E Get ready for I D S IN Lent! Our new series begins inside E5 THE SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013 No: 6163 www.churchnewspaper.com PRICE £1.35 1,70j US$2.20 CHURCH OF ENGLAND THE ORIGINAL CHURCH NEWSPAPER ESTABLISHED IN 1828 NEWSPAPER Justin Welby confirmed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury

By Amaris Cole ing to the way of Christ, promote unity, peace and love among Christian people, be a faithful THE RT REV JUSTIN WELBY was confirmed as the 105th witness to Christ and to lead people to make dis- Archbishop of Canterbury in a service at St Paul’s Cathe- ciples of all nations. dral on Monday. The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard During the legal ceremony to confer the role of Arch- Chartres, led the Litany, praying: “For Justin, bishop to him, an oath of allegiance to the Queen was chosen to be our Archbishop, that he may fulfil made and a formal written declaration of assent was given. the duties of his ministry, defend the faith and The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, presided build up the Church in unity and truth.” over the service, giving a sermon and offering his advice. During the official Confirmation of Election Dr Sentamu said: “Archbishop Justin Welby brings many part of the ceremony, Archbishop Justin sat fac- gifts to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. ing the table of Royal Commissioners and Legal “He has my prayers and my support as he assumes this Officials hearing the Proctor present the ‘Let- challenging role in the service of the Church of England ters Patent of Our Sovereign Lady The Queen and of the Anglican Communion worldwide.” issued under the Great Seal of the Realm’. He told the new Archbishop to challenge clergy in their Commentators on Twitter suggested the lay- mission, ensure the Christian voice is heard and ‘provide a out was reminiscent of the BBC television pro- voice for faith that is heard in a developing secularist agen- gramme The Apprentice. da’. The Proctor then presented him with a Peti- After listing his advice, the Archbishop of York conclud- tion, which sets out the details of the vacation of ed: “May God give you the strength to perform them. the See and the steps taken to elect a bishop, “May his grace and blessings be with you at all times.” and he was asked to confirm the election. The Bishops of Norwich, Leicester, Lincoln, Rochester, Though the legal period for objections to the Winchester, Salisbury and London also attended. result of the election was held, as is required, Prayers were heard for both Archbishop Welby and his the Proctor revealed no such complaints were wife and five children, that they might find ‘joy’ in their made about Justin Welby’s selection. new home. The new Archbishop of Canterbury closed Joy was a key theme of Dr Sentamu’s message while the service with the Blessing, which was fol- preaching, drawing on the Old Testament reading by the lowed by the hymn O for a Thousand Tongues Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Tim Dakin, from Ecclesi- to Sing. astes. The Archbishop of Canterbury will now be While admitting the difficulty many people have with the enthroned in a service in Canterbury Cathedral book, the Archbishop said it held important messages for a on 21 March. consumerist society. “In a world where only phones are smart, all too few peo- ple are wise,” he warned. “Life is not to be found in the winners of the X Factor,” he Marriage Week launched in Parliament went on, saying joy is found in simple things that cannot be bought. By Amber Curtis Director of Marriage Week UK, Supporters encourage healthy mar- “We find everything easy except relationships.” Richard Kane, were all in attendance. riages because they believe it bene- Dr Sentamu said: “We can find happiness in solitude but MARRIAGE WEEK was launched Kane commented on the signifi- fits the community around them. we can only find joy in the company of others.” this week in celebration of the institu- cance of couples, by stating: “Mar- CARE, this year’s chair of Marriage He advised the former Bishop of Durham to deepen rela- tion of marriage across the UK. riage is an intoxicating mix of Week, commented: “We believe mar- tionships with new and existing links between the Church At the launch of Marriage Week at excitement and commitment. Mar- riage provides a solid foundation for and other faiths, those in the Communion and the secular the Portcullis House in Westminster, riage chimes with generations before society. It is good to have a week to world. the plans of a 2014 record-breaking us who have mustered the same focus our minds on supporting and The incoming Primate spoke only to swear his oath to year were announced. courage, to make the same promise, celebrating healthy marriages.” the Queen and fulfil the legal requirements of the ceremo- High-profile speakers like in the same way and in so doing bless Last year, some 1.5 million people ny. Baroness Ruth Deech, Communica- each other, any children and the participated worldwide in this annual He swore to fashion his own life and household accord- tions Director Harry Benson, and the wider community.” event.

LETTERS 8 • PETER MULLEN 9 • COMMENT 9 • CLERGY MOVES 12 • ANGLICAN LIFE 13 • SUNDAY 15 • PAUL RICHARDSON 16 2 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 News Inside... Britain’ s leading evangelical newspaper ‘No British religious right’ DESPITE claims to the contrary in the support military intervention overseas. ed both by their budgets and in terms of media, a new report from Theos argues Over half of regular churchgoers in Britain access to power. there is no ‘Religious Right’ in Britain to agreed that the creation of the welfare state Not only are British Christians smaller in compare with the movement in America. was one of their country’s proudest achieve- numbers than their American counterparts, The report, written by Andy Walton, ments. they are also less inclined to say that reli- Andrea Hatcher and Nick Spencer, sug- The report notes that Roman Catholics in gion is a very important influence on their gests a number of reasons why it is mislead- Britain are more inclined to vote Labour political decisions. ing to talk about a US-style Religious Right than other religious groups. Anglicans are The report suggests that the existence of in this country. more inclined to vote for the Conservatives established Churches in England and Scot- Although many evangelical and Roman but the relationship between Anglicanism land has also been a factor in preventing the Catholic Christians in Britain hold conser- and Conservatism is described as ‘not com- emergence of a British Religious Right. vative views on social and moral issues this parable to that between evangelicals and This has helped prevent popular church News ...... 1-7 is not true of their views on economic Republicans in the US’. leaders carrying their congregations with Your Church ...... 2 issues. So while committed Christians are “There is no sign of tight-knit, symbiotic them in a political campaign as has happened UK News ...... 1-5 largely opposed to abortion and same-sex relationship between a right-of-centre politi- in the US. Major evangelical leaders in World News Review ...... 6-7 marriage they also believe that the Govern- cal party and a unified Christian constituen- Britain like the late John Stott have tried not ment should provide a good income for the cy emerging in Britain as it did in the last to align themselves with political parties. Comment unemployed and work to address income quarter of a century in the US.” Although the report argues the idea of a Letters ...... 8 inequality. The report refers to a Channel 4 ‘Dis- Religious Right in Britain is a myth it Leader ...... 9 Christians in Britain are also concerned patches’ programme that alleged a Reli- accepts that some of the trends it has Peter Mullen ...... 9 about such issues as gambling, people traf- gious Right was emerging in Britain and described could change ‘making it impossi- ficking and addiction, which do not have quotes a number of articles expressing sim- ble (and ill-advised) to state that a Religious England on Sunday such a high profile in the US. They are ilar fears in ‘The Guardian’ but suggests Right could never emerge’ but it concludes Bruce Cockburn ...... E1 much less inclined than American evangeli- that even if they wanted to play such a role, that no such development is likely in the Andrew Carey ...... E2 cals to give uncritical support to Israel or the influence of evangelical groups is limit- future. Whispering Gallery ...... E2 Hazel Southam ...... E3 Judy West ...... E3 Lent Challenge ...... E4 Newcastle celebrates new lighting scheme Lent series ...... E5 Arts & Media ...... E6 NEWCASTLE CATHEDRAL celebrated the com- Christopher Dalliston. “The use of Books ...... E7 pletion of its new lighting scheme at a special LED lighting means we will not Janey Lee Grace ...... E8 Candlemas Service on 2 February. Candlemas have to touch any lighting for at Crossword ...... E8 marks the presentation of Christ in the Temple least 20 years.” and is often celebrated with candle-lit proces- Newcastle Cathedral has now The Record sions, a custom that goes back to the Middle completed the first stage of its Jane Austen today ...... 10 Ages when the service lit up the gloom of winter ambitious £2.1m refurbishment Classifieds ...... 11 and symbolised the dawning of the light of Christ programme. The next stage will Clergy Moves ...... 12 in a dark and needy world. include new flooring, seating, toi- Reform ...... 13 Newcastle’s new lighting scheme highlights lets, and the refurbishment of one Anglican Mainstream ...... 13 the architecture of a magnificent medieval build- of the chapels. Fulcrum ...... 14 ing and is the first such scheme to use only low- Bishop Mart in Wharton Spiritual Director ...... 15 energy LED lighting, reducing energy costs and preached at the Candlemas Service Sunday Service ...... 15 carbon footprint by up to 80 per cent. which was attended by the Appeal Peter Brierley ...... 15 “The new lighting is organised in zones that Chairman, former head of the Paul Richardson ...... 16 can be programmed to give different light schemes, dependent MET, Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, Lord Lieutenant of Tyne People ...... 16 upon the time of day, the type of service or the mood we want to and Wear, the Lord Mayor of Newcastle and the High Sheriff as Milestones ...... 16 create, all controlled by an iPad App,” said the Dean, the Very Rev well as clergy from the dioceses of Newcastle and Durh am. News from Your Church your diocese

Hereford: The Heritage Lottery Fund Church Cathedral for the first Ripon and Leeds: Sri their Day of Lament. It is in times of diffi- recently awarded eight churches from the time on 28 March. She is dis- Lanka has been the focus of culty that the bonds of friendship between Diocese of Hereford more than a half a mil- tributing Maundy Money to prayer for church leaders in the partner dioceses of Colombo, Kurana- lion pounds last week. The five churches pensioners from Oxfordshire, Yorkshire this past Sunday. gale and Ripon and Leeds are tested…” from Shropshire are St Michael in Mun- Berkshire, and Bucking- The Bishop of Colombo slow, St Milburga in Stoke St Milborough, hamshire. The act emulates called for a “Day of Lament” Salisbury: One of the four surviving 1215 St Michael and All Angels in Stanton Long, the Last Supper through in protest to what he Magna Carta documents is creating plans St Mary the Virgin in Cleobury Mortimer, Jesus’ teachings of loving thy believed was “the complete for their 800th anniversary. Salisbury and St George’s Church. The three church- neighbour. Annually, a UK collapse of the rule of law.” Cathedral houses the historical document es in Herefordshire are St Mary the Virgin cathedral or abbey will be vis- The Diocese of Ripon and which addresses social justice, liberty, and in Middleton, St Peter at Pipe cum Lyde, ited by the Monarch, who will Leeds was “twinned” with modern democracy. The Cathedral will dis- and St Tysilio in Sellak. The spokesperson reward the elderly for their the Church of Ceylon in Sri play its Magna Carta in the Chapter House. for the Diocese, Anni Holden, remarked: continual service for their community and Lanka. The Rt Rev Dhiloraj Canagasabey Visitors are welcome to relive history “We have once again been very fortunate church. Buckingham Palace is inviting 87 wanted Sri Lanka to “fast, pray, and when the event opens in 2015. Robert Key, in the grants from the Places of Worship men and women each, (the number is in lament.” Sri Lanka’s political situation is chairman, stated: “Salisbury Cathedral is programme at the Heritage Lottery Fund.” line with the Queen’s age) to accept these messy due to the impeachment of Chief extremely proud to own the finest pre- The most generous award of £106,000 went “special coins.” The Dean of Christ Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, which served of the four surviving original 1215 to the church of St Michael in Munslow. Church, the Very Rev Christopher Lewis came after allegations of financial and offi- documents. We know how important the They hope to reroof and repair the tower. commented proudly: “It is great news that cial misconduct. Her dismissal was pro- Magna Carta is to people from across the Many other churches will also fix their Her Majesty is coming to Oxford’s cathe- nounced “unlawful” by the courts. Bishop globe and what it represents for them.” buildings with the funds they have grateful- dral for this profound service. Maundy John Packer asked each church to “keep a They also hope to perform a concert, pro- ly received. The repairs will happen Thursday is the day when we remember moment of silence” in respect for this trag- mote a week-long flower festival, and host a between the next two to three years. Jesus washing his disciples’ feet and shar- ic time. “It will be a great encouragement Medieval Fair. The other surviving docu- ing his last meal with them...” to our brother and sisters in Sri Lanka to ments are at the British Library and Lin- Oxford: The Queen will be visiting Christ know that we are praying with them on coln Cathedral.

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper News Extra Sunday February 10, 2013 www.churchnewspaper.com Backbench rebellion threat to Cameron

MPs have voted in favour of the Coalition Government’s gressive country; it was a country with small-c conserva- plans for equal marriage, but the scale of the backbench tive instincts, gay marriage was, in his opinion, a concept Tory rebellion poses problems for Conservative leader that was consistent with this mentality, because there was David Cameron. now widespread support for it. The House divided in the second reading with 400 in The doctrine of “equal but different” was wrong, favour but 175 against, most of whom were Tory MPs. Ini- because in the past it was used to justify discrimination tial estimates suggest that as many as 150 Tories voted against blacks and against women. against the plans, more than the Tories who voted in Mr Lammy said: “The Jesus I know was born a refugee, favour. illegitimate, with a death warrant on his name, in a barn. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, did not personally He would stand up for minorities. appeal to his backbenchers, but several other frontbench “That is why it is right for those who are of religious con- Ministers did. Their appeals, however, failed to sway the viction to vote for this bill.” vote. The debate now moves to the House of Lords, where Steward Andrew, a gay Conservative MP from Pudsey, the Bishops are certain to add their votes to the dissent. said this would not undermine the institution but Hours of fierce debate preceded today’s vote, with pro- ‘strengthen it, and ultimately create a better community tection for the Church of England mentioned by many for us to live in’. Members of Parliament who stood to speak. Sarah Wollaston, a Conservative for Totnes, asked: “Will David Cameron was frequently criticised even by those your marriage feel any less acceptable because we offer it within his party, for bringing the legislation forward, to other people?” meaning the second reading only had four hours to be Ms Wollaston said: “Homosexuality is not a forbidden thrashed out before the vote. love, and it is time this House recognises that.” In moving the Bill, the Culture Secretary Maria Miller She said if it matters to one person, it should matter to said: “Equal marriage should not come at the cost of free- the Government. dom of faith, nor freedom of faith come at the cost of equal Peter Bone (Conservative, Wellingborough) said he was marriage.” concerned with the ‘democratic deficit’ of the vote, Ms Miller went on to claim the Church of England had though. been fully consulted over the details of the Bill, and had Mr Bone added he did not believe one day was enough asked the current protections for them were upheld. for a Second Reading, particularly with the four-minute But the Labour MP, Stephen McCabe, Birmingham Selly Culture Secretary Maria rule that was imposed. Oak, agreed more protection was needed for faith groups Miller defended the plans for He agreed with some other MPs that an adjournment opposed to holding same-sex marriages. gay marriage in the was needed. Fiona Bruce asked how such protection could be Commons Others stood to say there was no mandate for this. assured for registrars who opposed same-sex marriage, Sir Gerald Howarth quoted Daily Mail statistics, claim- given the recent case of Lillian Ladele who was taken to ing gay marriage was a priority for only one in 14 voters. the European Court of Human Rights for telling employ- • The legislation explicitly stating that it will be illegal for Furthermore, Sir Gerald said the YouGov Poll showed ers she would not be able to conduct same-sex Civil Part- the Church of England and the Church in Wales to marry the issue was particularly low on the agenda of those from nerships. same-sex couples ethnic minorities, ‘the very people this party is trying to “Why should people of good conscience end up in this There were over 10 openly gay MPs who stood to give woo’. position?” she asked. their personal stories, including Mike Freer, Conservative, Bob Stewart agreed, saying while most of the population However, supporters, particularly MPs from Labour and Finchley and Golders Green, who described the day he ‘did not care’, those who did, in his own constituency, were the Liberal Democrats, quoted the protections in the Bill: entered into his Civil Partnership with his partner of 21 those writing to beg him to vote against the Bill. • No religious organisation or individual minister being years ‘the proudest day of his life’. Campaign4Marriage was criticised by speakers, who compelled to marry same-sex couples or to permit this to He urged the House to stop amounting this to mere claimed the movement had threatened those who were happen on their premises, legal protection, asking whether they asked their partner planning to vote in favour of same-sex marriage. • Making it unlawful for religious organisations or their to marry them merely for the legal and financial benefits. The Evangelical Alliance briefing was also quoted, ministers to marry same-sex couples unless their organi- Mr Freer said this was about equality. agreeing that this Bill would be a ‘Pandora’s box’ for legis- sation’s governing body has expressly opted in to provi- Other supporters asked why they should be allowed to lation, by Stewart Jackson MP. sions for doing so, engage in the institution of marriage, but homosexual peo- Ian Paisley stood to give an impassioned speech against • Amending the 2010 Equality Act to ensure no discrimi- ple should be excluded. the Bill, saying it was not about love, which gay people nation claim can be brought against religious organisa- David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, said he could find without the legislation. tions or individual ministers for refusing to marry a was supporting the bill because he was a Christian. He also criticised the current opinion in society that same-sex couple, Although he did not think Britain was necessarily a pro- being a Christian made you homophobic. Campaigners say the fight goes on CHRISTIAN CAMPAIGNERS maintained “It will be extremely important that the this issue. If he truly wants to represent his Conservative voters on the ground”. that the battle against gay marriage will many concerns we and others have party, and the voters who put it into power, And Geoffrey Vero, chairman of Surrey continue as the legislation goes to the expressed will be fully and carefully con- he should have the courage to withdraw Heath Conservative Association, argued: House of Lords, while gay Christians sidered during the next stages of the Bill’s his support for this Bill.” “The relationship between Church and hailed Tuesday’s Commons vote in favour. passage through Parliament.” Commenting on the debate, Paul Tully, State has a long history in Britain. This Bill The Coalition4Marriage said the result But gay Christians welcomed the result. general secretary of the Society for the has the potential to create a rupture in this sent a warning to the Prime Minister. Emma Anthony, a Christian youth worker Protection of Unborn Children, said: “This relationship. MPs on both sides of this Colin Hart, Campaign Director for Coali- in a same-sex relationship, joined one of was a dark day for marriage and the family, issue expressed concern today that the leg- tion for Marriage commented: “The scale the demonstrations outside Parliament. which will suffer severe and long-term islation will have significant constitutional of the opposition against the Government’s Afterwards she said: “It’s a very good day effects if this legislation is eventually ramifications. The ‘quad lock’ is surely only profoundly undemocratic plans is astonish- for equality. For some people, a life-chang- passed. Future generations of children there because legal challenge against reli- ing, and sends a clear message to the ing decision has been made. would suffer as a result. So the fight to gious institutions is a serious possibility”. Prime Minister that he faces a lengthy and “I think there is no possible way that defend real marriage will and must go on. However, Quakers in Britain welcomed damaging battle to redefine marriage.” Jesus would have voted against this bill. We call upon the millions of people who the vote. Recording Clerk Paul Parker said: The Roman Catholic Archbishop Peter We have to do what Jesus would do if Jesus value marriage to continue to lobby parlia- “This is the change in the law we have Smith said: “Despite claims by supporters still had an earthly body.” mentarians to resist the bill.” been seeking since 2009, when Quakers of the Bill that the central issue is one of Andrea Minichiello Williams, chief exec- The newly formed Conservative Grass- decided to recognise same-sex marriages. equality, the Bill actually seeks to re-define utive of Christian Concern, said: “It is a roots group said the result revealed the It is good to see that ministers and MPs marriage and will have consequences for great disappointment that a Conservative- divisions within the party. have listened and voted for equality. society at large. led Government – historically a party that Ed Costelloe, who recently resigned as “We are excited to see this Bill. Three- “It became clear during today’s debate in appreciates the value of tradition – is chairman of Somerton & Frome Conserva- and-a-half years ago Quakers decided that the House of Commons that the govern- responsible for such a needless and reck- tive Association over the gay marriage pro- same-sex couples should be able to marry ment has not thought through a number of less change. posals, commented: “The way this Bill has in a Quaker meeting. Since then we have profound problems in the Bill raised by “Mr Cameron cannot ignore the fact that been rushed through reflects badly on the been waiting for the law to catch up. Today members of Parliament during the debate. at least half of his party are not with him on Party’s leadership and has seriously irked that has come a step closer.”

