Oh dear, things were so much fairer when a well-instructed prime minister — say, Harold Macmillan choosing Michael Ramsey — simply made the appointment [of an Archbishop of Canterbury] himself. Without bureaucracy, the established Church sort of worked. With it, it sort of doesn’t

Charles Moore, The Spectator, 21 June

To me, the greatest shadow cast over human affairs in this present era is not the risk of nuclear war: it is the increasing unwillingness of political leaders and their regimes to see other than through the spectacles of immediate and narrow self-interest. . . I fear we increasingly live in an age of expanding empires, some political, others corporate, each unable to look beyond maximising its territory, wealth, and power

David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, Thought for the Day, Radio 4, 23 June

In an age where public discourse can often seem thin and fragmented, the [Nicene] Creed offers a depth of meaning that holds firm. It does not reduce faith to sentiment or certainty, nor does it shy away from mystery. Instead, it offers a robust yet gracious framework for belief: a faith shared, inherited, and spoken together

Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield and Chair of the Liturgical Commission, The Sunday Telegraph, 22 June

For me, the beauty of being part of a church community, worshipping and communing and hearing about each other’s lives, is that it’s a weekly moment in which I am part of a body that holds together difference, even when it’s uncomfortable and even when we’re confronted with views opposed to our own. Christian ritual confronts us with this call for unity despite difference

Chine McDonald, Thought for the Day, Radio 4, 21 June

We invite readers’ contributions. Quotations have to be from the past few days (or quoted therein), and we need author, source, and date. Please send promptly to: quotes@churchtimes.co.uk