Affirming Catholicism Newsletter November 2015 Hilda, Abbess Of

Affirming Catholicism: Inspiration and Hope in the Anglican Communion

Affirming Catholicism Newsletter November 2015

Hilda, Abbess of Whitby (19 November) Eternal God, who made the abbess Hilda to shine like a jewel in our land and through her holiness and leadership blessed your Church with new life and unity: help us, like her, to yearn for the gospel of Christ and to reconcile those who are divided; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Clement of Rome (23 November) Creator and Father of eternity, whose martyr Clement bore witness with his blood to the love he proclaimed and the gospel that he preached: give us thankful hearts as we celebrate your faithfulness, revealed to us in the lives of your saints, and strengthen us in our pilgrimage as we follow your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Watchword for November 2015 (from the Herrnhuter Losungen)

“Have mercy on those who are wavering or who doubt.” June 1:22 The biblical "Watchwords" of the Herrnhut Brethren (Moravian Church) have been published every year since 1731.

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Gospel Imprint: “Confirmation”

In Confirmation, “God confirms the promise of his presence and power in us and through us. God welcomes us to the feast of his kingdom and invites us to eat the food of eternal life. God reminds us that he is with us at every stage of our journey, his faithfulness always calling forth our faith. God calls each of us to participate in the ministry of the Church and gives the gifts we need for this.” You can find the rest of the leaflet at: http://www.gospelimprint.com/GI-documents/Leaflets/11-11.14- Confirmation.pdf. Please print it out and make it widely available! Try making a selection of these leaflets available in your church. Gospel Imprint is the fresh voice in Anglicanism sharing free resources with all Christians who are seeking to learn, worship and witness to the generosity of the Kingdom of God. It is supported by Affirming Catholicism and the Society of Catholic Priests.

***** The sacrament of reconciliation and the seal of the confessional Thank you to all who contributed their insights and experiences. The key points which emerged were: • a strong sense amongst many respondents that the seal of the confessional should not be broken; • however, if this is not to become collusion, in the case of the confession of serious crime or abuse, repentance should be expected to include a plan for reporting that crime/abuse by the perpetrator (if necessary with the support of the priest), and absolution should be withheld until that is done; • the need to engage with the reality that situations of abuse are at least as likely (if not more so) to be “confessed” by victims or witnesses than by perpetrators; • an awareness that reporting of cases of abuse arises more frequently in the context of spiritual direction and pastoral conversations; it is necessary to distinguish clearly between confession and forms of pastoral conversation; • the need for robust training in hearing confession (including in how to make these distinctions) should be a required part of preparation for priesthood for curates of all traditions, and should also be integrated into regular safeguarding training; • the need for all priests to have access to sources of advice should such a situation arise. You can find the full text of Affirming Catholicism’s submission to the Working Group here: http://www.affirmingcatholicism.org.uk/articles.html

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General Synod 23-25 November 2015 Issues for discussion at General Synod, November 2015

We reproduce there the text of the Briefing Paper drafted for Affirming Catholics in Synod (ACiS). The Synod agenda and papers can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/general-synod/agendas-and- papers/november-2015-group-of-sessions.aspx.

1. Reform and Renewal (Tuesday 24 November) – GS Misc 1124 AffCath continues to be concerned by some of the underlying assumptions of the Reform and Renewal agenda. In particular, the changes to national funding (that is, the funding that comes from the endowments of the Church Commissioners) represent a significant shift of emphasis. It has (apparently) now been decided that: “All the national funding distributed to dioceses will be explicitly directed for mission and growth. Half will be for mission in the poorest communities and half will be for new growth opportunities across the whole country.” This raises questions, not only of how the “poorest communities” are to be defined, but also of how growth is to be assessed. The first has been well-discussed, and the specific proposed funding implications for each diocese have been made clear. Funding will still be to dioceses, based on poverty measures aggregated across the diocese; it will not be a case that individual parishes are allocated cash. The definition of growth is more difficult, and discussion will need to be had. AffCath is concerned that it is unclear how demographics are being taken into account, or whether measures are being used which tend to privilege urban over rural congregations. In a small village, of population 150, an average of 30 people attending Sunday worship is 20% of the community, and the church may well be reaching an even higher proportion through other activities. Similarly, churches that maintain their electoral rolls in a demographic of decreasing population are actually growing. It is not clear that such considerations are being taken into account. The danger of an appeal to absolute numbers when assessing congregational “success” is considerable. AffCath is also concerned that these measures do not adequately take into account the nature of the Church of England as a national Church. We recognise the need for growth, but we are not convinced that growth is always and only to be measured in absolute numerical terms. Numbers need always to be seen in the context of local demographics. Much more thought needs to be given to the ways in which initiatives which go to people where they are – in schools, in local care homes, in community centres – and which may reach significant numbers of people can be measured – but also to how such initiatives can help to support the church community which has initiated them. AffCath supports the development of resources for Developing Discipleship and Growing Vocations, and would be interested to know how groups from across the Church of England are being consulted on these. We would also welcome wide consultation on Facilitating Lay Leadership. AffCath is glad to see that discussions around Resourcing Ministerial Education are now taking place with the involvement of Theological Education Institutions.