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper News Sunday February 10, 3012 www.churchnewspaper.com 2 NEWS IN BRIEF App promises Blessings Church canvasses Christian Aid has launched a new mobile app to help people pause and think about their lives and those of others around the world, using stunning photography and thought provoking daily reflec- MPs on gay Bill tions. The free ‘Count Your Bless- BEFORE MPs voted on Tuesday in clergy are under an obligation to nership model’. The authors claim ings’ app aims to be a source of favour of same-sex marriage the marry any qualifying couple living in this is in line with trends that have inspiration throughout the 40 Church of England issued a briefing the parish, special provisions are changed marriage from a rite of pas- days of Lent, with users getting paper that was sent to all members of required if the Church of England is sage into a higher life into ‘a bureau- daily notifications, hear uplifting the House of Commons. to enjoy the same freedom as other cratic stamp with which to endorse stories from Christian Aid projects and take actions in sol- The paper said that the Church did Churches. temporary choices’. idarity with the world’s poorest people. You can choose not doubt the Government’s inten- The paper warns that the Bill as Attacking the withdrawal of soci- options such as giving 10p for every bedroom in your tions in seeking to protect faith organ- drafted may not offer adequate protec- ety’s recognition of traditional mar- house as a reminder of how fortunate we are to have shel- isations from discrimination tion of the religious freedom of Chris- riage, the report says: “Just as people ter and stopping to pray for people living in conflict. challenges but warned that “if the Bill tians who hold that marriage can only are less disposed to assume the bur- Christian Aid’s Head of Communications, Steven proceeds into law it is essential that be between a man and woman. It also dens of high office when society with- Buckley, said: “Lent is a great opportunity to stop and the various ‘locks’ in the Bill are pre- argues that it is far from certain that holds the dignities and privileges think about the many blessings we enjoy and to spare a served as drafted.” the ‘quadruple locks’ will protect the which those offices have previously thought for those less fortunate. Many of us live busy Recognising that there is growing Church of England and those denomi- signified, so too they are less disposed lives and finding time to do this can be difficult. The app acceptance of same-sex relations in nations and faiths that do not wish to to enter real marriages, when society is designed to be easy to use and accessible while on the the wider society and that there is a offer same-sex marriages from legal acknowledges no distinction between go.” diversity of views within the Church of challenge in the domestic and Euro- marriages that deserve the name, and England about such relations, the pean courts but concedes that it is relationships that merely borrow the Duncan Smith chided over comments paper argues that Civil Partnerships unlikely that the Church of England title. on child poverty have proved an important way to will be compelled to conduct same-sex “Gay people want marriage,” the address inequalities and already con- marriages against its will. report argues, “because they want The Children’s Society responded to Work and Pen- fer the same rights as marriage. Individual clergy cannot be left to quite rightly a variant of the social sions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s speech on Child “To apply uniformity of treatment to make their own decisions, the paper endorsement that it signifies; but by Poverty, with Chief Executive Matthew Reed saying: objectively different sorts of relation- argues, because the Church’s doc- admitting gay marriage we deprive “Millions of children up and down this country are liv- ships - as illustrated by the remaining trine that marriage is between one marriage of its social meaning. It ceas- ing in poverty because their families do not have unanswered questions about consum- man and one woman is enshrined in es to be what it has been hitherto, enough money to live on, access to decent housing or mation and adultery – is an unwise Canon Law. This was not the situation namely a union of the sexes and a affordable childcare.” way of promoting LGBT equality.” in the case of divorce and remarriage. blessing conferred by the living on Mr Reed said: “Most of these children are in low- The paper insists that even if not The think tank ResPublica also the unborn.” income working families. We know from our extensive every marriage results in the birth of issued a report on marriage just In its recommendations the report work with families that parents are doing their very children ‘marriage as an institution is before MPs voted. The report, written calls on the State to leave marriage as best. Every day they are making harsh choices between nevertheless directed towards procre- by Roger Scruton and Philip Blond, it is but it urges the Churches to take heating their home, buying school shoes or putting a ation’. accused the Government of changing note of the desire for permanent, lov- hot meal on the table. Stereotyping children and fami- It also claims that the Church of the view of marriage from ‘conjugal ing homosexual relationships to be lies struggling to make ends meet is not the answer. England is given no special protection marriage’, which forms a bond con- recognised by society and to consider “Cuts to housing benefit, council tax benefit and other above other religious organisations. necting individuals who marry to the offering ‘civil unions’ in which same- key support – together with proposals to cap benefit Because Canon Law is part of the law children they hope to create and the sex couples are able to celebrate their increases for the next three years - will plunge even of the land and Church of England society they wish to shape, to a ‘part- new status. more families into poverty. The government needs to take immediate action to end child poverty once and for all.” Bishop: ‘RE seen as a scary nuisance’ Bishops meet to chart A NEW POLL suggests that in the EBacc, but teacher train-
Author Shaun
Church Society’s Togeth- nearly half of those surveyed ing places have nearly halved path on women bishops Lambert has been er4ward campaign has want state schools to be entirely and a spiral of decline seems interviewed about his updated their website, secular but the Bishop of Oxford inevitable. The latest survey A SPECIAL MEETING of the House of Bish- experiences of learn- including their ‘Thank You’ has said Government ministers shows secondary schools not fill- ops on Thursday was expected to give a fresh ing the importance of project to beleaguered regard Religious Education as a ing vacancies and reducing time mandate to a working group set up to advise on silence, stillness & Synod members. Pete ‘scary nuisance’. for RE, and some primary fresh proposals for legislation for women bish- contemplation in liv- Myers, campaign coordina- The YouGov poll was conduct- schools giving responsibility to ops to be brought to General Synod in July. ing life to the full, tor for Together4ward, said: ed on behalf of Prospect maga- teaching assistants. The working group with members of all which you can listen “I am really encouraged by zine and shows 48 per cent “We’ll keep up the pressure as three houses of Synod was set up on 11 and learn how mak- the feedback Together4ward agreeing that the Government I’m sure you will too, but it’s December. The chairman is the Bishop of St ing small, simple has received, and by the should make all schools secular clear that Government has no Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the Rt Rev Nigel changes to our lives positive impact that the with 38 per cent opposed and 14 real interest in RE because they Stock. can reinvigorate ‘Thank You’ project has on per cent saying they did not see it as a scary nuisance, and its At its first meeting on 3 January the group every area of our Synod members who were know. protected status as a guarantee decided to invite a further 15 people from dif- busy lives and com- receiving something of a The poll included other ques- that all is well. It isn’t.” ferent sections of the Church to join them to plex relationships: . rough time.” tions on education and showed Support for Bishop Pritchard’s facilitate discussions. Nominations were overwhelming support for the pessimistic analysis comes from sought from interested groups and direct invi- Bishop launches new book on Government’s return to a tradi- a survey of 2,500 teachers by the tations were also issued to certain individuals. leadership tional teaching of history to National Association of School- A wider-ranging discussion was held 5-6 Feb- include the main events of masters and Union of Women ruary in preparation for the Bishops’ Meeting. The Bishop of Derby, Dr Alastair Redfern, has penned a British history and teaching chil- Teachers. Among respondents If its mandate is renewed, the group hopes new book on leadership, called The Leadership of the Peo- dren to be proud of Britain’s past. 13 per cent reported a decline in soon to circulate a consultation document ple of God, published this week by SPCK. It analyses two The letter of the Rt Rev John provision for RE in their schools enabling all members of Synod to make their Old Testament books to find clues as to how effective Pritchard was addressed to other as a consequence of EBacc. contribution. The group will seek responses by leadership can bring about profound change for the bishops after the Bishop had met Bishop Pritchard said that the the end of February. greater good. with David Laws, the Lib Dem exclusion of RE from the certifi- In a statement Bishop Stock said that ‘the 10 Dr Redfern, who is also a member of the House of schools minister, and was leaked cate had caused a ‘diminution’ of of us who have been appointed to serve on the Lords, looks at political and prophetic leadership and to the Daily Telegraph. the subject in the minds of head working group – four bishops, three clergy and argues that the two complement each another. In his letter Bishop Pritchard teachers and that he feared a three laity – are very conscious of the weight of He explains: “The book examines the leadership of the wrote: “The future of RE is still a ‘general decline’ in the teaching responsibility placed on us’. He asked for people of God through two lenses: the political and major concern. Not only is it not of religion. prayers for the group. prophetic.”

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 4 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 News ‘Leave students out of Bishop: UK ‘must immigration numbers’ THE GOVERNMENT should not count students in immigration statistics, the Bishop of Wakefield has said. Ministers have been coming under increasing pressure to change the way they class students, as universities have warned the Government’s policy to cut net migration to the tens of thou- sands is putting off people from outside the European Union com- remain in the EU’ ing to study in the UK. Bishop Stephen Platten said that Huddersfield University, from which he has an honorary degree, had been crucial in supporting THE EUROPEAN Union still plays Now he was crossing the thresh- sued by the less responsible community cohesion in West Yorkshire, “where there are sub- a role in securing peace on the old with an Englishman. media.” stantial Asian minorities”. continent and the United King- “Early in his speech, the Prime He added: “What should be our “One of the keystones has been the university’s work with over- dom must remain a member to Minister notes ‘today the main hope for Europe? Economic pros- seas students. It has welcomed significant numbers, notably from help secure reform, the Bishop of purpose is not to win peace, but to perity, yes, but not at the expense Asia,” he said. Wakefield has said. secure prosperity’. of the rest of the world. “This has been a two-way process, with the university validating Bishop Stephen Platten’s com- “No one can doubt that, but “Social development, yes, and degrees in east Asia. That interplay has emphasised those values ments came in a House of Lords peace, as we have seen to our hor- the Prime Minister hints at that for which Britain has been famous, including tolerance and good debate on Prime Minister David ror in the past few years, can never throughout his speech. In the government.” Cameron’s speech on Europe in be taken for granted, even in Christian tradition, human flour- He added: “Overall, we have established a remarkable reputa- which he called for major changes apparently stable states, so the ishing and fulfilment are the ulti- tion not only for tolerance but also for offering education to over- followed by a referendum by 2017. European Union still exists to mate vision. We need economic seas students. Bishop Platten told peers: “In secure and sustain a lasting peace, and social progress, but there is “In earlier times, other rather less welcoming nations might March 1990 the European church- without which there can be no one step more. have been less ready to accept people such as Karl Marx and Sig- es gathered in Geneva to celebrate prosperity.” “Let me return to the less respon- mund Freud to their shores. Any number of political leaders the tearing down of the iron cur- He said that the EU’s institu- sible press. Twenty years ago, the across the world have spent part of their university education tain. tions were “beyond middle age – Sun printed one of its celebrated here. “More than that, however, it cel- almost elderly” but that “good mis- headlines — please forgive my lan- “As the British Medical Association pointed out in its recent ebrated the solidarity of the Chris- sionary work always starts from guage in this Chamber, but I repeat briefing, we have also gained enormously from other countries tian churches never recognising within”. it verbatim – ‘Up Yours Delors’. through medics who have trained here and have stayed.” the fracturing of Europe into two He called for an increase in “It was Jacques Delors who And Bishop Platten added: “In a wide-ranging briefing, Profes- post 1945. That stance was vindi- “subsidiarity”, where decisions called for a vision founded on a sor Edward Acton, the vice-chancellor of the University of East cated. are made as locally as possible and soul for Europe. That remains Anglia, pointed to a clamour for the rules on student visa applica- “Later that year, I walked more democracy. essential. The greatest risk is col- tions to be changed. through the Brandenburg Gate There is a feeling that Europe is luding with a referendum process “It is common sense for students to be in a different category with my German friend, Klaus ruled by the unelected, by bureau- that puts us outside the tent. and treated as temporary migrants, so that both they and we can Kremkau. It was the first time that crats,” he said. “Such a characteri- Reform is essential, but we shall benefit from their attendance at our universities. he had walked through it since he sation has been fuelled by achieve it only if we remain inside, “Operating now in a market economy, our universities need to was a young soldier cadet in 1945. Eurosceptics and ruthlessly pur- working for Europe’s soul.” attract overseas students to help to balance the books.” Fighting tax avoidance ‘could help Cathedral investment could be profitable Bishop questions deal with tropical diseases’ A SMALL Government invest- “One serious impact in our area ment in the upkeep of cathedrals of the death of the coal industry tax breaks policy CLAMPING DOWN on tax because people in the local will reap a dramatic reward, the has been a loss of sense of pur- avoidance schemes in devel- community did not under- Bishop of Wakefield has said. pose in so many communities. THE BISHOP of Chester has suggest- oping countries would help stand it and were threatened Bishop Stephen Platten said That undermines what I would ed it would be unfair to bring in tax the fight against tropical dis- by it. spending on cathedrals and the call our corporate self-esteem.” breaks for childcare while “denying” eases, the Bishop of Derby “The article said that it was arts helped to boost the “self- Bishop Platten added: “My mes- it to parents who choose to stay at has said. important, alongside the esteem” of communities. sage to the Government is that home. Bishop Alastair Redfern medical intervention, to “Twelve million people visit our even a minimal increase in fund- The Government is currently con- said the financing for projects enable what it called ‘behav- cathedrals every year. In 2004, a ing for our cathedrals and their sidering various schemes to make to eradicate disease was a ioural change’ and an ‘inte- report showed that English cathe- upkeep, for example, will yield a childcare more affordable and is set “crucial issue”. grated biosocial approach’.” drals alone brought £150 million bonus proportionately way to announce plans shortly. “Much of the wealth that is He said Christian Aid, of into the various local economies,” beyond what any other investment But at question time in the House of created in countries where which he is a trustee, takes a he said in a Lords debate. can offer in these tough times. So, Lords, Bishop Peter Forster asked: these tropical diseases are “community health “That would be £186 million at too, with the arts.” “Would it not be unfair to introduce prevalent is through tax approach”. present-day levels. Visitor num- When he arrived in Wakefield a this tax relief for working parents avoidance schemes and is Giving an example of their bers have increased since then by decade ago there had been scepti- with children taken out of the country to work, he said: “A cross-bor- some 50 per cent, so you can do cism about a regeneration of the while denying where it cannot be taxed to der malaria initiative in Zam- your own calculations on today’s city including an art gallery. But effective tax provide local resources for a bia was launched by figures — I think that it is proba- he said the Hepworth gallery had relief through local response,” he said in the Christian Aid and a number bly about £200 million. attracted more than half a million transferable House of Lords. “We need to of partners in July 2010. “The benefits do not end there, visitors in its first year. allowances to recognise that that is part of “So far, 100 local people of course. Cathedral music thrives “The Hepworth effectively has those parents the picture.” have been identified, here in this country as it does placed the moderately-sized city of who choose to He also called for attempts engaged and trained up to nowhere else in the world. Fur- Wakefield, still recovering from stay at home to deal with the diseases to be work as volunteers to enable thermore, speak to so many of our the death of both the woollen with young chil- embedded in the local cul- this integration of the care outstanding musicians, conduc- industry and coal mining, on the dren and who are currently penalised ture. response and its embedding tors, soloists and instrumentalists map internationally,” he said. through the tax system for doing so?” “Often, there have been in the local community. That and you will find that their musical But he warned that arts organi- Government Treasury spokesman ways of handling these things is the kind of approach that I education began in cathedral sations were “up against it” finan- Lord Newby said the issue raised by for many years, and it is not think we must commend and choirs. With the advent of girls’ cially. Bishop Forster was “one of the prob- easy for western medicine to invest in.” choirs, that is now equally true of “Spending on the arts and on lems” of a tax relief scheme. come in with all its technolo- Bishop Redfern also called women. culture is tiny proportionately to “That is why we are looking at a gy and suddenly change the for vigilance. “There is a “There is one more essential by- our national spending and budget- number of options, some of which are situation,” he said. frightening pattern in a lot of product of arts and culture in ing, but the benefits that it brings tax based and others of which are “In fact, an article in The aid and welfare interventions regeneration. This time it is not in regeneration, economic devel- not,” he said. “I hope very much, how- Lancet in March 2012 provid- that almost get there but some- about finance and economics but, opment and in terms of corporate ever, that the Government will be in a ed evidence of the hostility to how do not quite integrate. instead, about the nurturing of our self-esteem exceed what any of us position to make an announcement on this kind of intervention The problem then returns.” common humanity. might expect,” he said. this very shortly.”

