Ecumenism threatened by Nairobi-Cairo Proposals

From Canon Peter Sedgwick

Madam, — The criticisms of Nairobi Cairo Proposals (NCP) by the Revd Professor Paul Avis (Comment, 10 April) are very welcome His new book, Shaping A Church of Ethical Integrity, which is warmly reviewed by Professor Robin Gill (Books, same edition), has a whole chapter showing how the Anglican Communion has always had an ecclesiology of eucharistic communion, with the see of Canterbury at its sacramental and ecclesial centre.

Professor Avis demonstrates clearly that NCP fundamentally misrepresents the Reformation and the great Reformation apologist for Anglicanism Bishop John Jewel. The ecclesiology of NCP, seeking to change completely the nature of the Anglican Communion, may seem far removed from the everyday concerns of parish clergy and laity, but it would wreck the Anglican Communion in a way that no one could have foreseen in their worst nightmares. Very simply, Anglicanism worldwide would become a Communion based on baptism and a historic relationship with the see of Canterbury. At most, the document “hopes” that the bishops and archbishops of the Anglican Communion would share the eucharist together. Hopes?

In the past, IASCUFO, the global body in the Anglican Communion which oversees ecumenical dialogue and reflects on the nature of Anglicanism, has always endorsed the Anglican Communion as having a sacramental communion which is eucharistic in the depths of its being. This is shown in its document Towards a Symphony of Instruments: A historical and theological consideration of the Instruments of Communion of the Anglican Communion (2015). This speaks of a common sacramental life that involves mutual eucharistic hospitality.

Quoting the distinguished Anglican theologian the late Professor Dan Hardy in his book Finding The Church, the report goes on: “The sacramental character of Anglican common life is also vital. Our communion is essentially eucharistic. The conciliar life of the Christian Church is premised on eucharistic communion. The councils of the Church, at every level, are eucharistic events, and the Anglican Communion is a eucharistic community” (para. 1.16). It argued this while being well aware of the tensions within the Communion which resulted in impaired eucharistic sharing.

Towards A Symphony (para. 3.2.3) also emphasised the crucial part played by the Archbishop of Canterbury, since the Communion is a fellowship “in communion with See of Canterbury”, quoting the 1930 Lambeth Conference Resolutions 48 and 49. The Windsor Report (2004) again cited in Towards A Symphony (para, 3.3.3), describes the Archbishop of Canterbury, “both in his person and his office”, as “the pivotal instrument and focus of unity”, observing that “relationship to him became a touchstone of what it was to be Anglican.”

It is quite extraordinary that, a mere ten years after Towards A Symphony, the whole understanding of Anglican ecclesiology goes into reverse. NCP would abandon eucharistic sharing for a baptismal ecclesiology that is premised on Churches’ having “a historic connection with the see of Canterbury”. It would downgrade the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, so treasured in The Windsor Report and countless other Anglican documents, to being one member of a Council of Primates.

It is deeply tragic that Anglicanism’s eucharistic life should be abandoned in a well- meaning attempt to resolve the schism within Anglicanism. You simply cannot imagine the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox changing their fundamental beliefs in one report and subscribing to what NCP para. 37 calls, referring to Anglicans worldwide, an “expectant hope that the Eucharist will be celebrated when we meet”. Would Pope Leo have “an expectant hope” that the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church would concelebrate mass with him? If he asked nicely? The idea is an absurdity.

I write as a member since 2011 of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) , which is still working on its agreed text on moral discernment. Since 2020, I have been the only Commission member from the four nations, or Churches, of the UK. The reason that I write so strongly is that ARCIC seeks an “organic unity” and eucharistic sharing between our two Churches. My fear, shared by others, is that almost certainly the acceptance of NCP would damage ecumenical relationships profoundly, and as Professor Avis says, it would probably finish ARCIC for ever.

I hope that Professor Avis’s criticism will lead to the abandonment of these ill-thought-out proposals.

PETER SEDGWICK
St Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan

Problem of closed parish churchyards in Wales

From the Revd Dr Roger L. Brown

Madam, — I write further to your report (News, 27 March) of the Law Commission’s proposals about reforming the burial and cremation laws, and do so with respect to its discussion as to whether closed churchyards in the Church in Wales should be placed in the hands of the local authorities.

It is mandatory for local authorities in England to take over the care and maintenance of closed churchyards of the Church of England when requested to do so. In Wales, it is discretionary. As a result, as far as I am aware, this has never happened.

As the Church in Wales and many others have pointed out to the Commission, this is a very unsatisfactory position, as it leaves the care of these churchyards to the parish in which they are situated. It was hoped that the Commission would recommend that these churchyards be placed in the care of the various local authorities. They, however, made clear their objection on the ground of cost. Thus, the Commission made no recommendation, but suggested that it should be a matter for the Welsh Assembly.

These churchyards were available to all parishioners, and their existence meant that these local authorities did not need to provide cemeteries until more recent times, saving them vast sums of money.