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2. Global warming (Wednesday 25 November) AffCath welcomes the continuing engagement of General Synod with this vital topic, and would draw attention of Synod members to the resources available via the ecocongregation movement (soon to be launched in England and Wales as Eco-Church): http://www.ecocongregation.org/. We would urge ACiS members to encourage their congregations to explore the possibility of become eco-congregations or eco- churches, and thus of modelling responsible use of resources to members of their congregations.

3. The “migrant crisis” (Wednesday 25 November) – GS 2009 While recognising the scale of the challenge posed by the current levels of refugees, we welcome the summary of the situation provided in GS 2009. We note, however, the problematic use of the terms “migrant” (on the synod agenda) and “migration” (in GS 2009), and would emphasise that what Europe is facing is a massive rise in the number of refugees. We welcome the establishment of temporary churches in Calais and the way that many dioceses have responded to raise funds and offering practical support to refugees. As the Rt Revd David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, and one of Affirming Catholicism’s vice-presidents, has noted, for these refugees, “the problem is not the attractiveness of life in Malmo or Middlesbrough, it’s the impossibility of living safely and securely any longer in their homelands. But for those desperate enough to risk their children’s lives, in rickety boats and airless container lorries, the luxury of long term hope is not an option. The crisis is here and now.” As Christians we are called to respond, remembering the words of Christ: “... for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me ... Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:35-41) The Bishops of the Diocese of Chelmsford, who include the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, President of Affirming Catholicism, have put it like this: “There is a real and urgent need to act locally in the face of a global challenge, and respond to the UN’s plea for resettlement. This would be in keeping with the finest Christian and British traditions of championing human dignity and offering sanctuary to those fleeing persecution.” (References: https://www.canterburydiocese.org/bishop-of-manchesters-letter-in- the-times/; http://www.chelmsford.anglican.org/news/article/churches-pledge-to- welcome-refugees)

4. Public perceptions of Jesus (Wednesday 25 November) – GS Misc 1126 + “Talking Jesus” This report clearly has a bearing on the Reform and Renewal process and could usefully be referred to in that discussion. However, it is very important that attention is directed beyond the presentation of the findings to the findings themselves; the survey reveals a rather different picture from that which is suggested by some of the text in “Talking Jesus”. Thus, “Talking Jesus” suggests that “one in five [in fact 19%] of the people we know and speak to about our faith is open to Jesus”, passing over the survey’s finding that 59% of those who have been engaged in such conversations said that they did not want to know more about Jesus Christ, and that 30% felt that such conversations had made them more negative towards Christ (“Talking Jesus,” p. 20). Christian nurture in the family is the main route by which people say that they came to Christianity (41%); attending church services is the next most important (27%).

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Only 1% reported that they had become Christians through messy church, café church or another new form of church. The survey also reveals that 93% of practising Christians came to faith more than 11 years ago, before the introduction of mission shaped church (p.23). The report asks “How can we make use of these new forms of church to draw people towards Jesus?” However, its own results suggest that the question might rather be: how can we draw more people into our Sunday worship? The report is silent on the survey’s very interesting findings of distribution of Christian population compared to “English” population across the English regions, with higher percentages of the Christian population in the South East (not including London), East Midlands, North East, and South West. A breakdown of this distribution for individual dioceses might reveal unexpected areas of growth. AffCath would welcome some clarification as to how the results of the survey will be used in supporting Church of England policy and strategy.