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper News Sunday February 10, 2013 www.churchnewspaper.com 5 Scientists confirm identification of Richard III’s remains By George Conger

SCIENTISTS have identified a skeleton with battle wounds and curvature of the spine unearthed at an archaeological dig in Leicester as the lost remains of Richard III. It is “beyond reasonable doubt the individual exhumed at Grey Friars on 12 September [2012] is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England,” Dr Richard Buckley told a 4 February 2013 press conference. The last of the Plantagenet kings, Richard III (1452- 1485) ruled for two years until his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. After the battle he was interred in Grey Friars Church in Leicester, but the loca- tion of the church and the grave were lost over time. The modern hunt for Richard III’s final resting place began last August, when a team of archaeologists led by Dr Buckley began excavating a Leicester City Council parking lot, the reputed location of the lost church. Last year the University reported that it had “exhumed one fully articulated skeleton” in what was believed to have been the Choir of Grey Friars church. The skeleton “appears to have suffered significant peri-mortem trauma to the skull which appears consistent with, although not certainly caused by, an injury received in battle. A bladed implement appears to have cleaved part of the rear of the skull,” said Richard Taylor, Director of Corporate Affairs at the University at a 12 September 2012 press conference, adding that a “barbed iron arrowhead was found between the vertebrae of the skeleton’s upper back.” The skeleton showed signs of “severe scoliosis – which is a form of spinal curvature. This would have made his right shoulder appear visibly higher than the left shoulder. This is consistent with contemporary accounts of we are to be part of this amazing day. We are delighted Richard’s appearance.” with today’s news. We at the Cathedral and Diocese share Unlike Shakespeare’s Richard III, “the man did not have in the pride of serving such a great city as ours which still tous day for our city and nation. We will now formally the feature sometimes inappropriately known as a ‘hunch- has the capacity to reveal such incredible stories,” Canon begin preparations and plans at Leicester Cathedral for an back’ and did not have a ‘withered arm’,” said Mr Taylor. David Monteith said. interment. At this week’s press conference, University of Leicester “I can confirm that the Cathedral has now received let- “Meanwhile we will be praying that through God’s love, scientists reported that DNA and forensic evidence estab- ters from both the City Council and Leicester University to King Richard III with all the departed may rest in peace lished the skeleton was that of Richard III. Dr Jo Appleby further enact the requirements of the Licence which led to and rise in glory,” he said in a statement posted to the stated the physical evidence was consistent with the his- the exhumation of these human remains. This is a momen- diocesan website. torical accounts of Richard III. The skeleton was of a man aged from his late 20s to late 30s with a slight feminine build and a curved spine. Ten 

 


 


  wounds were inflicted at the time of death or shortly there- -("4234 ,$** "* &,$"$* after. Death was likely caused  "&#-&$('"('"  &" " #$ #& * by one of two sword strokes to * &$'"*#$ $ ""-$$#$ ## ". the base of the skull, she said. &$ (#$ ($"$#-$*$%$  Geneticist Dr Turi King stat-  #"& "* &"&""$"-## %#$ ed that DNA extracted from a #"'" "( ""!&"$      tooth of the skeleton was com- pared to that of Michael Ibsen, $" -#&#$ $ #$%'. a Canadian who is a direct " "*- 0(  * #& * "# $  "*  &" descendent of Richard’s sister "#1-  " #$ "# "    (  ' Anne of York. The DNA # $ &"#  $"  "- *  " # $ sequence of Mr Ibsen and that of the man buried in Gray Fri- #$ $ (" + /$(#$ *-$ &$ ars Church showed they & " * &" "  " * & $ $  #. " "* belonged to the same family, * "#& "- #$%'"#-#*$ Dr King reported. The physi- * &"   "$). cal evidence, DNA results and archaeological evidence all $&#$ "*#-#"'-(""$*- -" pointed to the body being that '"* $  * &- $* ( $ $ ##  "# &$ of Richard, the team conclud-  * &" )$ " &"#.  /$ $  - * ed. ""#'"*$"$* &#$" Sir Peter Soulsby, the mayor $#% # $(#$-$*("$*'$ of Leicester, told the confer- " "* &. ence the remains will be rein- terred in Leicester Cathedral.  "*&"$" "% - “On behalf of the Bishop and Acting Dean of Leicester I # want to say how very thrilled "'#$   

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 6 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 News Change of name for Gibraltar Church offers prayers archdeaconry? THE SYNOD of the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar agreed to push ahead with the suggestion to change the name of the Archdea- after nightclub fire conry from ‘Gibraltar’ to ‘Iberia and Gibraltar’ at a THE NIGHTCLUB fire dental to offer the has been praying for the recent session in Torrevie- that killed 237 young peo- Church’s condolences people and the city there ja, Spain. ple last week has led to an and solidarity “to the pub- since the morning of that The Synod voted to send outpouring of grief in the lic of Santa Maria and to Sunday” fire, the Bishop forward the issue to the southern Brazilian city of seek more information said. Diocesan Synod, with many Santa Maria. about the incident.” Police report that over feeling such a change In the early morning Bishop de Assis 90 per cent of the victims would better reflect the hours of 27 January, a fire “extended his thanks for died of smoke inhalation. geographical reality of the broke out at fresher’s ball the many messages of sol- Colonel Guido Pedroso de Archdeaconry. for new students at the idarity from all of Brazil Melo of the Rio Grande do While maintaining the Federal University of and from Anglican Sul Fire Department, stat- link to Gibraltar, the Dioce- Santa Maria at a local Churches worldwide. The ed that the club’s only san See, it also includes nightclub when a member Cathedral of Santa Maria, exit, the front door, was Spain (including the of one of the bands ignit- located close to the site of locked. “This overcrowd- Balearic and Canary ed a firework while on the tragedy, held a prayer ing made it difficult for Islands), Portugal (includ- stage. The device, later vigil this Sunday,” the people to leave, and ing Madeira), Andorra and determined to have been IEAB reported. according to the informa- Morocco. a signal flare, ignited foam Bishop Miguel Uchoa tion we have, the security The Synod also followed insulation in the ceiling. of Recife told The Church guards trapped the vic- up on the failure of the The Provincial Secre- of England Newspaper the tims inside.” women bishops’ measure, tary of the Episcopal death toll was expected to Last week’s night club voting to affirm that there Anglican Church of Brazil rise as hundreds had fire was Brazil’s most should be fresh proposals (IEAB) the Rev Arthur been injured in the stam- deadly blaze since a cir- at July’s General Synod and Cavalcante, telephoned pede to flee the burning cus fire killed more than that the process on the Ordi- Bishop Francisco de Assis building. “The Diocese of 500 people in Niterói in nation of Women as Bishops of the Diocese Sul Oci- Recife and its churches 1961. should be advanced. New Bishop of Bermuda New Irish Bishop named THE ARCHDEACON of Church of Ireland Theo- as bishop. I am looking Meath and Kildare, the logical College, Bishop- forward to working in a Ven Leslie Stevenson, has elect Stevenson served in rural diocese that I have been elected Bishop of Northern Ireland in the come to know so well and Meath and Kildare at a Diocese of Down & Dro- to the challenges and meeting of the diocesan more until his appointment opportunities which lie electoral college, held at to Portarlington in 1999. ahead as well as making a Christ Church Cathedral In a statement released contribution to civic life. I in Dublin on 28 January. following his election, the also look forward to work- Archdeacon Stevenson bishop–elect said: “I have ing with my fellow bishops (53), the Rector of Portar- served in Meath and Kil- in due course.” lington in Kildare, will suc- dare for over 13 years and The Church of Ireland’s ceed Archbishop Richard enjoyed a very happy House of Bishops must Clarke as bishop, follow- working relationship with affirm the election and at ing his translation to the now Primate of All Ire- that point a date for his Armagh last December. land, Archbishop Clarke. consecration will be set, Educated at the Univer- Now I am about to serve the Church of Ireland sity of Ulster and the the diocese in a new way Press Office said. Help urged following influx of patients DUE TO AN influx of thousands of but God is with us. We can’t do anything patients in South Sudan’s Maban County, by ourselves.” Samaritan’s Purse is asking for immedi- Blackham has seen the tragic condi- ate help. The charity is in desperate need tions these people have suffered, both PENDING CONFIRMATION by the Arch- appointment of Reverend Nicholas Dill as of funds and surgeons at Bunj Hospital, patients and doctors, “Every day around bishop of Canterbury, the Rev Nicholas Dill, the next Bishop of Bermuda.” the only medical centre in Maban. 100 people are being treated, each one of minister of Pembroke Parish, will be the In the pre-election hustings, Mr Dill said The centre recently added a new ward these with a life-changing story, the most next Bishop of Bermuda. that while he had voted against women and operating theatre. significant part of which is the fact they On 2 February the 44-member diocesan being ordained to the priesthood when the While the centre is doing all they can, are now alive and well thanks to Dr Atar synod elected the 49-year-old father-of-six matter was laid before synod, he would not Chris Blackham, Samaritan’s Purse UK’s and his team.” and native Bermudian to be the next bishop undo his predecessor’s decision to allow Head of Programmes and Projects, is He said he is grateful for God handing of the extra-provincial diocese. Mr Dill was women priests. The bishop-elect also said it concerned with aiding all of the patients, them strength to help each victim. elected on the third ballot, receiving a was time for the Anglican Church to move “The hospital is beyond maximum capaci- The charity also provides food, shelter, majority of the 12 clerical and 32 lay votes in beyond its historical position as the church ty every day.” water and healthcare for more than the synod, beating Archdeacon Andrew of the establishment and reach out to the “We work 24 hours a day, seven days a 45,000 people at the Doro refugee camp. Doughty for the post. young and marginalized. week. We are really overwhelmed with Out of a population of more than 200,000, After announcing the results of the elec- He told delegates the model for church the situation,” said Dr Atar, the only full- Maban County has over 110,000 tion, Diocesan Commissary David Cooper growth in Bermuda lay in the “vibrant” time physician in Maban. “We are the refugees. said: “I will now be notifying the office of the Anglican Churches of Africa and Southeast only ones here to help them, and we are Samaritan’s Purse serves as an interna- Archbishop of Canterbury of the result of Asia, and pledged to do his part in helping the only witness for Christ among these tional relief that provides “the love of the election, seeking confirmation of the bring the church into the modern age. people. Here, we do just a little to help, God” for 18 countries.

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper News Sunday February 10, 2013 www.churchnewspaper.com 7 Presiding Bishop compares opponents to ‘terrorists’ By George Conger restricted airspace in South Carolina and Bishop Jefferts Schori also denounced South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence found himself harassed by local officials. what she saw as the arbitrary and capri- told The Church of England Newspaper the PRESIDING BISHOP Katharine Jefferts “I tell you that story because it’s indica- cious usurpation of power by local church Presiding Bishop’s remarks were not likely Schori has denounced her opponents in tive of attitudes we’ve seen here and in leaders stating: “Power assumed by one to help matters. South Carolina as terrorists and murder- many other places. Somebody decides he authority figure alone is often a recipe for “One of the things I said to the Presid- ers, saying those who opposed her view of knows the law, and oversteps whatever abuse, tyranny, and corruption. That’s why ing Bishop when last we spoke is that if church order were “wolves” and false shep- authority he may have to dictate the fate of Jesus challenges us to think about how the she and I could refrain from demonizing herds leading the flock astray. others who may in fact be obeying the law, shepherd acts. The authentic ones don’t one another, regardless of what others The 26 January “outrageous” remarks and often a law for which this local tyrant is sneak over the wall in the dead of night. around us are saying, we might get some- have changed the game in the South Car- not the judge,” she said. They operate transparently, and they work where. olina diocesan fight, her critics charge. “It’s not too far from that kind of attitude cooperatively with the gate-keeper him- “Based on the words and argument of What had been a dispute over property has to citizens’ militias deciding to patrol their self.” her recent sermon for the New TEC Dio- become an ideological war with those who towns or the Mexican border for unwel- Canon Phil Ashey of the American Angli- cese in South Carolina, I guess she wasn’t do not conform now being branded as evil. come visitors. It’s not terribly far from the can Council stated that her remarks were able to do it,” Bishop Lawrence said. Speaking to national Church loyalists at a state of mind evidenced in school shoot- “just over the top,” Canon Ashey said, A spokesman for the Presiding Bishop special convention held 26 January 2013 at ings, or in those who want to arm school adding that her “anger was not in keeping declined to elaborate on the speech stat- Grace Church in Charleston, Bishop Jef- children, or the terrorism that takes oil of any leader of any Christian church.” He ing: “As for the Presiding Bishop’s ser- ferts Schori began her remarks with the workers hostage,” the Presiding Bishop called upon the Presiding Bishop to apolo- mon, she did not identify any group in her story of a glider pilot who had entered said. gize for her remarks. sermon.” Burundi capital Canadian Diocese to be dissolved CANADA’S DIOCESE of Moosonee will A downturn in the mining and paper devastated be dissolved upon the retirement of its industries has hurt the diocese. “Much current bishop, the Rt Rev Thomas of the forest industry has shut down in Corston, and its churches formed into a the area. There’s no pulp and paper THE ANGLICAN the government was mission area of the Ecclesiastical industry anymore,” Bishop Corston told Church in Burundi only able to provide Province of Ontario, the provincial the Anglican Journal in April 2011. reports that a fire has two fire engines to synod learned last year. Bishop Corston, who was elected bish- devastated the central fight the blaze, while a At its 2011 synod meeting in Timmins, op in July 2010, spoke of his sadness at marketplace in the third vehicle was pro- Ontario delegates unanimously adopted the decline of the diocese. Moosonee capital city of Bujum- vided by the UN mis- a resolution directing its officers to “started in 1872 as an indigenous dio- bura. The 27 January sion in the country. begin talks with the Province of Ontario cese through the Hudson’s Bay Compa- conflagration Neighbouring Rwan- to dissolve the diocese and create a mis- ny, and as industries moved into destroyed hundreds da sent a helicopter to sion area to oversee its 26 parishes. northern Ontario, northern Quebec, the of businesses and left carry water from Lake “Nothing will change immediately,” da’s General Synod for final action. The church grew along with them,” he said. an unknown number Tanganyika to the city, Bishop Thomas Corston told the synod. Algoma Anglican reported that “dele- However, the diocese has been in of people dead. but the Church “We are simply preparing a way forward gates from Moosonee gave a heartfelt decline for the past 50 years. When he “In a country rated reported the fire for our diocese when it becomes clear presentation on their ministry and on was a boy in the early 1960s the diocese as the poorest in the burnt out of control that we need to make the jump.” challenges such as distance, the cost of employed 60 full-time clergy. When he world, where inflation “resulting in the loss Delegates to the Ontario provincial living, clergy isolation and low pay. As was ordained in 1975 there were 30 full- is estimated at 9.7 per of hundreds of busi- synod unanimously adopted Canon VII they discerned the best way forward, time clergy, and when he was consecrat- cent, the fire will nesses and liveli- for the provincial bylaws and have one elder summed up the feeling in the ed in 2010 there were only a dozen inevitably have a sig- hoods. A number of passed the recommendation on for for- diocese that they wanted to stay togeth- full-time clergy for the 350,000 square nificant effect on the people lost their lives mal action to the 2013 meeting of Cana- er as a family.” mile diocese, the bishop said. country’s already frag- as they were trying to ile economy. As peo- save or secure their ple are trying to make goods and money a living by selling from the burning mar- Bishop’s fear for Syrian refugees goods and items along ket and from looters.” the roadsides prices The Anglican THE SYRIAN civil war has lence against them. The is our example of how we are also important to “change are steadily increasing Church reports the sparked a refugee crisis International Rescue Com- to live and Our Lord has the archaic attitudes that on basic commodities Red Cross, churches marked by gender violence mittee reports that those specifically told us to ‘look dominate this region of the such as rice and and local community and sexual assaults, the who finally make it into the after orphans and widows in world. Generations of beans, the staple diet groups are working Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt refugee camps are also vic- their distress’. women know nothing more of many. with the government Rev Suheil Dawani reports. timized. “We, as Christians, must than continued suffering. “The tragedy will in “response to the cri- In a 28 January statement “As refugees, women and work to be the bridge of rec- “I have the deepest con- also have an impact on sis. The Province is published by the Anglican girls and boys remain vul- onciliation that can bring cern for all people, women other African coun- currently assessing Communion News Service, nerable to multiple forms of peace, with justice, to the and children, who are in tries, especially the the situation as it Bishop Dawani said the “lat- gender-based violence, and Middle East. In this land, Syria, and in the refugee Democratic Republic unfolds and as needs est news coming out of Syria unfortunately few cases are that all the Abrahamic faiths camps in foreign lands,” the of Congo and Rwanda, become more appar- and the refugee camps is so reported due to the feeling hold holy, we co-exist, living Bishop said. “My prayers are from where fabrics ent.” deeply appalling and tragic.” of shame or fear of retribu- side by side; however, we ongoing for peace, with jus- and food items sold in Details on how The bishop noted that the tion.” cannot be a silent witness to tice and reconciliation, that the market originate,” Anglicans can help are UN estimated that 2.5 mil- The bishop said the “crisis the brutal treatment of we can live in a world of non- the Church wrote on available from the lion people had been dis- requires urgent action.” women and children. The violence, that we can hold its Facebook page. provincial office, the placed by the fighting. “As Christians, not only in ravages of war will leave, are our women and children as Attempts to fight the Church reports, “Many are women and chil- the Middle East, but world- leaving, deep scars that will treasures and treat them fire were sporadic. which can be contact- dren who are fleeing in fear wide, we are called to take generations to heal.” with the respect and dignity The Church reported ed at: [email protected] from the ongoing sexual vio- respond to this crisis. Jesus Bishop Dawani said it was that all humans deserve.”

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 8 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Letters

THE OF CHURCH ENGLANDNEWSPAPER Write to The Church of England Newspaper, 14 Great College Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3RX. or you can send an E-mail to [email protected]. Tweet at @churchnewspaper If you are sending letters by e-mail, please include a street address NB: Letters may be edited

Clear Bible view resolved many years ago, and the solutions The need for a more loving attitude found to answer for the most part; so why Sir, It seems to me that Simon Tillotson Sir, I wish to add my voice to Simon Tillotson’s (Letters, 27 January) in calling for a discard such tradition for the sake of some wants to build a theology of confusion in more respectful and loving attitude in matters of theological and ethical debate, and spurious ‘relevance‘ in so-called ‘modern’ his desire to resolve the problem of particularly on the issues of human sexuality. times? redefining marriage. He may well be ‘work- Like Simon, I find myself torn between my interpretation of certain scriptural texts JM Hughes, ing out his position’, but the Bible’s posi- and the very clear commands to love my neighbour as myself (without qualification), Heaton Mersey, tion is quite clear - look at 1 Corinthians 6:9 to love other disciples as Jesus loves me, and to do unto others as I would be done by. Stockport Simon and you will see that homosexual I am reminded that Jesus’ harshest criticisms were for those who believed they had offenders and thieves (bracketed together everything tied down, and that one of these criticisms was that they laid burdens on here) will not inherit the kingdom of God. others but would not lift a finger to help. Where the Hebrew scriptures see holiness as Yes, of course we must work out a theol- rather fragile, in Jesus it seems far more robust, able to take in association with all ogy of sanctification in regard to relation- sorts. ships with active homosexual people, but At one level, I rather envy those who harbour no doubts. But in conscience, and after with a view to their being washed, sancti- many years of wrestling with the issues, I still find the hermeneutic epitomised in Your Tweets fied and justified in the name of the Lord Steve Chalke’s recent article unconvincing. Yet, like Steve and Simon, I also see in my Jesus Christ (verse 11). gay and lesbian friends clear evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus-centred lives. @leicestercofe And of course, the same goes for thieves One thing is, however, clear to me. Strident proclamation of defined positions is not Significant preparation will now be - love them, hate their sin and pray that the way forward, so please let us create safe space where we can listen to one another made on final resting place at they may be saved. and share both theology and experience without demonising or de-churching others Leicester Cathedral #RichardIII The Rev Peter Ronayne (Retired), who may think differently from us. Via email The Rev Simon Nicholls, @politicshomeuk Markfield, Leicestershire Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley tells Theology @BBCr4today opposition from local Conservative officers “doesn’t strike Sir, The Rev Simon Tillotson’s anguished Accompaniers debate in July’s general Clergy vestments me as newsworthy” correspondence on the issue of the church synod and with its ad hominem attack (sub- and the ‘gay’ community (letters 27 Janu- sequently shown by Surrey police to be Sir, Your correspondent Ian Gregory (3 @MelanieLatest ary) posits the need for a ‘theology of wel- utterly groundless) on the pro-Palestinian February) seems - if I may use a colloquial- Cameroons’ shallow grasp of come’ and a ‘theology of sanctification’. I and anti-Zionist vicar Dr Stephen Sizer. It is ism - to have ‘got his knickers in a twist’ marriage, reducing union generating have found in the New Testament only one to be hoped that the CCJ will become a crit- over the matter of clergy garb. Granted human identity to mere contract, theology that the church should believe ical friend of the pro-Israel lobby in the UK that the ostentatious embellishment and betrays conservatism. and practise which I would like to call a rather than merely its mouthpiece. over-elaboration of such apparel is to be ‘theology of transforming grace’. It is the But Mr Morrow himself goes off-piste discouraged, there is nothing finer in gen- @His_Grace culmination and application of the lengthy when he invokes the straw man of Chris- eral for clergy to wear than a cassock-alb: His Grace is positively sick of Twitter gospel message of Romans that those who tians “glorifying in Jewish powerlessness” easily put on and taken off; or at least a abuse. If you don’t like the tweets, were once ‘slaves to sin’ are now ‘free’. or wishing to push the “illegal Zionist enti- black cassock and surplice. unfollow. If all you’re capable of is Our freedom -- like that of the ancient ty” into the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, I Surely the Rev Gregory is aware of the insult, you’ll be blocked Israelites who were rescued from slavery know of no Christians in the UK who adopt three main functions of such garments: in Egypt -- is to worship/serve the living such positions. The vast majority of us firstly, to indicate to all the social role being @angelasmithmp God who is in covenant relation to those recognise the right of the Jewish people to undertaken by the wearer, and the kinds of why can’t CoE members & others who he has called. We are to respond to his self-determination, all the more so after the behaviour to be expected therefrom (com- accept that #equalmarriage creates grace by presenting every aspect of our obscenity of the Holocaust, so long as this pare the uniform worn by a police officer the freedom for other churches to lives to him in worship. Our service is wor- is not at the expense of another nation’s on duty, and the traditional dress of a choose to marry same-sex couples? ship, and we worship by serving, being equivalent right, as has occurred in Pales- nurse); secondly, to signify the spiritual transformed, by thinking differently. I tine since 1948. authority vested in the wearer (compare a @GodandPolitics think the gay visitor or observer needs There is a growing body of Christians, in police-person’s authority to keep public Sad to hear @thechurchmouse has most of all to be presented with this theolo- the UK and elsewhere, that believes that it order and to arrest offenders, and a nurse’s called it a day. He gave me a lot of gy from the pulpit and observe it being is Israel which must be called to account, authority to dress wounds, give injections, support over the last year and for that believed and practised by the people. even if this runs the risk of our being and a host of other medical tasks); and last- I am truly thankful. Bye Mouse. The central dynamic of our gospel is accused (mischievously) of “delegitimizing ly the mundane matter of ‘cover-up’: just as probably its movement of those who were the Jewish state”. (at a much higher level) Christ’s blood @vickybeeching in slavery to freedom, but Pharoah was Israel is a nuclear power with over- ‘covers’ our sinfulness before God, so prop- Just had a phone-in guest on @lbc973 commanded to ‘let my people go in order whelming military resources and almost er clergy apparel ‘hides’ the person wear- tell me if I “don’t like the fact women that they may worship me’, a worship that unqualified support from the United States, ing it so as not to distract observers from can’t be Bishops” I should “just leave involved every aspect of life. I think that which has systematically denied the Pales- ‘keeping their eyes on Christ’, whose ‘vicar’ the Church”. Classic. solves the apparent theological problem. tinian people their most basic rights for that person purports to be (‘vicar’ from People who are being transformed will over 60 years. The global community has Latin vicarius, meaning ‘substitute’). @DioceseofSheff become welcoming. And the transforma- been complicit in this. The obligation is on It may be worthwhile also to put in a Pray for all those who work with the tion which is discernable will also be attrac- Israel, as the stronger party, to drive the word here concerning the similar threefold homeless as the cold weather tive. There are no short cuts, but there is agenda for peace. Sadly, successive annex- benefits of pulpits, now so out-of-fashion in continues real hope for all no matter where they are ationist Israeli governments have paid lip some churches: firstly, in raising the starting from. Of course, this is a life’s service to peace, and have continued the preacher to a position not only to be seen @deanwestminster work for the whole congregation. occupation and settlement building. To par- (and heard), but also to receive feedback It seems that my account was hacked. David Barnes, aphrase Archbishop Desmond Tutu, it can from the ‘body language’ (especially the Sorry. I’ve changed my P-W. Someone Greenford, Middlesex only be the elephant which removes its eyes!) of the congregation; secondly, to suggested it made more sense than foot from the mouse’s tail. Is it too much to prevent the preacher from wandering what I had written #probablytrue CCJ challenge expect the CCJ and other bodies engaged about, a distracting habit acquired by some in Christian-Jewish dialogue to speak up if given the space to do so; and thirdly to @petespurs Sir, The Rev Patrick Morrow is surely right for the Palestinians, and to strive for a hide at least the lower half of the preach- Another plug for my blog notes on the (3 February 2013) to commend the Coun- peace which gives them dignity and jus- er’s body - especially if wearing such work- CofE and mission in the C21. cil for Christians and Jews for its 70-year tice? a-day garments as crumpled jeans and a bishopofwillesden.blogspot.co.uk ministry of promoting understanding Jeremy Moodey, jersey, compounded by ‘sneakers’ down between Christians and Jews. The CCJ has Chief Executive - Embrace the Middle East below. follow us however been misfiring recently, with its Amersham, Bucks Mr Gregory seems to forget that all of @churchnewspaper on Twitter ill-judged opposition to the Ecumenical these issues were carefully considered and

