THE Bishop of Aston, the Rt Revd Esther Prior, told traditionalists on Saturday that she “couldn’t be more committed to the 2014 settlement” that enshrined “an honoured place” for Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England.
Speaking in a recorded interview for the Forward in Faith Festival at St Alban’s, Holborn, she expressed support for traditionalists, even though “obviously” she disagreed with their position. “If you ever need me to stand with you — literally, physically — I will,” she said.
“I want to bring a word of encouragement. . . I am passionately for the Five Guiding Principles and that is why I am here. I think the 2014 settlement worked really hard at acknowledging our differences and creating space for Catholic expression of ministry, I hope, to flourish within the structures of the Church of England.”
Bishop Prior was consecrated in February in Canterbury Cathedral and is the Church of England’s youngest female bishop. Born in Malawi in 1973, she came to the UK in 1999. “I don’t think I want the C of E without you: we would be the poorer for it,” she said. “Be known for your love.”
“You bring visibility. When people are searching, if they see something visible that points them to the invisible, that can be really helpful. As Catholics, that can be the space you occupy with greater confidence.”
Earlier this year, Women and the Church (WATCH) launched a campaign to abolish the Five Guiding Principles (News, 4 April), which were described as contributing to the “unequal and iniquitous gendered culture of the current Church of England”.
Also at the meeting on Saturday, the Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas, in his capacity as the chairman of Forward in Faith (FiF), told attendees that FiF had adopted the Nolan Principles of Public Life and called on all other Anglo-Catholic charities to do the same. Governance concerns were recently raised about the Additional Curates Society (News, 9 May), which was founded in 1837 and holds £6.2 million in funds. The seven Nolan Principles are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership.
The festival was a day of celebration attended by several hundred people from around the country, including ordinands from St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and representatives of Fidelium, a network of Anglo-Catholic young adults based in London. The day began with a concelebrated mass — at which the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, preached — and concluded with Benediction.