiting these parishes, because the relationships are so positive, and she has a “standing invitation” to preach in any of them. In addition to her proficiency as a cyclist, Fr Hutchins also enjoys her openness and “confidence in the gospel”.
For the Archdeacon, it is a matter of “witnessing to the broadness of the Church and God, demonstrating more of what is possible together than not”. She quotes St John’s Gospel — “no longer servants but friends” — and speaks of the need for companionship. “I don’t think the story has finished or the unfolding has ended. That’s important for me: not silo ministry, but travelling together.”
THIS sense of being on a shared journey in the C of E has not always been so strong. The initial exodus in the early 1990s, when the initial legislation for women priests was followed by further departures in and around 2011, when the Roman Catholic Ordinariate was established.
More recently, its new bishop (consecrated this month) is the ex-Anglican Fr David Waller (News, 3 May 2024). The Rt Revd Jonathan Goodall, a former Bishop of Ebbsfleet and sometime chaplain to Lord Williams, resigned in 2021 to become an RC parish priest (News, 3 September 2021). And it is not only traditionalists who have made the move. Others in the past few years have included the former diocesan bishops Michael Nazir Ali (Rochester), Peter Forster (Chester), and Richard Pain (Monmouth).
Traditionalist Anglo-Catholics maintain that they still have a future in the C of E. “Where there’s life, there’s hope,” Mr Middleton says. “And there is a lot of it in many of these parishes.” He points to the recent funding by the Archbishops’ Council of a mission-priest initiative for traditionalist parishes in the south of England: “£140,000, which we stretched over three years. It has shared good practice among parishes, encouraged a can-do attitude, embedded catechesis, and focused on discipleship.”
Another area that he identifies is worship. “The ‘beauty of holiness’ is something Anglo-Catholics have always done well, and we take liturgy seriously. There’s a growing interest in that, especially among younger people who are looking for more structured forms of worship and witness. The Covid-19 pandemic was a time of grief for our clergy, who believe so strongly in the eucharist. But they didn’t stop, and many live-streamed their services.”
George ReynoldsThe Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas
That continuity, he says, helped Anglo-Catholics to pick back up with congregations easily once the lockdown restrictions had been eased. The majority of traditionalist parishes, he says, reported record attendance last Easter and Christmas. “We never went away, and I think people appreciated that.”
He also points to the consistent commitment to mission, often in some of the poorest parts of the country. Holy Redeemer, Exmouth Market, is an inner-city London parish where dilapidated blocks of social housing contrast with bohemian bars and restaurants. The church is on a busy street, and its front doors face a gastro-pub across the road.
Over the past year, they have begun a quarterly “nightlight” street-evangelism initiative. Music is played for two hours, with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and people are encouraged inside. “They are invited in to light a candle, but many stay for much longer,” the Vicar, the Revd Christopher Trundle, says. “It’s the atmosphere and opportunity. The chance to be, perhaps to have a pastoral conversation with a priest, or make their confession, and pray — to feel honest without any fear of threat or the need to pretend.”
About 200 people have come in each time. Fr Trundle reports how the altar rails are “ablaze” with the amount of votive candles that are lit on the night. “Each one represents a person and their prayer. It’s very real, and shows we are working with something here.” Some, he says, have started to attend weekday masses, or come on Sunday mornings.
Holy Redeemer — along with the Anglo-Catholic parishes of Holy Trinity, Hoxton, and St Chad, Haggerston — is now benefiting from a £9.4-million grant from the Church of England’s Diocesan Investment Programme, overseen by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (News, 13 June 2024). The funding, intended “to catalyse church mission in Hackney and Islington over the next six years”, represents about £780,000 for these three parishes, and will enable “new evangelism, a new Sunday evening mass, and other outreach work”.
“This is evangelism,” says Fr Trundle, who also chairs the House of Clergy of London’s diocesan synod. “We’re embodying the Catholic tradition, but resources are often strained because our parishes are not rich, and we are working in challenging contexts.” He hopes that the grant — given the badge “Catholic renewal” by the diocese — will bring some financial stability, and help Holy Redeemer to become more of a resource church for other parishes in the area, particularly with young people.
YOUNG people and youth work is a theme that comes up repeatedly, as it did in Manchester with Fr Hutchins. The majority of parishes that come with young people to the Walsingham annual youth pilgrimage are traditionalist: 31 parishes have already booked in for this year’s event, at the beginning of August, and are expected to bring about 300 children aged 11-18.
“We put together a lively and appealing programme,” the director of education at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Caroline Ward says. “The kids always say how relatable they find the pilgrimage, and how much they enjoy the activities along with the upbeat worship and devotions.”
The Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas, was at FamilyFest in June, a youth weekend along similar lines at the River Dart Country Park, Devon, led by traditionalist parishes in partnership with the diocese of Exeter. “It was a vibrant and strongly sacramental festival of faith for children and families, overflowing in gospel joy and real creativity,” he says. Two hundred people visited over the weekend, which concluded in a procession of the Blessed Sacrament around the campsite, accompanied by children carrying candles, and Benediction.
Since his consecration as “flying bishop” for the western half of Canterbury Province in February last year, Bishop Thomas has averaged 2700 miles each month, driving around 110 “Oswestry churches” — parishes across 13 dioceses from Staffordshire to Cornwall, “an area the size of Denmark”. Eighty per cent of them, he says, are in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of England. His ministry focuses on the essentials of youth work: mission, teaching, and the sacraments. In less than 18 months, he has confirmed more than 260 people, mainly young men and women.
Andy LangleyThe Revd Paul Hutchins (right) takes part in the annual Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage
“These parishes are strongly confident in the future, living out their vocation as Catholic Christians in the C of E, and full of possibilities. And they trust in the 2014 settlement to respect their honoured place, for the sake of the whole Church.” That confidence translates into an ordinations pipeline, too. His network, he says, has 25 people who are currently discerning their vocations.
Despite attempts at clarity, the overall situation can still be uneven. An undeclared number of clergy working in parishes without a PCC resolution, together with chaplains and retired clergy, look for leadership with pastoral and sacramental care to bishops of “The Society” (the name given to this network of traditionalist bishops, parishes, and clergy “under the patronage of Saints Wilfrid and Hilda”). It can place traditionalist bishops in some difficulty. Their episcopal activity is in agreement with the local diocesan, and their ministry is primarily in parishes with a resolution in place.
“We have to live out the Five Guiding Principles and hold to mutual flourishing, because that’s the right thing to do: it’s our commitment to the Church of England and the Anglican Communion,” Mr Middleton says. “These parishes remain loyal to the Church of England; they are faithful and doing fantastic work. They believe in the value of unity in the Church — what it means to be one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic — which is about our life and witness together. It has to be celebrated.
“On a broader canvas, it’s how the Universal Church has to operate. There are differences between East and West, and ecumenism requires both dedication and openness. The C of E can model that in its own way, and there’s a helpful reminder to everyone that the sacraments are God’s, and not ours, after all.”