The Commission estimates that the average cost of maintaining each closed churchyard is £3500, in some instances much more. As many of these churchyards rely on volunteers for their maintenance, and if the cost of this is factored in, the true figure might be £10,000. Based on the figure of 173 closed churchyards and another 600 with little space remaining, it is estimated that the annual cost of maintenance, if passed to these local authorities, would be £2,750,000 at the lower figure and £7,730,000 on the higher.

With 1.39 million households in Wales paying council rates, the additional charge, even at the higher figure of £10,000 per churchyard, would amount to an annual sum of £5.56 per household. But, at present, the 30,000 regular churchgoers who maintain these churchyards in which they will have no benefit have to find an average of £91 per person on the lower figure. If parishes were unable to find volunteers to maintain these churchyards, the cost per regular churchgoer would rise to £250 p.a.

The unfairness of this must be obvious to all and needs to be remedied.

This is especially so when local councils are often relying on the churches to augment the work of their own social services.

ROGER L. BROWN
Welshpool, Powys

Archbishop Mullally: different kinds of ‘welcome’

From Mr Gwilym Stone

Madam, — Your interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury (Features, 10 April) really got under my skin with these words: the C of E will continue to work on what it looks like to “ensure that LGBTQI+ people are welcomed into our churches”.

For the avoidance of doubt: we do not need to be welcomed in. We are here already. We have been here since the day we were baptised (some of us, decades ago).

We are your churchwardens, your choirmasters, your PCC secretaries. We are that nice gentleman that does the flowers, the woman who rolls up her sleeves and rods the drains, and countless other expressions of ordinary faithfulness.

The language of “welcome”, however kindly meant, other us. I need to be welcomed only into spaces where I don’t already belong.

You welcome the stranger, and keep doing that. But please stop welcoming me.

GWILYM STONE
Southampton

From Mr Mike Wilmott

Madam, — I was one of the 25 students that was involved in the “Meet Jesus” mission in South Lambeth described in the extract from the Revd Professor Andrew Atherstone’s biography of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Features, 27 March). It may have resulted in “only six new people joining the congregation”, but it had other wider impacts. I am sure that I wasn’t the only student who had his eyes opened to the reality of inner-city living for those below the poverty line, when, for example, doors opened on to a room with bare wooden floors and an upturned packaging case for furniture.

Similarly, the generosity of those who accommodated us, and of the Revd Christopher Guinness and his young family, was a living example of love and community which had an effect long after we returned to our universities, and one that still lives with me now.

The following year, Chris and his family welcomed my then fiancée into a busy vicarage for a few weeks while she found her feet in a year-long London work placement. And, like Sarah, Chris officiated at our wedding in west Wales in 1984. We were as fortunate as Sarah to have come across, in our formative years as Christians, a man who demonstrated what the love of Christ looks like in practice and whose aim was always to bless those he found himself among.

I still have my copy of the St Luke’s Gospel that we distributed throughout South Lambeth, inscribed by Chris. In it, he wrote: “The steps of a good man are guided by the Lord.” Clearly, the steps of a good woman have been equally well guided. Sarah and I have a lot to thank the Revd Chris Guinness for.

MIKE WILMOTT
Devizes, Wiltshire

Jenkins and resurrection

From the Revd Jonathan Frais

Madam, — The Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee appreciates the book The Pattern of God by Canon Richard Truss on the former Bishop of Durham David Jenkins (Books, 10 April). It is right that we see the good in everyone and use hindsight well, not least in this Easter season. Yet, it seems strange to omit the conclusion that someone unable to affirm the bodily resurrection of Christ (with its promise of living hope) was not appropriate for Christian ministry.

JONATHAN FRAIS
Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

Author of prayer quoted

From the Revd Paul Newman

Madam, — The answer to Canon Tilby’s query (Comment, 10 April) is Passion for Pilgrimage: Notes for the journey home (1989), or Journey into Christ (1977), by Alan Jones, a greatly respected priest, born in London in 1940, and Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco (1985-2009). An omission is evident in summary biographies: he is listed on the 1965 college roll at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, the year of his deaconing. He was appointed OBE in 2003, and died after a long illness on 14 January 2024 (Obituary, 16 February 2024).

His seminal Soul Making (SCM Press, 1986) remains a classic.

PAUL ANTHONY NEWMAN
Winchester

Being trauma-informed

From Canon Jim Benton-Evans

Madam, — I am about to embark on a period of sabbatical leave to explore instances of churches or dioceses that describe themselves as trauma-informed. Specifically, I am looking to get a sense of the spread of trauma-informed churches; what particular characteristics or approaches they have which mark them out as trauma-informed; what trauma survivors, or those living with trauma, might reasonably expect to find in a trauma-informed church; and what the benefits, pastoral, spiritual, or other, might be for a church becoming trauma-informed.

I should be very glad to hear from individuals, churches, or dioceses who might have experience of, or thoughts regarding, this topic. Any contribution offered would, of course, be received in the strictest confidence, used in any final report only with permission, and anonymised on request.

I can be contacted by email at: jimbesabbatical@gmail.com

JIM BENTON-EVANS
Brechin, Angus

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