5. Church Buildings Review (Wednesday 25 November) – GS 2008 AffCath welcomes the decision to look seriously at the financial burden placed on the Church of England’s resources by the significant number of church buildings, especially those which are grade I and grade II listed buildings. We particularly welcome the affirmation (paragraph 125-126) that “the Church of England cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of caring for many of the country’s most important buildings – including 45% of those listed grade I – without significant, ongoing help,” and that this help must include willingness by the wider community to contribute to special appeals, an acceptance by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic England that Churches benefit the whole community, and an acknowledgement by Government that Churches are part of the heritage of the whole country. We would suggest that useful insights might be gained from considering the way in which similar challenges have been met in other European countries, and perhaps particularly Belgium. Here too, however, AffCath believes it important to resist the argument that a congregation of less than 20 means that a church should become a “festival church”, especially in rural areas, where churches are often focal points for the community.

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Congratulations… … to the Revd Dr Nicholas Chamberlain, Rector of St George’s Jesmond and Member of the Affirming Catholicism Board, on his consecration as Bishop of Grantham at a moving service on 19 November at Southwark Cathedral. The Sermon was given by the Very Revd Michael Sadgrove, Dean of Durham from 2003 until 2015: “Honour comes into things today. We are here to celebrate the consecration of a new bishop. We are glad for him, for the diocese of Lincoln and for the whole church. And it is not wrong to say that we honour him as we give thanks for Nick, this man of God, this friend, this priest whom we surround today with our love, our affection and our prayers. Why do I use that word ‘honour’? Because it’s found in the gospel reading for this holy day, the feast of St Hild. …”

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Read the rest of Michael’s sermon here: http://michaelstalks.blogspot.de/2015/11/stirring-us-up-to-sing-sermon- at.html?spref=fb. And +Nicholas recommends also +Stephen Cottrell’s sermon, preached at the ordination as bishop of Anne Hollinghurst, Ric Thorpe and Ruth Worsley at St Paul’s Cathedral on 28 September 2015. +Stephen said “one of the first responsibilities of a bishop is to be an angel, a messenger, an evangelist, the one who endlessly and constantly tells the story of what God has done in Christ… … This is not the time to change. This is the time to be yourself. The Church has recognised in you a gift and a calling. Go on being you, and becoming you, finding the way of being a bishop that is your way, and let God do his stuff in you and through you.” And this surely applies to all of us in our ministries, lay and ordained, not just to bishops. You can find +Stephen’s whole sermon here: http://www.stephencottrell.org/uploads/Anne%20Hollinghurst%20Ric%20Thorpe%2 0Ruth%20Worsley%20%282%29.pdf.

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Living in an apocalyptic world: a sermon for St Margaret’s Day, preached on 15 November 2015 When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs. How does Christ’s apocalyptic prophecy, mediated to us by Mark the evangelist, strike you, I wonder? These are words which may have a particular resonance after the events in Paris on Friday night, the shootings, the fear, the deaths and the uncertainties. But they are words which even before Friday seemed to me to resonate strangely with the current situation of the world. Paris has brought it closer to home, but we are living through a period of considerable uncertainty, or even upheaval. But we are by no means the first to have this kind of experience. Mark is writing at a time when the temple in Jerusalem has been destroyed. He presents the destruction of the temple as a prophecy, but he very probably experienced it: the overturning of the religious and social order as he had known it. Margaret of Scotland, our patron saint, whom we celebrate today, came to Scotland as a refugee, when she and her noble Anglo-Saxon family had to flee England after the Norman Conquest in 1066. Their world was turned upside down. Indeed, Margaret was born in exile as well, when her parents had taken refuge in Hungary. And she came to a Scotland riven by conflict with the kingdom of Northumbria. Or think of the situation a century ago. Yesterday I was at a conference at Glasgow Women’s Library which explored the role of women in the First World War. One of our speakers, Angela K. Smith, quoted Christabel Pankhurst’s words, published on 7 August 1914, just days after the outbreak of the First World War: As I write a dreadful war-cloud seems about to burst and deluge the peoples of Europe with fire, slaughter, ruin.

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A century and a year ago, the world also seemed to be falling apart. Margaret’s world was disintegrating. And Mark’s world too seems shattered, fragmented. … Read the rest of Charlotte’s sermon here: https://cmethuen.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/st-margaret-of-scotland-15- november-2015/.

Forthcoming events:

Anglican Catholic Future Vocations Day December 5, 2015, 10:00 am, cost £10.00 St Matthew, Westminster, London SW1P 2BU Book for these events and more here: http://anglicancatholicfuture.org/events/

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Support for diocesan events: Would you like to organise an event locally but can’t afford to bring a speaker in? Affirming Catholicism can offer grants of up to £500 to help fund your event. Expressions of interest to the Board at [email protected].

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