Villagers in King’s Somborne angry over letters from landowner, the diocese of Winchester, sent over festive period
For more than a century villagers have grown fruit and veg on allotments at King’s Somborne, a picture postcard village in the Test valley, Hampshire.
But plot holders are up in arms after being served eviction notices from the owner of the land, the diocese of Winchester, to make way for housing.
Continue reading...And churches used to dwindling congregations are delighted to see numbers boosted by worshippers of all ages
Father Happy Jacob has a reason to be cheerful. When he started St Thomas’s Indian Orthodox Church in Liverpool in 2002, his congregation numbered about 60 families, and stayed at that level for almost two decades.
Then, a few years ago, things began to change. “We have seen a massive increase in families coming to the church,” says Jacob, 48. At his last count, there were 110 families, with worshippers including NHS workers, international students and about 100 school-age children.
Continue reading...Justin Welby’s call came as British Palestinians with relatives in Gaza demanded a meeting with the prime minister
The archbishop of Canterbury has called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, saying the scale of civilian deaths and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza could not be “morally justified”.
“The killing must stop,” Justin Welby said, adding that the call for a ceasefire was a “moral cry”.
Continue reading...Anglicans in West Bank say they are ‘utterly perplexed’ by archbishop of Canterbury’s statements on Israel-Hamas war
Palestinian Christians have accused Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, of “relegating” their plight behind “British domestic political and ecumenical considerations” in his comments on the Israel-Hamas war.
An open letter from Anglican parishioners in the West Bank says they are “utterly perplexed” by Welby’s public statements.
Continue reading...LSE research suggests faith-based admissions requirements deter disadvantaged children
Church of England and Roman Catholic primary schools take fewer pupils with disabilities or special needs than other local schools in England, according to research that suggests faith-based admissions requirements deter pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The findings led the author, Dr Tammy Campbell of the London School of Economics, to conclude that faith schools “serve as hubs of relative advantage” for children from more affluent families who were less likely to have special needs.
Continue reading...Che Lovelace paintings in St James’s church are first permanent art commission to honour Quobna Ottobah Cugoano
A permanent artwork to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the baptism of Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, one of Britain’s most important abolitionists, has been unveiled at a church in central London.
The paintings by the Trinidad-based artist Che Lovelace, displayed at St James’s church, Piccadilly, are the first permanent art commission to commemorate Cugoano, a significant but largely forgotten figure in the history of Black Britain.
Continue reading...Stephen Cottrell tells General Synod ‘mistakes have been made’, while sacked safeguarding board member says ‘we did our job too well’
The archbishop of York has said there is a “crisis of safeguarding” within the Church of England after its executive disbanded an independent body on abuse.
Stephen Cottrell told the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod, on Sunday that “mistakes have been made” and that Jesus would be weeping at the events of recent weeks. “We recognise things have gone wrong,” he said. “This is a watershed moment for us. We can’t get this wrong again.”
Continue reading...Call for high fees to be scrapped as church marriages fall by half in England and Wales between 1999 and 2019
High fees are putting church weddings beyond the reach of many couples and should be scrapped or set at a nominal amount, according to clergy in one of the most deprived areas of England.
Marriage fees, which can be as high as £641, are a contributory factor to the decline in church weddings, they claim. A proposal to be debated this week at the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, calls for fees to be abolished or reduced to a minimal amount “in order to demonstrate the church’s commitment to marriage and pastoral care”.
Continue reading...Archbishop of York tells General Synod that ‘Our Father’ has patriarchal connotations
The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be “problematic” because of their patriarchal association.
In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words “Our Father”, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament.
Continue reading...State governments fear lack of insurance means churches will withdraw out-of-home care and youth homelessness services
Private insurers are refusing to cover Anglican schools in southern Queensland for child abuse claims, leaving individual schools and dioceses financially exposed for the past two years.
The increasing rate of refusal comes after reforms made it easier for survivors to bring child abuse claims.