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper The latest books and

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013 films reviewed: E6,7 Bruce Cockburn’s real calling

By Derek Walker if you can. The Occupy movement is a specific idea.” flawed, but important, attempt to do that.” Despite the quantity of music he has any communities have people The “mouthing off” that he so self-depre- already put out, Small Source of Comfort whose lives encapsulate the values catingly speaks of is the ethical side of his must be among his best collections since Mthat they hold most dearly. The songwriting. that Stealing Fire release. Has he learned Greenbelt Festival has had a few and the “I think you have to suspend any expec- to perfect his trade or is it coincidence? most recent to visit is Canadian singer- tation of an outcome, when you get Naming another of his albums, he called songwriter, Bruce Cockburn. involved in issues of any kind,” he it “Big circumstance, which is what I think His integrity is what most endears him to observed. “My own experience has taught of when I think of coincidence. It just is the festival’s faithful, both artistically and me this over the years: if you go into it what it is, but I’m glad I got the songs I got. spiritually. Driven by faith, he knows how thinking you’re going to see the difference I don’t take it for granted – I never have. to write about justice in a way that con- you make, you’re going to burn out fast. It’s Any album I’ve made could have been the nects, rather than sounding preachy. better to just trust, because eventually, if last one. So I’m just happy if I’m able to He has visited occasionally since the there is enough popular will around a cer- keep going.” early ’80s. I was stewarding at the time and tain issue, it will change – but you may not In his recent music, he seems to have remember his set, particularly for his intri- live to see it. placed less emphasis on his faith, which cate guitar work. Behind the scenes, we Bruce Cockburn “It’s important to do the work anyway, may have something to do with the church- heard that Bono wanted to watch him and because if you don’t keep plugging away at es he has met across the years. would be disguised as a steward. it, everything gets worse. “I don’t feel the same need for a church “He came backstage,” Cockburn wound / Howlin’ the women and children “So for people in the public eye, one of that I once did,” he admitted. ”When I first recalled, as we spoke at this year’s event. who run into the arms of America.” the things we can do is mouth off and be started thinking of myself as a Christian, I “He came in a baseball cap and a parking What arms – welcoming or military? The heard. Where people take that is not really started going to an Anglican church, monitor’s badge. It was fun. They snuck latter is the only way I can read that song in our control.” because it was the church I got married in, him in and were all excited, ‘We snuck and I had to wonder whether that Green- He does occasionally get response from and I liked the priest. That became my Bono into the tent without anybody know- belt night was the root of one of U2’s most listeners. Speaking of the “great blessing” church in Ottawa. ing!’.” iconic tracks. of “touching testimonies” when people tell “But when I left Ottawa at the end of the That Bono should be so keen to see the Cockburn does not know. “We talked him of the effect songs have had on them ’70s, I never found another place where I Canadian says something of Cockburn’s about stuff that we were thinking about – as they grew up, he added dryly: “It always felt as in touch with the Spirit. It began to influence and Bono remains a fan today. which included that – but I wouldn’t know baffles me when I hear young people say feel to me like if I was going to be in touch This year, Canadian TV showed a film whether I had influenced the song or not.” they grew up with my music, because with the Spirit, it didn’t require a particular made during his Slice o’Life tour. As the Central America was just one of many growing up with my parents’ music didn’t place; it was something that’s supposed to film opens, Bono looks at the camera, talk- tours around the globe, visiting ordinary inspire me want to go out and buy a Rex have happened all the time and I’m still in ing the words to Cockburn’s visceral “If I people, often in rural communities. The Harrison record!” pursuit of that. So I kind of drifted away Had a Rocket Launcher”. He ends with the songs written on those travels are highly A bigger delight in his life at the moment from church – although I miss commun- jealous line, “If I had a rocket launcher, he personal and act as a window into the lives is his year-old daughter. Often, as people ion.” wouldn’t have written those songs!” of those affected by the world’s richer get older, they get more easy-going about Unwelcoming churches, making him feel The timing of that backstage meeting nations and corporations. the state of the world. Does he feel that like he did not belong, were much of the intrigued me. Cockburn had been playing Corporate greed is a regular target, but way, or has fresh fatherhood given him a problem. They were particularly insensi- songs from his Stealing Fire album, largely Cockburn is no blind dogmatist on the renewed concern for where we are head- tive to the needs of a travelling musician. “I inspired by visiting Central America when issue. “As corporatism has expanded, ed? would go down on a Sunday morning to the the Sandinista movement was trying to everybody gets caught in the idea that if “I look around at the things that are service. I’d get people looking at me like, rebuild El Salvador. Ideologically unhappy somebody over there has this x, y or z, then going on and think, all you can do is pray ‘What are you doing here, you son of a with their efforts, the American govern- I should be able to have it too. and trust, because there is so much crap bitch?’ Seriously, it was that bad some- ment accused them of being communist “To me the picture is very large and com- headed for the fan. Much of it has already times! and attacked them with military power. plex, but it really comes down to two faces hit, but there’s more coming. What she “Other times, it was more welcoming, “Rocket Launcher” was a direct response of a similar issue, which is: how we treat grows up into, if I want to go there, can be but I never felt that there was a community to what Cockburn saw of such bullying. each other and how we treat the planet. If quite terrifying. What can I do about that? there for me, compared to what I’d experi- The Sandinistas were encouraging educa- we exploit each other, there’s a good Well, I can keep doing the same thing I’ve enced in Ottawa. Partly, that’s just familiari- tion for the poor and supporting real devel- chance that at the same time, we’re also been doing all along, but not much more, ty, but when you’re a traveller, you don’t get opment. To have that crushed by fighter exploiting the planet in a way that’s not because that’s all I know how to do.” to be very familiar with any given place. planes attacking innocent villages enraged healthy. So very often you find the same Mouthing off aside, his current release, For most of my life, home has been base Cockburn to the extent that the song bad guys related to every issue.” Small Source of Comfort, probably has camp, so the idea of being part of a com- exclaims how, had he the firepower, “I’d The same mix of support and wariness more instrumentals than any new album he munity at home is not viable.” make somebody pay!” marks his views on the Occupy movement. has made. I wondered if this was a shift in What keeps him going is the sense of his A couple of years later, when U2 released “I have the same reservations about the his music-making... relationship with God, something in which The Joshua Tree, inspired by visiting Ameri- effectiveness of that movement as I have “Unless I think of really good words!” he he feels no different to any other human. ca, their song “Bullet the Blue Sky” shared about my own mouthing off,” he comment- replied. “It’s too soon to know if it’s a pat- “The real calling that we all have as that territory. Speaking of corruption, mili- ed wryly. “But I think it’s really worthwhile tern to look forward to in the future, but human beings is to make ourselves avail- tary deals and “fighter planes across the to get out there and try. It’s like the Hippo- the older I get, the more songs I’ve written, able to that relationship with God and do mud huts as children sleep,” the song ends cratic Oath: first, don’t hurt anybody, then the more I’ve said what I’ve had to say in whatever that steers us toward.” with the line, “See the sky ripped open / fix them if you can. We should have the words and the more appealing it becomes Then ending with a chuckle, he said, See the rain coming through the gaping same attitude: don’t hurt anybody, but fix it to just play notes that aren’t attached to a “That’s a recipe for anarchy, but so be it!”

ANDREW CAREY E2 • WHISPERING GALLERY E2 • HAZEL SOUTHAM E3 • ARTS E6 • BOOKS E7 • CROSSWORD E8 • JANEY LEE GRACE E8 E2 www.englandonsunday.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Monumental changes to our society After this week’s vote in favour of gay mar- I genuinely do not think that gay and lesbian Andrew Carey: riage nothing will ever surprise me again. It couples can enter into marriage. I realise that has been a matter of only a few years in which they are entering into a legal contract, recog- this monumental change to the definition of nised by the state and erroneously described marriage has been accomplished. as ‘marriage’, but they are being deceived that View from the Pew The opinion polls tell the story of a minority it is actually ‘marriage’. in favour of this unlikely social revolution turn- Now can Maria Miller give assurances that ing to a majority within an incredibly short people like me can continue to deny that the con- space of time. Those of us who hold the tried tract conferred by the state on gay couples as so- and tested view of marriage of millennia could called ‘equal marriage’ is ‘marriage’ at all? never have envisaged becoming a minority in In the past, there has been no dispute at all the blink of an eye. that all first marriages are indeed marriage. Unwelcome rescuer Yet we are a sizeable minority and we are This will not now be the case at all. The redefi- not just going to go away. In an article in The nition of marriage creates apartheid around Times, on Monday, government minister, marriage and division in church and state for a My admission, on Monday’s BBC Five Live Breakfast Show, that I might Maria Miller, argued that those of us who have very long time to come. The tolerance that come to be seen as on the wrong side of history on the issue of gay marriage a practising faith will be unaffected by this Maria Miller talks about cannot last because was regarded as quite a concession by presenter, Nicky Campbell. change. I wonder whether this is true from the the modern mantra of ‘equality’ has to keep It is, after all, a widely held view that history is written by the victors. Fur- very outset. imposing itself and expanding its influence. thermore, I have been consistent in my belief that traditional and Biblical Christians are standing in the way of a cultural juggernaut that will sweep us aside. Our role as Christians in the future will be very different. We will be Where will we draw the line now? seeking to rescue a society that is in ever-greater danger. We rescuers will not always be welcome. When I was in a London swim- In an excellent article in last Equality, he wrote, under- charities and sports teams. ming pool one day, a drowning man was in my path. He was struggling, pan- Saturday’s Telegraph, Charles mines freedom by specialis- And it makes everyone, icking and choking in the water. I glanced around and realised there were no Moore argued that the ing in attacking ways of living except for lawyers, unhappy. lifeguards to be seen and I tried to take hold of this man and steer him to the inevitable trajectory of the that people have developed We are a society of victims side of the pool. Strangely enough, he struggled against me and struck me ‘equality’ doctrine is to destroy for themselves. It undermines with ever-expanding and com- with his flailing arms. But we got to the side of the pool and I helped him out. freedom (‘This equality obses- institutions, effectively nation- petitive grievances. Where on No words were spoken as his friends came over to him. I resumed my sion is mad, bad and very dan- alising businesses, families, earth will we ever draw the lengths. gerous’, 1 February, 2013). schools, clubs, churches, line?

Communicating to those outside the Church More about the Papyrus

ystery surrounds the disappearance of Church Mouse, the popular Religious correspondents around the blogger, from Twitter and Facebook. So far Mouse has offered no world rushed to report a story that a Mexplanation. According to The Guardian, what interests Mouse is papyrus fragment had been discovered how badly people in church relate to people outside the church so the dis- that suggested Jesus might have a wife. It appearance from social networking sites is unexpected. Anyone trying to was left to a New Testament Professor at sign on to the blog is met by a message saying ‘This blog is open to invited Durham to suggest that the fragment readers only’. might be a forgery. The ‘Harvard Theologi- Whatever else his critics might say, no one can accuse Archbishop John cal Review’ was due to publish an article on the fragment by Harvard Divinity Sentamu of being shy to communicate with people outside the church. His School scholar, Karen King, in its January issue. No such article has appeared. column in The Sun failed to appear on Sunday. The newspaper suggested According to Dr King this is to allow further tests to take place on the fragment, that this was the Archbishop’s own decision but a canny hack in the ‘Daily which contains 33 words spread across 14 incomplete lines and is supposed to Telegraph’ pointed out that the Archbishop’s Twitter site implied Sunday’s come from the Coptic text of an unknown Gospel. The Smithsonian Museum column would be appearing. A spokesman for the Archbishop refused to TV channel cancelled a programme on the papyrus in October. Dr King, who comment and slammed the phone down on the Telegraph journalist. With garnered huge publicity when she announced the find at a Conference in Rome 15,000 following him on Twitter, his regular column in Saturday’s ‘Guardian’ in September, says the article will still be published but scepticism is growing. and a hand in ‘Guardian’ editorials Giles Fraser probably gets the prize at Congratulations to Professor Francis Watson who first quickly questioned Dr the moment for communicating with those outside the Church but he will Kilby’s claims. If he is proved right, the interesting question will be who pro- face strong competition from the new Archbishop of Canterbury. duced the forgery that misled the Harvard scholar. The Whispering Gallery Goodbye/Hello Hymn manuscript for sale

The press were there to see ‘Bishop’s Move’ deliver the Welby family pos- A copy in the author’s hand of ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ is to be auctioned at sessions from Durham to Lambeth Palace. According the Evening Standard Bonham’s Sale Room in London on 10 April, where it is expected to raise over it was going to take 12 removal men and four lorries most of the week to £1,000. Sabine Baring-Gould wrote the hymn in 1865 when he was a curate in carry out the operation. What the paper didn’t say was that the bright yellow Yorkshire. He wanted something the children could sing while they walked to lorries were too big to pass through the gate. Meanwhile down under the a school’s Whit Day festival and he scribbled the words down quickly the Bishop of Bendigo, Andrew Curnow, has been paying tribute in a public lec- evening before. For a tune, he borrowed the melody from the slow movement ture to Rowan Williams. Curnow saw Williams regularly at ACC meetings of Hayden’s Symphony No 15. The hymn didn’t really take off until 1871 when but he first met him in Melbourne before he went to Canterbury. The future Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan) set the words to the familiar stir- Archbishop told Curnow he considered there were seven marks of a healthy ring music. Baring-Gould fathered 15 children, published numerous books, community: health, education, housing, public transport, income distribu- including a history of were-wolves and collected English folk songs. A true Vic- tion, leadership and the role of the churches. Interestingly Williams focussed torian, he published the folk songs in a censored form but made sure the on the contribution the churches make to the community when he defeated bawdy originals were preserved. He was a leading light in the early exploration Richard Dawkins last week in a Cambridge Union debate. Bishop Curnow of Dartmoor. How many modern hymns will live as long as ‘Onward Christian has just been made a member of the Order of Australia for his leadership in Soldiers’? ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ comes to mind. Other suggestions welcome. Just the church and services to the community. write to the editor. Sunday February 10, 301o www.england2nsunday.c2m Eo

what you could argue is way more this was a case of the Emperor’s New important – the future of the country. Clothes. But then I reflected on how Government officials may be irked many British churches feel forced to by this and consider that they’ve got close their doors to keep out thieves. themselves another turbulent priest. My mother’s church in rural Hamp- Hazel Southam But they can’t argue with the man: he shire has had repeated trouble from worked in the oil industry for 11 years. someone stealing the donations box He understands business, economics out of the wall. They’re keeping the View from Fleet Street and can do his sums. church open, but people are jittery. Realism suggests that it’ll be just a This means that it’s not so easy to fleeting break from the norm. And walk into your local church for a bit of soon someone will crawl out of the solace as it used to be. So St Peter’s woodwork and say something inflam- CD starts to make sense. And you matory about either women bishops or have to admire this pragmatic gay clergy and we’ll all be off on the approach to taking the church to merry-go-round again. where people are, not expecting them But personally, I’m rather hoping to come to it. The sound of Silence that there will be more of this kind of The Rector, the Rev Canon Dr challenging stuff making the headlines Andrew Mayes told The Brighton row always makes a good story. Just week and wondering how on earth he’s going instead. After all, isn’t that what we’d Argus that, “We live in a very noisy think of Cain and Abel. And for as long to stop the row-a-thon from continuing. like an Archbishop to do – hold a mir- world and this just helps people to slow Aas I can remember, the Church has, per- But he seems to have an acute sense of how ror up to society and say, guys, it down, take a breather and catch up haps inadvertently, been offering up row after to change the conversation, as spin-doctors shouldn’t, needn’t, be like this? Here’s with themselves.” row for the national media. might say, as reported in both The Times and an alternative. Now there’s a plan. Doesn’t that First there was the row over women priests, The Daily Mail. In his farewell address as St Peter’s Church village church in sound attractive? But it’s a sign of the then the Groundhog Day that has been gay Bishop of Durham, Bishop Welby started by East Blatchington, in rural East Sus- times that we are happier to buy a CD clergy, and most recently their offspring, calling the government to account. The future sex, also provided a slightly unlikely of the sound of the inside of a church women bishops and gay marriage. in Britain, he said, is ‘pretty dark’ economical- alternative this week. As reported by than to walk out of our front doors and There’s a depressing familiarity to all of this. ly. The Guardian, the BBC, CNN and De visit our local one instead. It makes you sigh as you write it. There were “We are seeing things we thought had disap- Morgen, the church decided to print a So, as Bishop Welby unpacks his journalists both in shock and in tears at the peared in the Thirties,” he said, “not on 30-minute CD of the restful silence bags at Lambeth Palace, perhaps this vote concerning women bishops at General remotely the same scale, but traces here and inside its four walls. is actually his greatest challenge over Synod. It must be depressing to read too. there. It features half-an-hour of the quiet- the next decade, not women bishops It makes you wonder if anyone in Synod real- “It is a huge challenge. Whether we go into a ness of the church, with the occasional or gay marriage. It’s really quite basic: izes that they’ve shot themselves in the foot so triple-dip [recession] or not, whatever does squeaking of a wooden pew, people getting people walking over the many times that soon walking again will be an happen is going to go on being pretty dark eco- walking around and the sound of pass- threshold of their nearest church, impossibility. nomically.” ing traffic in the distance. It was a sell- viewing it as an obvious place to find So, you have to feel for the incoming Arch- You’ve got to smile at this. In one deft, polite out and more are being produced. inner peace, rather than buying the bishop of Canterbury, Bishop Justin Welby, sideswipe, Welby sets the agenda, turning it When I first heard this on Radio 4’s experience from Amazon. Good luck unpacking his bags at Lambeth Palace this away from the Church’s own internal rows to Today programme, I was convinced with that.

