Conservatives and Lords Spiritual 

From Sir Tony Baldry

Madam, — During the time that I was Second Church Estates Commissioner (2010-15), I can’t recall a single MP publicly calling for the bishops to be ejected from the House of Lords. Nor can I recall a single Conservative MP privately urging the removal of the Archbishops and bishops from Parliament.

Any MP who had such views could have raised them in the Bill that I brought forward to enable bishops who were women to be fast-tracked to the Lords after the General Synod’s decision for the Church of England to have women bishops.

In that debate, there was not a murmur of opposition to bishops in the Lords. Rather, there was cross-party delight that the Church of England was at last going to allow women to become bishops, and that bishops who were women would be able to sit in the House of Lords.

So, why are there some senior Conservative MPs now moving an amendment that seeks to oust bishops from the House of Lords to the Government’s Bill on Hereditary Peers?

At best, it would seem a very cack-handed attempt to find some common cause with Jeremy Corbyn et al. to embarrass the Government.

I sincerely hope that it is not because these Conservative MPs want to silence the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops who are calling out issues of public concern, such as the numbers being killed in the Middle East, or the numbers of homes reliant on foodbanks or experiencing pressure from high-interest-rate lenders.

Bishops have sat in Parliament since the beginning of Parliament. To remove bishops from the House of Lords would be a significant constitutional change and would be tantamount to Parliament’s seeking to disestablish the Church of England.

Oliver Dowden, the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, is reported as saying that: “. . . constitutional change is an area where one should tread lightly. It requires proper consultation, engagement and consideration.”

The Conservative Party has engaged in no consultation, engagement, or consideration of this proposal to remove bishops from the House of Lords. Conservatives should heed their own advice.

TONY BALDRY
Dovecote House
Bloxham OX15 4ET

Divisions in the diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney 

From Canon Neil Brice and Mr Brian Harris and 22 others

Madam, — We write as committed members of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney, both lay and ordained, to express our deep sorrow at the recent actions and statement by the Primus and three other Scottish Episcopalian bishops regarding the future of our Bishop, the Rt Revd Anne Dyer. We regard their intervention as naïve and cruel.

It is a matter of record that Bishop Dyer has faced opposition and criticism from within the diocese dating back to the announcement of her election by the Bishops in 2018. We view the allegations that have led to the Canon 54 proceedings as a continuation of that opposition by other means.

The Bishop’s two-year suspension has caused untold hurt to those involved and has cast the diocese and the entire Province in a shameful light. The Procurator of the Church decided that holding a tribunal or trial would not be in the interests of the Church, Bishop Dyer’s suspension was lifted, and the Primus welcomed her back into her episcopal ministry.

What the four bishops have now done has served only to exacerbate the situation, provoking further dissent rather than healing and reconciliation. We find it utterly disgraceful that Bishop Dyer has been so distanced by her episcopal colleagues, including the Primus, but with one honourable exception. We call on the College of Bishops publicly to support their episcopal colleague and openly to confront those who have brought allegations and complaints.

We wish to make it clear that those who brought the original complaints do not speak for us. We condemn the way in which they have pursued their complaints as contrary to natural justice and contrary to the law of love.

Together with many in our diocese, it was with great joy that we welcomed the announcement that the prosecution of Bishop Dyer had been dismissed and her suspension ended.

We now plead with those who have been confused or hurt in this process to engage with Bishop Dyer’s call for conversation, mediation, and reconciliation, and to follow the command of Christ to be kind to one another, loving one another as we are loved.

NEIL BRICE
14 Greenfield Place, Lerwick
Shetland ZE1 0AQ

BRIAN HARRIS
(General Synod member)
Havelock Cottage
Back Charlotte Lane, Lerwick
Shetland ZE1 0JD

ALMA LEWIS, LEWIS SHAND SMITH, JANE LOGAN, TRUDY RATTER, HELEN RANDALL, MARTIN RANDALL, DIANA WINFIELD, HELEN SAVAGE, JAMES COLLINS, PAM SMITH, JOY WHITELAW, PAT BAKER, JOYCE TAIT, MARY WEST, RUTH STOCK, ANDY ELLIOTT, K ELLIOTT, KAREN HARRIS, MARGARET TOWRIESS, DI HERVEY, BRENDA DOWIE, GRAHAM BOOTH

Church Commissioners and rewilding lobby 

From Canon John Halkes

Madam, — Dr Barry Barton’s claim that rewilding land owned by the Church Commissioners is incompatible with the nation’s food security (Letters, 18 October) is entirely out of step with the opinion of leading experts in the field, especially the farmers.

In reality, as agronomists, ecologists, climate scientists, and the hard-working farmers of my own rural parish know all too well, the greatest threat to the food security of this nation is, in fact, the climate and nature crisis. Heavy rain, floods, storms, and heatwaves caused by the overheating of our climate are already decimating crop yields throughout Britain and battering the livelihoods of our farming families.

In the face of such an escalating crisis, insisting that every inch of land be farmed, no matter the consequences for biodiversity and climate, is the short-termist equivalent of sawing off the branch that we’re sitting on. Be it with regard to pollinators, soils, or water — our food relies on the healthy functioning of the web of life, a web that here in the UK lies in tatters.