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Continue reading...Church pension and endowment funds shed holdings after U-turns by BP and Shell
The Church of England is divesting from fossil fuels in its multibillion pound endowment and pension funds over climate concerns and recent U-turns by oil and gas companies.
The church said it was abandoning oil and gas companies and all firms primarily engaged in the exploration, production and refining of oil or gas by the end of 2023, unless they were in genuine alignment with a 1.5C reduction pathway.
Continue reading...Archbishop of Canterbury expresses dismay over church’s support for Ugandan law enacted last month
The archbishop of Canterbury has urged the Anglican church in Uganda to reconsider its vociferous support for the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ law, which imposes the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.
Justin Welby said there was no justification for supporting the legislation, in a move that highlights deep divisions within the global Anglican church on LGBTQ+ issues.
Continue reading...The former governor general was last month reprimanded over his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop
Peter Hollingworth has announced he will cease practising as an Anglican priest and will hand back his permission to officiate, citing a desire to “end distress” for survivors and stop “division” in the church.
Hollingworth was last month the subject of serious misconduct findings, delivered after a protracted internal church process, which reprimanded him for his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop in the 1990s.
Continue reading...Justin Welby to join peers condemning measures that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in UK
The archbishop of Canterbury will make a rare intervention in the House of Lords to join dozens of peers condemning the government’s flagship asylum bill.
Justin Welby will argue against measures championed by Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in the UK if they arrive on small boats.
Continue reading...Archbishop Geoffrey Smith says former governor general should ‘step back and resign his orders’ despite not being defrocked by church
The Anglican church’s most senior Australian leader has called for the former Brisbane archbishop and governor general Peter Hollingworth to resign for “the good of the church”.
Hollingworth was last month found to have committed serious misconduct while archbishop in the 1990s when he failed to act to remove known paedophiles from the church.
Continue reading...The former governor general and former Anglican archbishop of Brisbane was the subject of complaints about his handling of child abuse complaints in the 1990s
The Anglican church’s complaints body has ruled former governor general Peter Hollingworth should not be defrocked despite upholding multiple allegations of misconduct over his handling of child abuse complaints while in a senior leadership role.
Hollingworth has been the subject of complaints over his handling of abuse cases in the Anglican church while archbishop of Brisbane in the 1990s, a role he held for 11 years before becoming Australia’s 23rd governor general.
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Continue reading...Oil has been created using olives from two groves on Mount of Olives, and a formula dating back centuries
The fragrant chrism oil that will be used to anoint King Charles during his coronation in May was made sacred in Jerusalem on Friday.
A ceremony took place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the holy oil was consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and the Anglican archbishop in Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum.
Continue reading...Submission says agency’s push to enable LGBTQ+ role models ‘preferences one worldview over another’
The Sydney Anglican church has accused the Australian Law Reform Commission of a “double standard” for seeking to give LGBTQ+ students role models while limiting the ability of religious schools to hire by faith.
The church’s submission to a review of exemptions for religious schools from discrimination law is part of a broader conservative backlash that has prompted the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to recommit the government to allowing schools to select staff based on faith.
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Continue reading...Former governor general and archbishop of Brisbane expected to have fate in Anglican church decided in hearing due to begin on Monday
Survivors and advocates have condemned the “cruel” and “dysfunctional” delays in a case to potentially defrock Peter Hollingworth, the former Australian governor general and former archbishop of Brisbane, for failures to act on child abuse allegations in the Anglican church.
A secretive hearing is due to begin on Monday to decide Hollingworth’s fate in the church, more than five years after complaints were first made through the Melbourne diocese’s complaints system, Kooyoora.
Continue reading...Head of Anglican church in South Sudan said archbishop of Canterbury was ‘failing to defend biblical truth’
Pope Francis and the archbishop of Canterbury will begin a historic joint visit to South Sudan on Friday against the backdrop of potential tensions over LGBTQ+ rights.
The leaders of the global Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, whose numbers are growing in sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to the west, will be joined on their “pilgrimage of peace” by the leader of the Church of Scotland.
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