Church Typos Urban Myths Our next song is “Angels In November, 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret Judy West’s We Have Heard Get High.” tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico. On April 18, 1976, guided by pure genius, they tun- nelled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced. Notes, Quotes & Anecdotes The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail. A talking bird Getting the message across?

After his victory over Antony at Actuim, Augustus Caesar came back to Rome in triumph. Among the huge crowd who greeted him was a man who had a bird that he had taught to say, “Hail, Caesar victorious!” Caesar was impressed and bought the bird for a large sum. Then someone got Caesar aside and whispered to him that the man had another bird that was just as talented. The man was summoned and Caesar asked for a demonstration of what the other bird could do. The man demurred, but Caesar insisted. When the bird was produced it said, “Hail, Antony victorious!”

It makes you think… Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev used to tell of a time when there was a wave of petty theft in the Soviet Union. To curtail this the authorities put up guards around the factories. At one timberworks in Leningrad, the guard knew the workers in the factory very well. The first evening, out came Pyotr Petrovich with a wheelbarrow and, on the wheelbarrow, a great bulky sack with a suspicious-looking object inside. “All right, Petrovich,” said the guard, “what have you got there?” “Oh, just sawdust and shavings,” Petrovich replied. “Come on,” the guard said, “I wasn’t born yesterday. Tip it out.” And out came nothing but sawdust and shavings. So he was allowed to His put it all back again and go home. authority on When the same thing happened every night of the week the guard Do you have a funny story, quotable quote earth allows us to became frustrated. Finally, his curiosity overcame his frustration. or sermon illustration? Send them to The dare to go to all the “Petrovich,” he said, “I know you. Tell me what you’re smuggling out Church of England Newspaper, 14 Great nations. His authority in of here, and I’ll let you go.” College Street, London, SW1P 3RX or heaven gives us our only “Wheelbarrows, my friend, “ said Petrovich, “wheelbarrows.” email [email protected] hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice. John Stott E4 www.englandonsunday.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Howard Dobson ‘speed dated’ his way through the Christian denominations to get back to the heart of worship 46 churches in 46 days

hen I knelt to pray at Westminster Abbey on Ash Wednesday in 2011, I Whad no idea how the Very Rev John Hall’s sermon would inspire me. Within 24 hours following a said Eucharist at St Matthew’s, Westminster, my Lent discipline was fully devised. Having drifted into the idea of going to a different church service at a different church throughout Lent, I changed gear, enthusiastically planning my spiritual jour- ney through as many different styles of wor- ship in as many different denominations as I could fit in, thankful for Lent as a peg for it all. You see the Dean had explained that Lent is a time for giving something up, taking something on, and for fasting - the second of the two prompting a once-in-a-lifetime ‘spe- the streets of Seville. cial operation’. For one thing as a writer of To the catalogue of priests used to reciting modern worship music used in churches in Evening Prayer alone, who were suddenly the UK and US, I wanted to get back to the interrupted by a breathless writer and pub- very heart of worship and find new direction lic relations practitioner banging on the by understanding more about what worship church door desperate to join in so as not to actually is. More than that, having no house- miss a day of his Lent discipline, and to the group attached to my local village church in nuns in Cordoba, Spain, who were more Hertfordshire, I was missing that chance to than likely bemused at why an English meet up and talk about God midweek, to the tourist just had to join them for prayers, I extent that I was desperate for a season of apologise. daily worship. It was like speed-dating my way through Over 17 years of churchgoing, I’d devel- everything the Church had to offer, know- oped some real favourites and my CD collec- ing I would never be able to return to most tion was full of inspirational sounds: of the churches on my list, and neither Delirious?, Rebecca St James, the Vine- would I meet again the Anglicans, Catholics, yard’s Cindy Rethmeier and Brian Doerk- Jesuits, Methodists, Baptists, and members sen, Britain’s Chris Eaton and Stuart of the United Reformed Church, Vineyard Menzies Farrant; my favourite worship song and free churches, I met along the way, to of all time is 1997’s At the Cross by Randy whom I am extremely grateful for their hos- and Terry Butler. pitality and fellowship. It was time, though, to get back to basics, What fascinated me at the end of it all was to break the mould, to discover something new about God, which I did by fitting 46 church services into my daily routine Total number of worshipers in the 46 (before work, in a lunchtime or evening), churches: approx 1,300 and into a pre-booked holiday in Spain. Mod- Average congregation: 28 people ern worship songs, by the likes of Matt Red- Total number of hymns/worship man and Chris Tomlin, enjoyed at Hitchin songs: approx 50 Christian Centre and St Albans Vineyard, Times of service: 12 morning, 8 that it was possible to go to church any time of collective worship made up of complemented classic hymns at Westmin- lunchtime, 26 evening day of the week, and what refreshed me chants, worship choruses, hymns, or ster Baptist Church and Taize chants at St Locations: 23 London, 7 Hitchin, 6 was the realisation that it was wonderful whatever you’re into, would be the next Bride’s, Fleet Street; the magnificence of Seville (Spain), 2 St Albans, 2 Stevenage, to worship God daily with real people, just logical progression in the quest for a choral evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral juxta- 2 Pirton (Herts), 1 Bedford, 1 Luton, 1 like the Early Church must have done more-fulfilling worship life. posed the worshipful silence of the Quakers Cordoba (Spain), 1 Great Offley (Herts) back in the days before prayer books and Going to a whole host of different in Hitchin, the beauty of Latin Mass, and the Howard’s songwriting website is at iPods. churches on different days is a recom- brass bands accompanying the traditional www.songsofworship.org Picking up a musical instrument in the mended solution though and is certainly outdoor Semana Santa processions through home, or playing a CD or MP3, for a daily life-changing. Try it.

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If those gaps weren’t there then life would soon die out. So it’s a package deal. We think it’s very easy – here’s the good things, keep these. Here’s the bad things, throw Week 1: The God who hears our cry them away. But in fact, they are mutually entangled.” Prof John Polkinghorne on York Courses’ CD Hawking, Dawkins and God GLIMPSES OF GOD – Hope for today’s world many seriously ill and dying people, almost always conscious that God was more real and present in those There is a BOOKLET and CD to accompany these notes. By Canon David Winter circumstances than in the apparent security of daily life. The CD contains five 14-minute radio-style starters for Suffering isn’t punishment group discussion featuring Baroness Shirley Williams, arly in 2010 a terrible earthquake hit the Caribbean The idea that God actually causes human suffering to Bishop Stephen Cottrell, Rev Prof David Wilkinson and island of Haiti. Over 200,000 people were killed and teach us a lesson was directly contradicted by Jesus. Rev Lucy Winkett. Dr David Hope introduces the course. Emillions made homeless. Where was God when the When faced with a man blind from birth and the question, Booklet: £3.90 (£3.40 each for orders of five or more) earthquake struck? Was he unable to help? A powerless ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born CD: £10.99 (£8.99 each for two or more) God. Did he not care? A heartless God. Or - as many peo- blind?’, Jesus’ answered: ‘Neither this man nor his parents Transcript of CD/audiotape: £4.99 (£3.10 each for two or ple have argued over the centuries - did he actually cause sinned’ (John 9:3). So suffering is not sent by God. It isn’t more) an earthquake in order to punish sin or simply ‘teach us a punishment, nor is it necessarily the result of sin - the TASTER PACK (1 CD, 1 booklet, 1 transcript) £17.65 – lesson’? A cruel and vengeful God. sufferer’s, or anyone else’s. (See also Luke 13:4.) saves £2.23 Strangely, in the event, the people of Haiti themselves Of course some suffering - quite a lot, actually - is the Free 2nd class p&p in the UK; add £2 for 1st class post. didn’t see things in any of those ways. One woman, consequence of sin: war, oppression, torture, murder, Subsidised postage overseas. rescued from beneath a wrecked house after six days cruelty, greed, exploitation ... But much suffering is Buy online and save at www.yorkcourses.co.uk entombed, was heard to say as she was carried out on a simply the result of being human and living on an Credit/debit cards accepted. Tel: 01904 466516. stretcher, ‘Merci, Seigneur, merci!’ - ‘Thank you, Lord, unpredictable planet in a purposefully ‘random’ universe. Cheques with order to: ‘York Courses’, PO Box 343 York thank you!’ But that does not mean that God is indifferent to human YO19 5YB, UK Faith seemed to flourish in that place of suffering, suffering. Far from it. The story of Moses at the Burning Email: [email protected] suggesting that the answer to the question, ‘Where was Bush (Exodus 3:1-4:17) makes this clear. The Israelites, www.yorkcourses.co.uk God when the earthquake struck?’ is: ‘Right there, among including Moses, had suffered for many years as slaves in the collapsing buildings’. As a vicar, I have spent time with Egypt. Doubtless they’d often prayed about their plight to CANON DAVID WINTER was Head of Religious the God of their ancestors. Probably they wondered Broadcasting at the BBC. He is a prolific author and a whether he cared about their situation; perhaps some popular broadcaster, well known from his contributions to even began to doubt his existence. Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. QUOTATIONS from the course CD Eventually, while shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep, Moses ended up near Mount Sinai. He saw a bush that was burning - yet not being consumed. Intrigued, he drew The Rt Hon Professor near, and was then engaged in a mysterious dialogue with QUESTIONS FOR GROUPS SHIRLEY WILLIAMS God himself. BIBLE READING: Exodus 3:1-12 I think prayer is effective in a Yes, God assured him, he had heard the prayers of the way that’s strange … it has a Hebrew slaves. He knew about their suffering. And he 1. To get you started … share with group members a kind of mysterious way of was about to act to rescue them. Good news indeed. ‘So time of great joy in your own life. extraordinarily reaching the come’, God said, ‘I will send you to Pharaoh, and bring the 2. Share a time of suffering in your own life and the person you pray for. And Israelites out of Egypt’ (Exodus 3:10). God was about to impact it made on your faith. You might also consider that’s terribly important. act, and Moses was to be his agent. ‘The cry has come to what impact your faith made on your suffering. me, so I’m sending you.’ 3. Read Exodus 3:10-12. Moses’ prayers resulted in a This wasn’t quite how Moses had seen it! Suddenly the tough decision and a demanding future. On the CD rescue operation involved him. Moses was to confront the [also in the Transcript] Bishop Stephen says that we BISHOP STEPHEN COTTRELL most powerful man in the world and persuade him to shouldn’t pray for anything for which we’re not willing I take the position that release his vast army of Hebrew slaves. God promised he to be God’s agents. Be careful what you pray for! Christians should only use would be with him, but Moses’ role was crucial. God What do you make of this in the light of your own force in very, very limited would accept no excuses - and there were plenty. The last, experience? and certain circumstances, and most pathetic, was simply: ‘O my Lord, please send 4. On track [4] of the CD Shirley Williams speaks where the use of limited and someone else!’ (Exodus 4:13). movingly about praying for those who are ill – and the proportionate force may - or outcome of such prayers. You might discuss her we believe will - prevent an God’s human agents of blessing experience in the light of your own. even greater hurt or harm or This story tells us a lot about the way God relates to our 5. Read Romans 8:28. Many Christians find this Bible catastrophe. needs and their fulfilment. It offers answers to many of verse sustaining in tough times. Does it ‘speak’ to the questions we often ask: Does God know about our you? [Tracks 7-8 on the CD find our participants problems? Does he hear our prayers? Is he actually able grappling with this.] Which Bible verses do you hang The Rev Prof DR DAVID to do anything about them? And what part does he expect on to in tough times? WILKINSON us to play in answering them? 6. David Wilkinson emphasises that “faith is a living I think the times when I’ve What Moses discovered was God’s habitual way of thing. It develops; it changes.” Is this true for you? really struggled with faith meeting needs: no legion of armed angels, no well-timed 7. Read Luke 6:29. Should all Christians be pacifists? have been seeing loved ones earthquake, no blinding flash of divine light. The problem (Tracks 9-10 for Stephen’s and Shirley’s views.) go through the mill. Either was human. Let humans - called, supported and enabled 8. On the CD Shirley Williams describes how she illnesses to children, or by God - provide the answer. God would supply strength, combats ‘compassion fatigue’. As we can’t meet every illnesses to my wife, or vision and guidance. But people would be his agents of plea for help, what policy do you adopt - as individuals illnesses to parents, because blessing. and as a church - towards charities/NGOs and needy as you go through Good wishes and even prayers are not enough if we - individuals? struggle you sense, is God God’s people - decline to be part of the practical answer to 9. Read Luke 13:4. Modern society has to find loving? Is he there? human suffering. The history of the Church is made someone to ‘blame’. What do you make of the rise in splendid with the stories of those who have responded, compensation claims in our ‘litigious society’? In what from St Francis to Mother Teresa – and from countless circumstances (if any) would you sue for The Rev LUCY WINKETT numbers of ‘ordinary’ faithful believers. Sinners yes – but compensation? Jesus, the subject of torture, saints too. 10. Read Mark 9:24. Suffering often brings people cruelty and inhumane nearer to God, rather than driving them away. Has violence, by crying out on the A scientist reflects anyone a personal example to share? (Or ponder this cross taught human beings to “Earthquakes occur because tectonic plates slip from time as a group in a five-minute silence, and discuss what do the same. We are shown to time. If you had a solid crust there wouldn’t be any ‘comes up’.) by this example not to remain slippage; there wouldn’t be any earthquakes. But there We’ve probably heard people say, ‘I don’t know how silent in the face of injustice wouldn’t be life for very long, because the gaps between a good God can let such things happen’. How would and suffering. these plates allow mineral resources to well up from you respond to a friend who said this to you? within the earth and replenish its surface - keep life going. E6 www.englandonsunday.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Questions on the hunt for Osama bin Laden

ero Dark Thirty (cert. 15) depicts far away. In the end, money rather than the long search for Osama bin torture seems to loosen tongues, and light (dir. Robert Zemeckis, cert. 15) might not have the gravitas of a historical story, but it’s ZLaden and the role of one CIA eventually Maya identifies a compound a deeply satisfying study of one man’s battle against substance abuse. Denzel Washington officer, dedicated just to that task. Jes- in Abbottabad, not far from the Pak- Fmay even give Daniel Day-Lewis’s Lincoln a bit of competition for best actor Oscar® as an sica Chastain stars as Maya, whose istani equivalent of West Point, as bin airline pilot whose skill and instinct may have saved lives, but whose drink and drug habits put his only job is to chase clues that might Laden’s lair. career at risk. uncover the whereabouts of the leader Persuading colleagues and the CIA Captain “Whip” Whitaker (Washington) wakes from sleep with flight attendant Katerina of al-Qaeda. director (James Gandolini, miscast) (Nadine Velazquez), and counteracts the There’s ambiguity about whether then the presidential staff that bin effect of alcohol with a snort of cocaine – torture played any part in finding bin Laden really is there is not easy, as then dons his uniform and joins co-pilot Laden. Director Kathryn Bigelow (The Maya every day scrawls on a screen Ken (Brian Geraghty) in the cockpit of his Hurt Locker) seems to think it did but the number of days since she reported airliner to fly from Orlando to Atlanta. argues that her depiction of torture his hideout. It’s a bumpy take-off through a storm, but doesn’t mean endorsement, while The decision to attack is made, and that’s nothing compared to the technical some security experts reckon the false on the night Maya’s involvement is failure that plunges the plane into an uncon- information given by those tortured rather like the Dambusters scene wait- trolled dive. Whip’s outrageous decision to was a distraction from the search. ing for the code word that a dam had turn the plane upside down and fly it to We’re not talking the rack or even been breached (though the code for some sort of open ground to crash land saves him and most of the crew and passen- gers. The tense flight scenes are brilliantly done, but the bulk of the film is about Whip’s behaviour. He wakes in hospital where his union rep Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) is present, then calls for his friend Harling Mays (John Good- man) to bring cigarettes, but refuses an offer of something stronger. There’s a well-done scene in the hospital stairwell of illicit smoking. Whip finds there Nicole (Kelly Reilly), who’s recovering after a heroin overdose, and cancer patient Mark Mellon (Tommy Kane), whose “God gave me cancer” philosophy is one strand of the religious thought that runs through the film. Two of Whip’s crew are practising Christians, and members of a church near the crash site help survivors and hold open-air prayer on the site for days afterwards, though Whip’s reaction to see- ing this is to wonder whose God would allow such devastation. Fate, miracle, and providence are the stuff of that aspect of the film. fingernail-pulling, just “enhanced killing or capturing Bin Laden was, It’s when Whip tries to deal with his addictions, with the help of Nicole until she abandons him interrogation techniques” like water- bizarrely, Geronimo). as beyond help, that Washington’s performance moves into award-winning territory. Suspicious boarding and sleep deprivation. It’s complex in places, but is a decent of union lawyer Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), who buries Whip’s toxicology report on a technicali- The point is that Maya is complicit, attempt at showing events over a long ty, Whip eventually embraces the reality that his future career, and escaping a long jail sentence, when apparently her first day in the time-span. The raid on the compound depend on staying sober for the National Transportation Safety Board hearing. field puts her with agent Dan (Jason itself seems almost in real time, shown There’s incredulity when, after Whip has stayed a few days at Charlie’s home, he’s put in a hotel Clarke) while he’s torturing Ammar as if through night-vision goggles. for the night before the hearing, with accidental access to a minibar full of booze. It leads to anoth- (Reda Kateb) at a CIA “black site”. I suspect a picture of the cinema er visit from Harling Mays, this time with Goodman channelling his role as Walter from The Big Beginning with recordings of people audience at this point might look a bit Lebowski, to provide cocaine to get Whip fit for the hearing. trapped in the Twin Towers, and tak- like the famous photograph from the The simulation of the crash is fairly dramatic in itself, but so is the moment of truth as Whip ing in the July 2005 bombs in London White House as the President and his faces a choice of freedom that depends on destroying the reputation of his dead friend. Some of and the Marriott hotel bomb in Islam- staff watched pictures of the operation the religious aspects may grate – Ken’s wife declaring “Praise Jesus!” rather too easily – but it’s a abad in 2008 (Maya was there) the from an overhead drone – except we classic tale of redemption. context of battling terrorism is never know the outcome. Steve Parish

based on. mented on the sudden rise of the Beatles a ing in money,” and hyping singles. But the real stars are the record shop couple of years later, “We couldn’t It deals with the controversial introduc- DVD REVIEW owners who have seen believe that a gang of boys who tion of CDs to replace vinyl, and tells how the rise, fall and slight re- came into the shop could be so the emergence of Napster, MP3s and birth of that most love- famous.” supermarket competition combined to DVD of the Week: Last Shop Standing able part of the High In just 46 minutes, a succes- force the decline. (Blue Hippo Media) Street. sion of talking torsos takes the There are poignant shots of Keith Hud- Early on, one Liver- viewer through the industry’s son from Chesterfield picking over stock Many music-lovers must have affectionate pudlian shop owner dramatic changes in fortune. In as he closes down his shop, which had last- memories of hours spent in record shops, remembers how nearby the 1980s, there were over ed for over a century, but the film also flicking through covers and sitting in felt- American servicemen 22,000 independent UK record shows signs of hope, with hundreds queu- clad listening booths. requested records by an shops. By 2009, only 269 were ing on Record Store Day. In this independent release, Paul Weller Elvis Presley, whom she left. A DVD should have more content, but it remembers staying in the booths “until took to be a country singer. At breakneck speed, the film is at least guaranteed to feature no filler. As they kicked you out.” He shares the docu- She also recalls how “78s covers the rise of the independ- it looks to the future, it sees a vital role for mentary with fellow musos Norman Cook, were great sellers: buy one, ents in the 1960s, almost segue- the stores as small communities, replete Johnny Marr and Billy Bragg; Radio 6 DJ break one, buy one, break ing straight into punk, before with knowledge. One owner even Jo Good; and industry figures, including one…” celebrating the 1980s, when describes it as a calling. Graham Jones, whose book this film is The same owner com- “record companies were slosh- Derek Walker