It is for this reason that the United Nations and our own Government have enshrined the target of restoring 30 per cent of land to nature by 2030. Rewilding can save ecosystems on the precipice of extinction while drawing down climate-cooling amounts of carbon. As one of Britain’s biggest landowners, the Church could make a globally significant contribution to food security by meeting 30×30.

Thankfully, as a growing army of ambitious and pragmatic farmers are demonstrating, nature restoration is now a profitable part of modern farming. Today, biodiversity and carbon credits, post-Brexit farming subsidies and natural-capital investors are all helping write a new chapter in British farming, a chapter in which nature, food production, and a secure future for our farmers go hand in hand.

For the sake of our farmers and our future, the Church Commissioners must embrace this long-termism and avoid being the man who hoarded grain.

JOHN HALKES
Creek Cottage, Lerryn
Cornwall PL22 0QB

From Drew James

Madam, — To dismiss the call for rewilding of 30 per cent of the Church Commissioners’ land as so much “virtue signalling” is both offensive and ignorant.

In a Radio 4 interview broadcast in July 2021 about sustainable farming, the King spoke of his “increasing concern” about slow progress. He said: “Year after year, I have watched with increasing concern as many of this country’s precious landscapes were slowly diminished in the name of efficiency.

“Such has been the damage to the natural systems we depend upon, we must achieve profound rapid change to reverse it. We must put nature back at the heart of the equation.”

So, there you have it, direct from the Supreme Governor. Plenty in the Commissioners’ landed estate is suitable for measures that are sensitive and science-driven.

DREW JAMES
6 Southwood Road
Liverpool L17 7BQ

Liturgy might be formational, but in today’s world it is not missional 

From Canon Ian Mobsby

Madam, — I am writing in response to the article “Have confidence that liturgy is missional” by the Revd Daniel Sandham (Opinion, 18 October). While I understand the point being made about having confidence in the liturgies authorised by the Church, particularly concerning Christian formation for those new or continuing in faith, I want to challenge the use of the word “missional” in this context.

Being missional in our increasingly post-secular market society is about engaging with the now majority de- and never churched, many of whom hold negative views of church and of Christians. Being missional is about joining in the relational apostolic calling of being sent out to engage with people where they are, and this is a million miles away from coming to, let alone participating in, church and being open to receiving from God through liturgy. Unchurched people are largely not going to come to a liturgical worship service.

It is my experience of being an ordained pioneer, and now a diocesan missioner, that the lack of confidence is more do with being missional: a reluctance of both clergy and lay leaders to get out of church buildings where you are not in control and be relational in the way in which Jesus was, as a guest of others, outside attractional models of church.

It saddens me deeply that the Church of England has largely disinvested in pioneer ministry and mission work. Only a few positions of diocesan missioner remain, where being missional involves true collaboration between traditional and experimental approaches in local contexts.

Has the Church of England forgotten all that was learnt from the Fresh Expressions initiative begun when Lord Williams was the Archbishop of Canterbury? We need to move towards more localised contextual missions that draw on the various traditions of the Church, not away from them. This is why missionally focused mixed-ecology parishes are crucial.

It seems that we have forgotten what missional means. Jesus told us to be out there with the people who were not already part of the flock. It isn’t about waiting for the lost sheep to show up at the sheepfold. It is about seeking them out and coming alongside.

Given all of this, I am, therefore, deeply uncomfortable with the idea that liturgy is truly missional: formational, yes, but missional, no — particularly if it is not connected to apostolic relationality or contextualisation to meet people where they are. This is what being missional is truly about.

IAN MOBSBY
Niagara Diocesan Community Missioner
252 James Street North
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8R 2LE

Clergy perceptions of vocations and vacancies 

From the Rt Revd Dr Nigel Peyton

Madam, — Your leader comment (18 October) and investigation into clergy vocation and vacancies (Features, same issue) draw attention to an asymmetric marketplace for which there seems no single explanation or quick solution.

There are many variables in clergy lives today, including gender and the older-age and family commitments of the newly ordained, limiting their mobility and the number of successive appointments possible. Encouraging younger ordinands is, therefore, a clear priority, while some clergy could perhaps be more adventurous about where they went and what they undertook.

Clergy perceive some posts advertised as unattractive or undoable. They become anxious or frustrated in matching their aspirations and abilities with vacancies. Some are confused by what God, bishops and interview panels are saying to them. Routine access to professional career guidance and counselling familiar with the Church of England could provide fresh insights for clergy. Bishops’ senior staff might reflect more theologically than managerially about guiding our clergy, who are God’s precious gift to the Church.

My exploration of the sacrificial character of the priesthood, Managing Clergy Lives: Obedience, sacrifice, intimacy (News, 3 May 2013’ Books. 17 April 2014), found few clergy questioning their original calling. Their priestly identity was characterised by obedient clergy bodies, not simply instrumental to the Church as an organisation, but theologically governed by clergy souls.

Embracing personal sacrifice is the hallmark of vocational faithfulness. Priests need to feel authentic in this regard if they believe that they are answering God’s calling to a particular ministry vacancy.

NIGEL PEYTON
8 Bishops Place, Welton
Lincoln LN2 3FR