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Subscribe to the print The millenial prophets edition for £17.50 Visionary Religion and Radicalism in ten to a new prophet, others continuing to lowers that they had to prepare for the arrival Early Industrial England study Southcott’s prophecies. of the New Jerusalem by their dress and way That’s right, you can Philip Lockley As years went by, Southcott became of life. Instead of being passive, those who OUP, hb, £65.00 famous for a box of prophecies she said could heard the prophet’s words were called to subscribe to the print only be opened by all the bishops of the action. edition and have it sent In his famous book The Church of England after they had studied her John Zion Ward, another Southcottian to you by post every Making of the English writings. A box opened in 1927 was said not prophet, came to actively cooperate with the week for three months Working Class EP Thomp- to be the right one and in the 1960s and 1970s radicals Richard Carlile and the unfrocked for just £17.50. Email son declared that he was a group of Southcottians, the Panacea Society clergyman Robert Taylor during the agitation [email protected] or ‘seeking to rescue even of Bradford, ran a campaign with the slogan that surrounding the first reform bill in 1830. telephone 020 7222 8663 the deluded followers of ‘War, disease, crime and banditry, distress of Ward spoke in radical meeting houses anx- Joanna Southcott from nations and perplexity will increase until the ious to fill their seats but also shared a com- the condescension of pos- Bishops open Joanna Southcott’s box’. mon distaste with the radicals for the terity’. As Philip Lockley Lockley is concerned not with the famous established Church (the bishops were per- points out, there is a good box but with Southcottian prophets who ceived as a major obstacle to reform). Ward deal of condescension in appeared in the movement after her death taught that millennial change would come that comment. and by a change of emphasis from passive gradually and that it was important the South- Thompson was a Marxist who had difficul- waiting for the millennium to a sense that cottians contribute by supporting Shiloh, who ty recognising that religion could make a pos- human beings had a role to play. He dis- Ward believed himself to be. itive contribution to political change. Lockley agrees with the view of another Marxist his- In the end Ward and the radicals parted argues that millennial prophets made more of torian, Eric Hobsbawm, that millenarians had company but another figure influenced by the a contribution to the growth of socialism in to exchange ‘the primitive costume of reli- Southcottians, a Scots theology graduate Britain that has been generally recognised. gious hope’ and don ‘the modern costume of from Glasgow, James Smith, became a signif- His specific focus is on the followers of Joan- Socialist or Communist politics’ if they were icant figure among the followers of Robert na Southcott and on the prophets who took going to achieve economic and social change. Owen and other radical groups. As Lockley over leadership of her followers, the South- In Lockley’s opinion, people like Hobs- concedes, Smith was never a Southcottian cottians, after she died. bawm and Thompson have underestimated prophet but he was deeply influenced by mil- Southcott was a remarkable figure who the capacity of religious beliefs to inspire indi- lennial ideas and was able to relate them to wrote prophecies in rhyme and believed she viduals to work to improve the world. To a socialism. had supernatural powers. She announced large extent, this book proves his thesis. Lockley is not a fluent writer and his book that she was the ‘woman clothed with the Southcott herself was not political. She was is not easy reading. But he draws on archives In addition to the print Sun’ referred to in the Book of Revelation and loyal to George III and remained in some belonging to the Panacea Society not used edition you will also get in 1814, at the age of 64, declared that she sense a member of the Church of England. before and takes theological ideas seriously full access to our would give birth to a new Messiah, Shiloh of Her followers at first continued with her poli- to give a convincing account of Southcottians website at Genesis 49:10. The child failed to appear and cy. Lockley sees change coming first of all after Southcott and of the contribution millen- Southcott died around Christmas time. Some with the prophet John Wroe who later went nialism made to the development of social- www.churchnewspaper.com of her followers fell away disillusioned, but on to propagate British Israelite teaching. In ism. others continued faithful, some ready to lis- Ashton-under-Lyme Wroe persuaded his fol- Paul Richardson

Providence, Piety and Power: vidual responsibility, suffocates the Paul’s Letter to the Romans having Biblical Government and the human spirit. been replaced by the attempt to cen- Modern State Even as I write this review, I have tralise control over every aspect of our echoing in my mind an item on the lives. By John Petley Today Programme. It was about the There are some especially perni- RoperPenberthy Publishing Ltd, disturbing increase in the number of cious effects of this ideological social- pb, £14.99 cases of liver disease. The obligatory ism: “The current policy of the UK ISBN 078 1 903905 75 3 professor of socialised medicine came government has resulted in the absurd- on to say that the causes of this ity of reverse compulsory wealth redis- “I don’t want to increase were mainly being very fat tribution – in other words the poor are abolish govern- and drinking too much. Therefore, she subsidising the rich. Lower income and ment. I simply want said, the government must do some- middle class households are having to to reduce it to the thing about it. Not, you understand, pay a Green surcharge in their already size where I can that you should not drink too much and astronomic energy bills which is paid drag it into the I should not allow myself to become so as a subsidy to wealthy landowners bathroom and fat. who wish to erect wind farms on their drown it in the But, it will be claimed, our Coalition estates.” bathtub.” John Pet- Government is aware of the problem of Petley’s very well informed and high- ley does not agree gargantuan public spending and is ly readable book is no jeremiad. The entirely with doing something about it. But no: fellow sees signs of hope: “It is likely Grover Norquist’s “Sadly, the defeat of New Labour has that Britain will be offered a referen- denunciation, but his sympathies lie in not seen any cut in the deficit. In early dum on membership of the EU within that direction. He makes a persuasive 2012 Britain’s debt topped £1trillion for the next five years, and that the Green case for government on the biblical the first time ever. George Osborne’s Movement will be in its death throes by scale – the sort of scale that obtained in desire to cut the size of Britain’s budg- the end of the decade.” the days of Samuel the Prophet when et deficit as quickly as possible is high- Tell it to the marines, Petley! He fur- income tax (tithing) was at ten pence in ly commendable…. What is less ther envisages that: “It is only a matter the pound. commendable has been his failure to of time before radical reform will fea- Petley urges a return to the biblical do so.” ture prominently on the political agen- model as interpreted by St Augustine’s It is a startling revelation to be told da.” and John Calvin’s vision of “servant that: “The British worker has to work I’m not holding my breath. Rather, I leadership, accountable to the people for the state for over two days each agree with the sentiment that occurs and to God.” We have progressively got week – in other words, over 40 per cent towards the end of this extremely time- into the habit of expecting the state, not of his earnings were taken from him in ly and pertinent book when he speaks merely to defend us from foreign ene- one form or another by the state. This of God’s judgement: “Are we actually mies and keep the peace at home, but was some 10 per cent higher than the already under judgement? Is the big- to do everything for us. Indeed this percentage of GDP devoured by the state legacy of socialism and our sub- was enshrined in the original slogan 1945-51 Attlee government.” servience part of that judgement? Does promoting the NHS, “From the cradle Thus in the name of compassion the Romans 1: 18-32 which talks of God giv- to the grave.” This way of ordering our poor, who pay the bulk of this, are ing a people up sound uncomfortably lives is declared by its supporters to be impoverished and everyone’s individ- like our land today?” enlightened and compassionate, but it ual liberty is curtailed. That is the lega- This is an inspired and courageous saps endeavour, encourages waste and cy of the form of government book. Naught for your comfort, mind laziness and finally, by removing indi- advocated by Deuteronomy and St Peter Mullen E8 www.englandonsunday.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Janey Lee Grace Live Healthy! Live Happy!

Green up your home and office

f you had said the word ‘Recycle’ to a guy in Just by looking after your own health and well- the 1950s he’d have thought it meant getting being by thinking holistically (and sometimes Iback on his bike when he’d fallen off, and yet more simply) we can make ethical choices that the average household and business back then save us money, reduce our carbon footprint and would have left us looking barely lime in the increase our health and wellbeing. ‘green and eco stakes’. There’s lots we can do to simply enhance our insomnia and headaches; they can be highly toxic and contribute to Of course that’s not because they were con- space and reap the benefits of ditching the headaches, insomnia and fatigue. scious eco warriors but rather that there were chemicals and opting for 100 per cent natural Oncologists in breast cancer units now tell women with breast cancer minimal choices; ‘make do and mend’ was the solutions at home and at work. to avoid plug-in air ‘fresheners’ in the home, and in fact statistics show mantra around the home and sustainability and For starters anyone with a desk can enjoy the that women who work from home have a 55 per cent risk of getting can- re-use was just a way of life. benefits of the right houseplants, not just for aes- cer, scary as we all think of our homes as our safe haven. As our personal and national carbon footprints thetic purposes either. The Peace Lily - along Again, it is unlikely we can rebuild an eco home but we can make con- have grown larger most of us know we need to with the humble Spider plant was researched by scious choices in what products we choose for our home and personal opt for sustainable choices in our personal life, NASA scientists and found to remove formalde- care. If you’re wondering what the problem is with a quick squirt of air but I’ve met many a carbon-offsetting Eco war- hyde from the air to a radius of 30 feet. They do freshener, be aware that just the word ‘parfum’ or fragrance on a bottle or rior who falls short with their green credentials say have one plant for each piece of electronic aerosol can mean that up to 200 different synthetic chemicals are con- when it comes to their homes and workspace. equipment though so beware, your office could tained within the product. It is actually very simple to tick the ‘eco’ box start to look like Kew gardens ! For DIY air freshening simply half fill a plastic plant spray bottle with though: we all know about re-using and recy- Forget conventional air fresheners also, and filtered tap water and add a couple of drops of essential oil. Eucalyptus cling paper and packaging, but have you avoid the wall-mounted ones that emit synthetic and tea tree are ‘antibacterial’ while lemon or citronella are zingy and thought about your cleaning and personal care fragrance: it is known that air fresheners in the refreshing; add a drop of vodka or vinegar to preserve or change the products? home contribute to respiratory problems, water regularly.

10 Youngest son of Jacob (8) in God in spite of afflictions that PRIZE CROSSWORD No. 835 by Axe 12 Not acknowledging the God of tested him (3) Christianity and Judaism and 13 The descendants of 10 from Geba Islam (7) 'lived in...Anathoth, --- and Anani- 14 'Your lips drop sweetness as the ah' [Neh/NIV] (3) honeycomb, my -----' [SoS/NIV] 15 Solomon's son under whom the (5) kingdom divided [1 Kgs; 2 Chr] 16 'Peace and ----- to all who follow (8) this rule...' [Gal/NIV] (5) 17 'After he has arisen, his ------will 19 Home to Mary, Martha and be broken up...' [Dan/NIV] (6) Lazarus [John] (7) 18 '...having nothing, and --- possess- 22 Letters to an individual or a ing everything' [2 Cor/NIV] (3) church from an apostle (8) 20 Oldest Christian feast (6) 25 False god introduced to Ahab by 21 'The night is ------over; the day is Jezebel [1 Kgs] (4) almost here' [Rom/NIV] (6) 26 Significant OT peak, in modern- 23 '...cargoes of gold, silver,...every -- day Turkey (Bible); or Iran -- of citron wood...' [Rev/NIV] (4) (Quran) (6) 24 'By this time it was ---- in the day, 27 'Now, Lord, consider their threats so his disciples came to him' and ------your servants to speak [Mark/NIV] (4) your word with great boldness' [Acts/NIV] (6) Solutions to last week’s crossword

Across: 1 Teaches, 5 Gaius, 8 Blossom, 9 Down Linen, 10 Titus, 11 Nearest, 13 Crown of thorns, 15 Ran away, 16 1 Priest, a vicar's assistant (6) Osyth, 18 Necho, 20 Explain, 21 2 Adjective which describes all the Haydn, 22 Ephesus. NT Gospels except John (8) 3 'They were ------to trap him in Down: 1 Tobit, 2 A Lost Coin, 3 Hosts, 4 what he had said there in public' Simon of Cyrene, 5 Goliath, 6 Inn, 7 [Luke/NIV] (6) Sanctus, 12 Early days, 13 Corinth, 4 Home city of Nabal [1 Sam] (4) 14 Newborn, 16 Orpah, 17 Hands, 5 Where Samson died [Judg] (4) 19 Cry. 6 'Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, ------them, a Across 8 David's nephew, killed by Abner [2 desert waste...' [Joel/NIV] (6) 7 17th century English preacher and Sam] (6) 11 OT hero who maintained his faith author of the allegorical novel, 'Pil- 9 Hagiological aura featured in Christian grim's Progress' (6) art (4) The first correct entry drawn will win a book of the Editor’s choice. Send your entry to Crossword Number 835, The Church of England Newspaper, 14 Great College Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3RX by next Friday Name Address Post Code Leader & Comment Sunday February 10, 2013 www.churchnewspaper.com 9 Comment The real lessons of Baptism of fire for our new Archbishop the Arab Spring Justin Welby comes to the throne of Canterbury at an extraordinarily challenging and difficult time, and the first thing to say is that we hold him in our prayers. ‘Can it be that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?’, asked the wise Mordecai of the young and inno- Peter Mullen cent Queen Esther, [Esther 4:14] at a time of great crisis and fear. He has made self-deprecating jokes about his appointment and clearly does appreciate the difficult context of his task, notably the effects of I was looking through the Lent gospel readings, economic decline on the poor and the need for the church to bolster with half an eye on sermon preparation, when I what the state can do. He has also spoken of this problem opening up came across this: new opportunities to help people find the love and forgiveness of Jesus When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he Christ through the presence of the church in its many dimensions. walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding Here is an Archbishop not in the least shy of naming the name of none he saith, I will return unto my house whence I Jesus in the public forum, and facing the world and its challenges came out. And when he cometh he findeth it swept through Him. Here is an Archbishop stressing the Holy Spirit at work and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh to him personally and socially, as was evident at his recent participation in the seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they William Trent Vineyard service earlier this month. This seems to mark him out enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is Wordsworth as open to new possibilities and futures, someone not to be trapped by worse than the first. the formalities of the ancient Church of England, a leader to take the It looks to me like a pretty good description of the shown an astonishing degree of utter naivety. We church to the ‘God-forsaken’ places and bring to them the love of progress of the so-called Arab Spring whose far- really believed that all those bright young Arabs Christ crucified and risen. reaching consequences are now being suffered all with their slogans praising democracy and armed Ecumenically an Archbishop speaking of the experience of the Spirit over Saharan Africa. French troops may have with mobile phones, Twitter and Facebook would will surely help greatly in widening the scope of our currently rather secured an immediate victory over Al Q’aeda in oust the tyrants and usher in a world of sweet rea- constrained ecumenical approach to Christians outside the Roman and Mali. But this victory, following the example of the son, live-and-let-live. It is worth recalling William Orthodox communions, to evangelicals who share our faith but do not initial routing of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, Wordsworth at the outbreak of the French Revolu- find mono-episcopacy a condition of entry to the Kingdom of God. will be illusory. For the terrorists will disappear into tion in 1789: Christians urgently need to act in common, and rarely has there been a the remote regions from where they will emerge Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive: but to be time of greater pressure for Rome and Canterbury to come together in from time to time to fight a guerrilla war and to young was very heaven! defending their freedom of teaching and practice in the face of the wreak carnage and destruction on civilian targets. By 1793 our Willie had changed his tune – or, as growing chill factor of state secularism against Christianity in the edu- Al Q’aeda and other such hideous networks of mass today’s strategic jargon would have it, experienced cational forum. murder, perpetrated in the name of Islam, infest a functional shift in his perceptions – when he Archbishop Welby had prepared his response to the Marriage Bill Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria. These terrorists make beheld, from a safe distance this side of the channel before the Parliamentary debate as holding to the self-evident truth Christian communities their particular victims. of course, the onset of the reign of terror and the that marriage is between a man and a woman, a simple but very neces- Whole congregations are wiped out. Churches are reports of Madame Guillotine being administered sary statement of the social and theological fact. We might add that burned every week. The ambition of course is, fol- throughout France by The Committee for Public partnerships between same-sex couples are a form of friendship, and lowing the example of the 8th century AD, to Safety. The people of Europe lived fearful of the the government is basically confusing these categories in its rela- spread the terror into southern Europe. Alas we do spread of revolutionary terror for the first fifty belling exercise. Unfortunately for Archbishop Welby, the way the gov- not seem to have a Charles Martel to take charge of years of the 19th century. There were spin-off revo- ernment has decided to impose this change, with no real consultation, our defences. lutions right up to 1848. But there had been plenty no time for informed discussion, and a focus only on party political The strength of our enemies has been greatly of idealists, romantics and dupes like Wordsworth image, this issue is going to be a crisis for Christians and for the Estab- increased by reinforcements from Tunisia and back in 1789 who had seen in the storming of the lished Church in relation to an aggressively secular state. With most Libya, moving south from involvement in the cam- bastille the fruition of their Enlightenment supersti- large religious groups against this change, we face the prospect of a paign to remove the dictators in those countries. So tions of freedom and universal rights. Even ‘secular v sacred’ Kulturkampf. We move towards Ash Wednesday and now Italian, French and British citizens are threat- Beethoven celebrated the false dawn in his Eroica Lent, following Jesus into the desert, and pray for Justin Welby. ened by those who formed their temporary and symphony. Like Wordsworth, he too had a change opportunist allies on the ground in the bombing of heart when he saw that Napoleon, to whom he campaign to get rid of Gaddafi. American diplomats had dedicated the Eroica, was a tyrant. have been slaughtered in Benghazi from where all A good rule of thumb – if the terrorists will leave The Church of England Newspaper British nationals have been told by the Foreign you with thumbs – is to notice that whenever you with Celebrate magazine incorporating The Record and Christian Week Office to leave. This order has now been extended exult at the adulating cries of Liberty, Equality, Fra- Published by Religious Intelligence Ltd. to our people in Tripoli. ternity, the next noise you will hear is the rumble of Company Number: 3176742 Egypt is on the brink of catastrophe. The Egypt- the tumbrels. The terrorised and traumatised Euro- Publisher: Keith Young MBE ian rebels who opposed Mubarak are now com- pean people of the 1790s were paying for their plaining that Morsi, his replacement, is every bit as extreme naivety. We are paying for ours now. And bad. And Morsi is the champion of the Muslim there is worse to come from unstable, fanatical Publishing Director & Editor: CM BLAKELY 020 7222 8004 Brotherhood whose aim is the creation of an Islam- Shi’ite Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and Chief Correspondent: The Rev Canon GEORGE CONGER 00 1 0772 332 2604 ic state. Coptic Christians – a community which has from the imminent resurgence of the Taliban in Reporter: AMARIS COLE 020 7222 8700 inhabited and graced the land of the Nile for 2000 Afghanistan – the resurgence that will surely follow years – are under severe persecution. Once protect- quickly on the withdrawal of western forces Advertising: CHRIS TURNER 020 7222 2018 ed by Mubarak, they are now threatened with presently policing that chaotic country. Unbeliev- Advertising & Editorial Assistant: PENNY NAIR PRICE 020 7222 2018 extermination by Islamists more ruthless than ably, the governments of Britain and the United Morsi’s gang. Egyptian secularists and liberals are States have helpfully informed the terrorists of the Subscriptions & Finance: DELIA ROBINSON 020 7222 8663 being put under almost as much duress as the precise date for our withdrawal. This, it is claimed, Graphic Designer: PETER MAY 020 7222 8700 Christians by the enthusiasts for Sharia. will put the responsibility for keeping the terrorists Syria is lord of the flies with heavy weaponry, as subdued in Afghanistan firmly on Afghanistan’s The acceptance of advertising does not necessarily indicate close on 100,000 people have been killed in the civil own armed forces. These, by the way, are the same endorsement. Photographs and other material sent for publication war there. Perhaps we recall vaguely that this con- armed forces, members of which are currently the are submitted at the owner’s risk. The Church of England Newspaper flict was begun by political liberals and idealists most successful murderers of Allied troops there. does not accept responsibility for any material lost or damaged. who sought the overthrow of the tyrant Assad and How much more slaughter will be required Christian Weekly Newspapers Trustees: Robert Leach (020 8224 5696), the institution of democratic government. Like the before the West wakes up to the fact that we are suf- Lord Carey of Clifton, The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, The Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, western forces in Libya, these Syrian secularists fering an uprising of militant Islam on three conti- Dr Elaine Storkey, The Rev Peter Brown, The Rev Cindy Kent are aided by Muslim terrorists, in this case nents? We have our heads in the sand. Well, there is extremely violent Sunni sects and assorted plenty of sand in the Sahara. We have watched as The Church of England Newspaper, Salafists. These jihadists, like their comrades all the tyrants have been put down from their seats but Religious Intelligence Ltd over North Africa and the Middle East, have piggy- their places have not been taken by the humble and 14 Great College Street, London, SW1P 3RX backed on the secular idealistic revolution and its meek. The gospel is ever our contemporary: Editorial e-mail: [email protected] western supporters, biding their time until power Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits Advertising e-mail: [email protected] falls, by default, into their hands. more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell Subscriptions e-mail: [email protected] In all this, Western powers, and going before there; and the last state of that man is worse than the them their cheerleaders in the mass media, have first. Website: www.churchnewspaper.com

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 10 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Feature ‘A WANT OF DELICACY?’

“Their powers of conversation were considerable….” This year sees the 200th Ch. X1. Pride and Prejudice

anniversary of the acclaimed by Christina Evans (Miss) author, Jane Austen, whose In a world of mistru st, lack of integrity, rivalry; today’s greatness abounds best in women re main at a loss. The loss of sisterhood is rife. Are her depictions of feminine we too proud or, prejudiced towards our own gender? Can we not relate well, woman to woman? How do we estimate characters; not least in her ourselves… each other? How should women re late to brilliant novel, ‘Pride and each other… whether married or single? Should we accept Austen’s examples of friendship and sisterhood as Prejudice’. Celebrating her our own paradigm? Do we, as women, ‘love one another’? artistry by this article, one In Pride and Prejudice, Lydia Bennett regales her two elder sisters with the idea that being married, she takes ponders the development of precedence when leading into dinner… feminine character since “… She, (Elizabeth), heard them passing through the hall. She… joined them soon enough to see Ly dia, with Hence cross-generational ribaldry amongst men concern- Austen’s time. anxious parade, walk up to her mother’s right hand, and ing single women … ‘who don’t’. Few people practice hear her say to her eldest sister, ‘Ah! Jane, I take your celibacy these days, appare ntly, if the tabloids are to be place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married believed. Ye t as St Paul encourages, celibacy has its advan- woman.’ tages, particularly for women contemplating the single (Ch. 9 Pride and Prejudice) life. It is not my intention here to examine motives. Indeed The Julia Roberts’ film: Mona Lisa Smile depicted the we are exhorted not to judge either ourselves or each seriousness of the issue of singleness in the 50s: women other, but to trust in God. Yet let us unpack what’s going were (are ?) re garded as having something wrong with on in the above passage and whether the actualities stand them if they re mained single into their 30s. Today’s gener- the test of time. ation encounters almost no help when contemplating what Ly dia; newly married, seeking her mother as a so urce singleness means for the woman who has no desire to of authority, pleads for precedence over her elder sisters, marry; who has n o ‘word from the Lord’ concerning mar- relishing the opportunity to ‘lord it’ over them: riage. Lydia: “… you must go lower… because I am a married Whereas there are many Counselling services for mar- woman.” riage, Counselling for Singleness re mains a rarity. Ly dia asserts her married woman’s social status is Many women encounter the notion of singleness as dis- ‘higher’ than her unmarried sisters: using her mother’s turbing: disorientating in a way few previous generations authority to uphold her cause, enforcing the abdication of have had cause to ponder. Historically, celibacy was hon- her elder daughters’ rights to seniority. Her marriage gave oured, whereas today’s society considers it ‘weird’. Mod- Ly dia new privilege; degrading her single sisters. This ern ‘norms’, concern ing homosexuality and adultery, scenario rings bells at the heart of social infrastructure provide additional burdens, and snare s, for single Chris- even today... though we may congratulate our Royal Fami- tians who perceive singleness as a ‘lack’ instead of a bless- ly that at long last, sibling privileges of seniority extend to ing. the eldest child whether male or female, whether married A complication for modern womankind is the female or single. body was never so publicly scrutinised before. Since Co- Singleness still creates questions for single women who, Co Channel and the shorter hem-line, women’s bodies re aching some plateau in their careers, find themselves have been posed, photographed, ridiculed, re viled, isolated. It is sufficient here, to re fer to cinema, and Brid- ‘changed,’ and generally held to be public property as get Jones’ Diary… When Bridget is ‘in-between’ her rela- never before. tionships with the characters played by Hugh Grant and Grooming contributes to self-confidence: Debates con- Colin Firth, she is urged by her mother and her friends, to cerning norms of dress are inhibited by inter-faith per- ‘get out and about and get rid of her self-pitying hermit- spectives. It becomes easy for the single woman to like existence’. experience estrangement within herself ‘disorientation’. She attends a dinner-party where she encounters a solid Thus, she experiences: front of ‘thirty-something’ couples sprouting offspring; c) Inadequacy. Inadequacy occurs when uncertain how who interrogate her concerning her marriage prospects. to develop one’s prevailing life-style. In this, there is a fur- Bridget re plies drily, with some gusto, “I don’t know why ther disparity: that between the single young woman and there are so many unattached women over 30… perhaps the single mature woman. we spro ut scales all over our bodies, under our clothes…” Christian festivals highlight the single experience. The I venture to suggest here the attitudes exposed in both birthday of the isolated female single may go unnoticed. novel and film, are somewhat similar. Single woman over Mature women become cut off from their University and 25 gradually feel: a) isolated b) disorientated, c) inade- childhood friends. Those suffering the loss of parents may quate. become prematurely ‘middle-aged’: isolated in ways that We may consider each factor in turn: others rare ly encounter prior to re tire ment. a) Obviously, single women are excluded from all fac- All too easily, the isolated mature single woman, is ‘rele- tors pertaining to marriage. Married women have sex gated’; premature ly, into the ‘invisibility’ of over-50s lives. Implication: Married women are obviously ‘loved’. women. Here, I raise the question why mature single They have special celebrations, and re ceive an intimate, as women become socially ‘invisible’? Attitudes of married well as public, privileged status. They are potential moth- people towards single women are historically negative: ers. They are ‘brides’. isolated single women rarely re ceive social invitations. Married women share common experiences together: Married women and single women there fore, encounter Coffee mornings, telephone chats concern ing their new obstacles to re lating on viable levels mutually rewarding, lives; the joys of marriage, new homes, mortgages, deco- and respectful. rating, buying furniture… often unheedingly excluding A few questions to ask may be: ‘Do I have a woman- their single feminine friends. The sister-in-law occupies a friend I can re ally call ‘sister’ in spirit?’ ‘Does another new intimacy… she ‘supplants’ both the natural sister, and woman perceive me as her closest friend?’ ‘Do I make it the single friend. Marriage is the great divide between sin- clear to other women I need them?’ ‘Do I re ally wish to see gle and married people. The actuality of the exclusion for my women friends when they need me? Such Questions single women, is to feel, and often become, isolated. highlight the Lord’s challenge ~ ‘You are my disciples if b) Single women feel ‘disorientated’. Celibacy presents you love one another.’ its own set of challenges. Psychiatrists inform that many Ending the loneliness of many women today will be, I of life’s dilemmas spring appare ntly from sex, or its lack. am sure, an honourable tribute to the challenges Austen Indeed the notion of celibacy is become quaint. Secular presented to us in her writing. In her 200th anniversary opinion is that celibacy frustrates, and is ‘abnormal’… year, they become pertinent points to ponder.

12 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Register

The Rev Kim Swithinbank, Vicar, Muswell Hill St James with St APPOINTMENTS ANGLICAN CYCLE OF PRAYER Matthew (London): to resign with effect from 31 March 2013. Sunday 10 February. Epiphany 6. Transfiguration Sunday Psalm 19: 7-end, Sir. 4: 29 - The Rev Nicholas Wynne-Jones, The Rev Preb Philippa Boardman, 5: 8. Madurai-Ramnad - (South India): The Rt Rev Dr Asirwadham Christopher Asir Vicar, Beckenham Christ Church Vicar, Old Ford St Paul and St Mark (Lon- (Rochester): to retire with effect from 28 don): to be Residentiary Canon, St Paul’s Monday 11 February. Psalm 34: 1-6, Sir. 5: 9-6:1. Mahajanga - (Indian Ocean): The Rt February 2013. Cathedral. Rev Jean Claude Andrianjafimanana The Rev James Duncan Campbell, Vicar, Stevenage St Hugh and St John Tuesday 12 February. Shrove Tuesday. Psalm 82, Sir. 11: 7-13. Maiduguri - (Jos, Nige- CORRECTION Chells; and Rural Dean, Stevenage Dean- ria): The Rt Rev Emmanuel Kana Mani ery (St Albans): to be Vicar, Watford Christ Church (same diocese). Wednesday 13 February. Ash Wednesday. Psalm 19 Jms. 1:1-11. Maine - (I, The Epis- The Rev Robert Yule, The Rev Roderick Cosh, copal Church): The Rt Rev Stephen Lane Assistant Curate, Watford St Peter (St Vicar, Staines (London): to be Assistant Albans): to retire with effect from 1 Febru- Curate, Colnbrook and Datchet and Area Thursday 14 February. Psalm 17:1-11, Job 32. Makamba - (Burundi): The Rt Rev Mar ary 2013. Dean, Burnham and Slough Deanery tin Nyaboho (Oxford). The Rev Canon Angela Dick, Friday 15 February. Psalm 88:11-18, Jms. 1:12-18. Makurdi - (Abuja, Nigeria): The Rt DEATHS Vicar, Sowerby Bridge (Wakefield): to be Rev Nathan Nyitar Inyom also Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordi- nands (same diocese). Saturday 16 February. Psalm 62:1-8, Job 33:1-11. Malaita - (Melanesia): The Rt Rev The Rev John Bellamy Wooldridge The Rev Paul Eddy, Samuel Sahu; Assistant Bishop of Malaita - (Melanesia): The Rt Rev Alfred Hou A retired Minister, living in Nottingham, he Assistant Curate, Grove; and Diocesan died at home on 29 January 2013 aged 85. Missioner (Oxford): is now Priest-in- Deacon, 1956, Priest, 1957. Curate at Nor- Charge, Stanford in the Vale with Goosey Priest-in-Charge (Vicar Designate), Bee- bury from 1956-58 and Curate at Bramcote and Hatford (same diocese). Remaining ston (same diocese). RETIREMENTS & from 1958-60. Rector at Eccleston from Diocesan Missioner. The Rev David Phillips, RESIGNATIONS 1960-66 and then became NW Area Secre- The Rev Peter Ford, Priest-in-Charge, Palermo with Taormina tary for CPAS from 1966-68. He was Priest Priest-in-Charge, Las Palmas (Gran (Sicily, Europe): to be Chaplain, Utrecht Bishop of Liverpool to Retire in Charge at Knutsford from 1968-71 and Canaria Europe): to be Priest-in-Charge, with Zwolle (The Netherlands, Europe). The Rt The Rev James Jones, Vicar there from 1971-79. He then became Oporto (Portugal, Europe). The Rev Rachel Phillips, Bishop of Liverpool (Liverpool); and Bish- Vicar at Great Clacton from 1979-82 and The Rev Anne Gell, Priest-in-Charge, Northaw and Cuffley; op to HM Prisons: to retire with effect from moved to Vicar at Disley from 1982-88. He Vicar, Wrecclesham; and Rural Dean, Farn- and Rural Dean, Cheshunt Deanery (St 18 August 2013. was then Minister at Buxton Proprietary ham Deanery (Guildford): to be also Hon Albans): to be Vicar. Remaining Rural Bishop of Colchester to Retire Chapel from 1988-92 and he retired in Canon, Guildford Cathedral (same dio- Dean. The Rt The Rev Christopher Morgan, 1992. He was given Permission to Officiate cese). The Rev Hannah Reynolds, Bishop of Colchester (Chelmsford): to in both Derby and Southwell & Notting- The Rev Nicholas Henshall, Priest-in-Charge, Hanworth All Saints retire with effect from 31 July 2013. ham from 1992. Vicar, High Harrogate Christ Church (London): is now Priest-in-Charge, Didcot He leaves a wife, Wendy, three grown up (Ripon and Leeds): to be also Acting St Peter (Oxford). The Rev Dr David Attwood, children; David, Jean and Ruth and grand- Archdeacon of Richmond (same diocese). The Rev Simon Rowlands, Rector, Sundridge with Ide Hill and Toys children. The Rev Geoffrey Johnston, Vicar, Bridge (Canterbury): to be Priest-in- Hill (Rochester): has retired with effect The Rev John Quarrell Priest-in-Charge, Nerja and Almuñécar Charge, Faversham; and Assistant Curate, from 31 January 2013. A retired priest, he died peacefully on (Spain, Europe): to be also Area Dean, The Brents and Davington with Oare and The Rev Bruce Bridgewood, December 24 in the QMC Nottingham. His Gibraltar (same diocese). Luddenham; and Assistant Curate, East- Priest-in-Charge, Friern Barnet St Peter le family were with him. John studied at Hull The Rev Richard Lloyd, ling with Ospringe and Stalisfield with Poer (London): to retire with effect from 2 College of Education and then Chichester Assistant Curate, Claygate (Guildford): to Otterden (same diocese). February 2013. Theological College before being ordained be Assistant Curate (Minister in Charge), The Rev Carol Smith, The Rev Canon Hugh Broad, in 1970. After serving in a number of East Molesey (same diocese). Vicar, Moulsham St Luke (Chelmsford): to Priest-in-Charge, Costa Almeria and Costa parishes and as a hospital chaplain in The Rev Canon Barbara Messham, be also Priest-in-Charge, Moulsham St Calida (Spain, Europe): to retire with effect Wakefield Diocese, he moved to become Priest-in-Charge, Deerhurst and Apperley John (same diocese). from 31 March 2013. Rector of Farndon with Thorpe, Hawton with Forthampton, Chaceley, Tredlington, The Rev Dr Alastair Stewart, The Rev John Currie, and Cotham in the Diocese of Southwell in Stoke Orchard and Hardwicke; and Assis- Assistant Curate (Priest Theologian), Sher- Team Vicar, South Chatham Holy Trinity; 1989 and retired in 2009. Please pray too tant Curate, Tewkesbury with Walton borne with Castleton, Lillington and Long- and Diocesan Ecumenical Officer for his wife Maureen, and sons Christo- Cardiff and Twyning (Gloucester): is now burton (Salisbury): is now Team Vicar, (Rochester): to retire with effect from 30 pher and Anthony. also Canon Emeritus, Guildford Cathedral Upton cum Chalvey (Oxford). April 2013. (Guildford). The Rev Sir Philip Watts, The Rev Roderick Jones, The Rev Dr Edmund Newey, NSM (Assistant Curate), Binfield Vicar, Horsell (Guildford): to retire with THE 2013 Vicar, Handsworth St Andrew; and Area (Oxford): to be NSM (Priest-in-Charge), effect from 14 April 2013. BIBLE CHALLENGE Dean, Handsworth Deanery (Birming- Waltham St Lawrence (same diocese). The Rev Gary Piper, ham): to be Residentiary Canon, Cathedral The Rev Paul White, Vicar, Fulham St Matthew (London): to Church of Christ, Oxford (Oxford). Assistant Curate, Appledore with Brook- retire with effect from 7 April 2013. Day 41 Enjoy hearing the scriptures read The Rev Canon Ruth Oates, land and Fairfield, Brenzett with Snargate; The Rev Brian Sharp, aloud in church Vicar, Gravesend St Mary; and Rural Dean, and Assistant Curate, Bethersden with Vicar, Margate St John; and Priest-in- Day 42 Leviticus 13-15, Psalm 35, Mark 8 Gravesend Deanery (Rochester): to be High Halden and Woodchurch (Canter- Charge, Margate All Saints Westbrook Day 43 Leviticus 16-18, Psalm 36, Mark 9 Priest-in-Charge, Ash; and Priest-in- bury): to be Vicar, Hadlow (Rochester). (Canterbury): to retire with effect from 31 Day 44 Leviticus 19-21, Psalm 37:1018, Charge, Ridley (same diocese). The Rev Canon Nicholas Whitehead, July 2013. Mark 10 The Rev Lindsey Pearson, Rector, Shere, Albury and Chilworth The Rev John Smith, Day 45 Leviticus 22-24, Psalm 37: 19-42, NSM (Priest-in-Charge), Swillington; and (Guildford): is now also Rural Dean, Cran- Vicar, Kingsbury St Andrew (London Dio- Mark 11 NSM (Associate Priest), Kippax with Aller- leigh Deanery (same diocese). cese): to retire with effect from 28 Febru- Day 46 Leviticus 25-27, Psalm 38, Mark 12 ton Bywater (Ripon and Leeds): to be ary 2013. Day 47 Catch up, Psalm 39, Mark 13 Obituary: Greta Constance Hague Greta Constance Hague, widow of the late Rev She and Eric left Guilin in 1949, working in Hospital, now the Guilin Women’s and Babies’ Hospital, Eric Hague and dearly loved mother of Bill, Hong Kong until a return to the UK in 1957. and also the 125th anniversary celebrations of the CMS Po John and Philip, mother-in-law of Ros, Anna and After Eric’s incumbencies in Woking, High Yan Hospital, Pakhoi, now the Beihai People’s Hospital, Marilyn, grandmother of Jonathan, Joy, Luke, Wycombe, Little Shelford, and Parr Mount, where her father had first worked in China, particularly Amy, Esme, Bethany and Sophia, and great- St Helen’s, where Greta resumed medical with leprosy patients. grandmother of Olivia, Milla, Joash and Annika, practice for a short time, they retired first to Her life’s passion was to share that Bible-based Christian died aged 95 years, peacefully at home in Hoylake, then to Chipping Norton, to Apple- faith in the living Lord Jesus could be held and maintained Trumpington, Cambridge on December 29 by, and finally to Cambridge, living first in vigorously, even into old age. In her final years, she shared 2012, surrounded by family members, after a Oakington, then Coton, and lastly in Manor a home with John and Anna, continuing her prayer and short illness. Court, Grange Road. China interest groups until her last weeks, as well as an Born of missionary parents in Kunming, In every home her Christian hospitality active international email correspondence. China, she trained in medicine at Cambridge was legendary, and she was a loved friend Gifts in memory of Greta may be made to the Church University and King’s College Hospital, Lon- and confidante of many. She maintained her Mission Society, the Overseas Missionary Fellowship or don, before returning to China as the superin- passion for China and its people, especially the Leprosy Mission, at the service or c/o Co-operative tendent of the CMS Way of Life Hospital, Guilin those with leprosy, returning several times, Funeralcare, 34 James Street, Cambridge, Cam- in 1947. There she met Eric, whom she married in 1948. most recently in 2011 for the Centenary of the Way of Life bridgeshire, CB1 1HX. Anglican Life Sunday February 10, 2013 www.churchnewspaper.com 13 South Sudan’s churches: At the centre of the new nation’s development

Less than two years ago, South we are treating them with Sudan realised a destiny only dreamt respect) is Abua, who farms a of during more than 20 years of civil small plot with her husband on war: independence from Sudan and the outskirts of Juba, South its Islamist government in Khar- Sudan’s capital. Her training toum. Two decades of fighting that has encouraged her to open a ended with a peace agreement in stall in Juba’s main market to 2006 was just the latest conflict in a sell her produce as well as tea turbulent history that has been ongo- and snacks; the loan has ing between the Islamist north and enabled her to expand the Christian south since Sudan became range of what she can sell. Her independent from the UK in 1956. children are small, but she The conflict took a huge toll on the rejoices that she will now be country and its people. In the latest able to educate them when period of civil war, more than two they are older. For Abua, the million people were killed and over local church has helped her four million displaced. Now, howev- and her family develop both er, newly independent South Sudan spiritually and socially. has the ability to become a strong, AID wants to expand its vibrant and prosperous country, with Working in partnership mainly work into other areas in South Sudan. We are also helping the church at its heart. with the Episcopal Church of the the church to grow and develop so it can minister to its The new government is dominated Sudan, AID has been helping those at communities. In March of last year, the Rev Paul Clarke by those who commanded the rebel all levels of society. In just over a year, from St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, spent a week in Juba with 50 army that won South Sudan’s freedom, the Sudan People’s Manna Microfinance, our micro-enterprise development senior pastors, helping them to preach effectively to con- Liberation Army, and is struggling to establish its writ scheme based within Anglican churches in Juba, has gregations that often number in excess of 200. With the across its vast land. Churches, however, reach into every directly helped over 200 people (mainly women) with train- backdrop of civil war, many pastors have received only a community - tiny rural villages as well as large cities - and ing and small loans to improve their small businesses, with basic education and rudimentary theological training. the local pastor is often the de facto community leader. The many more indirectly helped. This scheme is firmly identi- AID sees its future as working in partnership with the church, too, has been present throughout the conflict, fied as a church programme and is currently more suc- church in micro-enterprise development, healthcare, edu- helping and assisting the people of the war-torn region. cessful than any other similar scheme in Juba. Everyone cation and agriculture, as well as in developing pastors and Anglican International Development (AID), a UK-based who benefits from Manna Microfinance through training resourcing churches. We have exciting plans for the com- charity, was formed specifically to work with churches in or small loans in turn improves the lives of others - family ing year, during which we will be launching a community South Sudan, as well as in other developing countries. In members, neighbours, employees - in fundamental ways. health programme in Wau, a city close to the border with its first two years of operation, AID has had a fruitful start This could be a meal for the day, children who can stay in Sudan, and two agricultural programmes in Yei, a fertile that has made a real difference to many people in the school or a roof that no longer leaks. Weekly group meet- area in the south where the potential is vast but resources world’s newest state, as well as one of its poorest. Concur- ings start with a time of prayer and worship before training are few. rently, it has become very clear to those working with AID begins. To find out more about our work and to donate, please how urgent and overwhelming are the needs there. One of our clients (we call them that to emphasise that visit our website at: www.interanglicanaid.org In Praise of Marriage

By David Banting and range of love that a child needs. Chil- ‘for whom we were made’. The marriage of a dren need not only that unique union of male man and a woman is created to image that Trial marriages, sham marriages, equal mar- and female love, but also the distinctive relationship and to enjoy the selfless giving riage, civil marriage, cultural marriages – strength and beauty of their complementari- and receiving of love that Christ and his marriage now seems to come in all shapes ty. Bride share. Marriage is a vocation in which and sizes. So I must be clear. This article is Naturally, this views the marriage relation- the man uniquely reflects Christ’s sacrificial about real marriage. In National Marriage ship at its best. Some would argue that that servant-leadership and the woman equally Week (the two Sundays either side of Valen- will always remain an ideal, and perhaps distinctively the Church’s responsive devo- tine’s Day) I come to praise marriage, not to unattainable for the majority. However, only tion and service. It is in the brilliant comple- redefine it. when marriage is undertaken and aspired to mentarity of their union that they model true It is possible to take marriage at its worst at its highest can it shine and deliver. In sec- love, within the human and divine household or most complicated and conclude that it has ular terms, this is expressed by the absolute- and in witness and blessing to the world. had its day. However, the wrong use of some- ness of the legal declarations and vows. In each generation children need parents thing does not preclude or militate against They still talk of total giving and commit- to model adult life and ‘maturity of love’. its good and proper use. That marriage has ment, of life-long and exclusive loyalty and They need men to be real men: God-ward, been tried or thought hard or wanting is no sharing, and of the realism of ‘for better for loving, servant-hearted, adventurous, not argument for its abandonment or change. worse’. It is only through the total commit- abrogating their maturity or responsibility. For all its history this country has received ment of two who are equal and opposite that They need women to be real women: deep marriage as the unique and distinctive union something more than simply the sum of the and confident, richly creative and nurturing between one man and one woman for life. parts can be created. of others, not pretending or trying to be This has been its ancient legal definition. In more explicit Christian terms, this ideal men. Vive la difference, and I might add vive Marriage has been understood and experi- is referenced to the love of God and the Spir- l’union. This understanding of love is pro- enced in this way socially, culturally and spir- it of God and the truth that without them foundly Christian, but it is not religious. It is itually for aeons and for good reasons in our such love may prove elusive. In their equal, for all and for all ages. Marriage is marriage country. However, in the face of many novel but different ways husbands and wives are is marriage. It does not need alternatives or and essentially individualist alternatives or to aspire to the love of God in Christ, but redefining. Real marriage calls people to adaptations, it is time to stand up for real equally to recognise that, more than just the lose themselves and aspire to real love. In a marriage and champion it afresh for the example, they need the in-Spiration of God world that has lost confidence or even sight blessing and flourishing of society. truly to love. of such love, real marriage needs champions Marriage creates an inimitable partner- It was the wedding of Prince William and and a campaign of celebration. ship or synergy between equal and opposite. Kate where we heard that ‘Holy Matrimony It is this communion of man and woman that signifies the mystical union that is betwixt expresses the richest dynamic of human Christ and his Church’. Behind all relation- David Banting is Vicar of St Peter’s, Harold love. It also generates the necessary depth ships lies the primal relationship with God Wood, General Synod, Trustee of Reform 14 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday February 10, 2013 Feature Women Bishops: Church in all its Fullness By Stephen Kuhrt difference that its members were now the overall biblical theology supporting under no illusion as to the significance of the full ministry of women. Once again too For those of us in support of the full the legislation for women bishops being much of the discussion has taken place on ministry of women, 11 November 1992 will passed. Whilst ‘proper provision for the ground chosen by opponents of always be a day that we look back upon opponents’ was presented as the issue, the women bishops. with affection. A handful of members of debate in reality centred upon the Convincing responses can and have the House of Laity in General Synod determination of these opponents to been made on why 1 Timothy 2 and 1 changing their minds at the last minute prevent women bishops being established Corinthians 14 do not prohibit women’s was enough to allow the clear will of the in a way that will transform the church. full ministry (not least in Ian Paul’s recent Church to be reflected by the body elected Unlike 1992, no conservatives were going and excellent Grove book Women and to represent them as the legislation was to switch sides for pragmatic reasons Authority: The Key Biblical Texts Biblical passed allowing women to be ordained as because, this time, they knew that too Series, No 59). But what is now required is priests. Those who changed their mind much of what they wanted to preserve was that its opponents were concerned about. a firmer grasp by those in favour of the may have had little sense of the at stake. This meant that women bishops was rich and overwhelming biblical theology developments to which they were opening But the question for the supporters of presented far too much as ‘a problem to be in the context of which the proper the door. But the result has been 20 years women’s full ministry is what happens solved’ rather than a wonderful interpretation of these texts should take its of immensely fruitful ministry by women now? What lessons need to be learnt from opportunity for the church to move place. clergy for which many of us are utterly 20 November 2012 and its run up? And forward to greater fullness and Third, careful consideration and grateful. what is now the best way forward for enrichment. discussion is now needed of the various But 20 November 2012 is, by contrast, those of us still strongly in favour of From this basis, it was not surprising options in regard to the future legislation viewed by those of us who support the full women bishops? that opponents were unable to see that the to go before General Synod. Many of us ministry of women with varying degrees One major lesson is that the positive ‘safeguards’ they sought would have fatally now see a single clause Measure as the of frustration, disappointment and anger. value of women’s ministry needs to be impaired the proper ministry of women only option and are ready to hold out for Once again it was an unrepresentative spelt out a great deal more. Too much of bishops. Even those in favour of women that. But there are others who believe that House of Laity within General Synod that the discussion around the time of the bishops were rather too reluctant to there are alternative options to be held the key but with the crucial Synod vote was centred upon the issues express that this was a development that explored that can equally guarantee that they believed would turn the church the authority of women bishops is not completely upside down. But this now impossibly compromised. These options needs saying and clearly enough to be need to be carefully weighed up and heard. discussed so that those in favour of Those of us in favour of women women bishops can act in a decisive and bishops are so because we are united manner. determined to see the church becoming It is for these reasons that Fulcrum and far more faithful to the Bible and far ‘Yes2WomenBishops’ are jointly more relevant in its mission and organising a conference on Women ministry. The full ministry of women, is, Bishops on Saturday 16 March at Christ in our opinion, completely critical to Church, New Malden, running from this transformation taking place and 10.00am–3.00pm. Its subtitle is ‘Church in whilst opponents will obviously all its Fullness’ representing our disagree with this, they must conviction about the huge significance that understand this as the reason why it is we attach to this issue. The points impossible for us to agree with many of presented above will form its basis. The the restrictions that they want imposed conference is for all those in favour of upon women bishops. women bishops from whatever tradition Second, more needs to be done to and intended to help map out how we can give those in favour of women bishops a work together to bring about this vital greater depth of confidence in the development for the church as soon as weighty theological grounds for this. possible. Whilst the ‘biblical case’ against women bishops is overwhelmingly reliant upon Stephen Kuhrt is Vicar of Christ Church, the deployment of two New Testament New Malden and Chair of Fulcrum proof texts, it has nothing to compare to

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One of the many things I enjoy about David taste of the great heavenly banquet that is Attenborough’s Africa programme is the in store for God’s people while the chang- sheer abundance of so many species that THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR ing of water into wine is a sign of the trans- are featured. Whether it is baby turtles or forming effect that Jesus can have on our pink flamingoes, the numbers are over- lives. Shortly Jesus would be talking to a whelming. Nature is extravagant. Some of By the Rev Dr Liz Hoare woman about the living water that he that of course is because one species is vul- offered and the difference it makes. The nerable to many predators and we are sheer quantity of wine suggests the full- under no illusions that in some species extravagantly available to all who are will- at first to demonstrate his power, but his ness of life that he was referring to in ch very few will survive. Nevertheless, the ing to receive it. Abundant life. What does mother tells the servants to do whatever he 10. Have we grasped the abundance that is abundance we see in nature is a character- it look like? Well, in chapter 2 John shows tells them. We are told about the jars and freely ours because of Jesus? We can so istic that we also see in the Creator in other us in the wedding at Cana, the first of his how much they hold so we are prepared easily have a pinched spirituality because ways. It is a characteristic that John wants signs recorded in the Gospel. for large quantities, but this story is not we fail to take advantage of all that Jesus us to see through Jesus and in the first mir- A wedding is usually an occasion for gen- only about quantity but also quality. This gives, settling for a meagre mouthful when acle he records, the changing of water into erosity. Hospitality on such occasions is an was wine of the very best kind, and there we could be drinking deeply and often. Per- wine, quantity features prominently. It is opportunity to overdo the catering and was enough and more for everyone to be haps the first thing to do is to pray for a important to notice that this miracle hap- make sure that everyone has a thoroughly satisfied. desire for more of the living water and then pened on the third day, surely a reference good time. Jewish weddings were no Later in John’s Gospel Jesus said that he to practise drinking frequently, tasting to to the resurrection when life in all its full- exception and went on for days. But this came in order that people might have life in see how good the Lord is. This is abun- ness burst out of the tomb. Here was life time the unthinkable happened and the all its fullness (10:10). The wedding at dance with no waste involved. unstoppable, life that would transform the wine, a key component of the celebrations, Cana points to many aspects of what this cosmos, life that continues to be freely and ran out. What to do? Jesus seems reluctant means. The wedding itself points to a fore- SUNDAYSUNDAY SERVICESERVICE Can Funerals predict the Future? Peter Brierley equation also explains the catastrophic fore- Sunday Readings for 17 February 2013 cast by the Church of England that their atten- Lent 1 - Year C One of the changes to the statistics collected dance will decline almost 60 per cent by 2030, by the Church of England when they were since the number joining the C of E is so very Deuteronomy 26:1-11Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13 reviewed in a Committee under the Chairman- much smaller than the large number who are ship of Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch at the end of dying. It also puts the church’s total evangelis- However advanced human civilisation becomes, each and every human being the 1990s was the suggestion that the number tic work into context, and highlights the enor- re mains dependent upon the earth, and upon those who labour to produce our daily of funerals taken by C of E clergy be regularly mous urgency to increase it, in fact, to bread. The supply of food is perhaps more certain today than it has ever been, since collected. This has been done and the num- quadruplicate or even quintuplicate it. it can be imported from around the world, and we are not at risk from a bad harvest bers published every year since 2000, both for in the way that our ancestors were. But the people of Israel were re fugees from slav- those undertaken in church and for those What is “Christian”? ery in Egypt, and were yet to re ceive a land of their own which they could cultivate. undertaken in crematoria. In a very helpful article about the Census They owed their freedom to the Lord, and they looked ahead to the fulfilment of his In the light of the recent findings on the results, Linda Woodhead, Professor of Sociol- promise that they would be settled in their own land, fertile ground in a re gion of number of Christian adherents in Britain, this ogy of Religion at Lancaster University, sug- deserts, where they would prosper. The law which they are given re quires them to is a most useful series. The Census showed gests the simple range of answers to the give thanks for the providence of the Lord, by bringing an offering of the first fruits that Christians decreased by 3.8 million peo- Census question does not really indicate reli- from the harvest, and by re citing as an act of worship the history of the Lord’s faith- ple in England between 2001 and 2011. It is gious identity. She refers to recent publica- fulness towards Israel from generation to generation. These offerings provide in reasonable to suppose that those who had a tions that break down the “Christian” turn for those who have no food of their own, so that the blessings of God are funeral in an Anglican church, or who had a category into: shared with the whole community of Israel and all those who live within their land. Church of England priest conducting their * Moral Christians, who admire Christian By teaching us to pray for our daily bread, Jesus ensured that we acknowledge service in a crematorium, might well have ethics and aspire to live by them regularly our dependence upon God for all that sustains the life which he has given ticked the Christian box on the Census form * Faithful Christians, who do orthodox things us, indeed our very existence from moment to moment. And much more valuable had they been alive. such as go to church and read the Bible even than bread is the word of God which comes to us as a gift freely given, in the The Research and Statistics Dept have pub- * Cradle Christians, who tick the box because ministry of Jesus who died for our sins and was raised by God from the dead for our lished figures showing there were in total 2.2 they were baptised and brought up Christian, salvation. This word is at work in us whenever we say that Jesus is Lord, and it is million church or crem funerals over the last and this word which changes the disposition of our hearts so that we believe in him. decade. Few other denominations publish * Ethnic Christians who say they are Christian Faith in God comes about through the word of God, and not through any endeavour death statistics (no one else as far as I know because they are British. or merit or works of our own. It is through God’s choice and his intervention that publishes funeral statistics), but the Roman Furthermore, research has found that at we are justified and saved. Faith is far more than intellectual assent to a set of ideas, Catholics do give the number of deaths. Over least 12 per cent of Census “Christians” do not or a preference for a particular re ligious narrative, for it is something we cannot the past decade there have been 430,000 consider themselves religious, only 54 per manufacture for ourselves, but only re ceive as a gift of grace from God. Because it Catholic deaths, and again one presumes most cent believe in a personal God, and, according does not depend upon us in any way, faith is not bound or restricted by any human of these would have ticked “Christian” on the to latest attendance figures, 90 per cent do not distinctions of nation or language or status, but is bestowed freely upon all who turn Census had they been able to. attend church. to God as the only author of salvation and Lord of all who call upon him. These two denominations thus account for Food is of course of singular importance to us, for life depends upon access to our 2.6 million deaths. They formed between them So what? daily bread. God knows that we need it and makes it available in this world in great 56 per cent of church membership in 2010 and What are the implications of these statistics abundance, though we fail to ensure that it is shared fairly among the nations. If we if the number of deaths was extrapolated pro for the church in the immediate future? are constantly mindful to give thanks to God for what we re ceive from him, then rata the total church deaths would be 4.6 mil- 1) The figures show how many deaths have there is every chance that we will value bread for what it is, manna which comes lion over the last 10 years. However, some occurred in the Christian community because from heaven to sustain our mortal bodies on our journ ey through life. Like all other denominations, like the Pentecostals, do not of ageing and these will continue at a high material commodities we can use it for good or ill, and it can even become a form of have so many elderly people so the real num- level for a while as churchgoing generations of idolatry, as we become content with the things of this world to the exclusion of God ber is less than 4.6 million, perhaps 4.3 mil- yesteryear die out. The proportion of church- from our thoughts and affections. Material wealth can in turn bring power, and the lion. goers 65 and over is twice the proportion of delusion that we are now in control of our destiny, and the destiny of others. In our At the same time one must not assume that this age group in the population at large. Num- pride we even deceive ourselves that we no longer have any need of God, that we no one is being converted, or coming back to bers of members and attenders therefore will can do everything for ourselves, that no harm will befall us if we let go of him. By the church, or newly joining the church continue to drop for the foreseeable future. fasting Jesus demonstrates that we can control our appetites, and by his use of because of Alpha and other teaching courses. This has all kinds of implications for those pro- scripture to answer the devil he shows us that the word of God alone is true and The number of people joining the church is ducing Christian products, organising Chris- trustworthy. “One does not live by bread alone” should never be far from our lips. more difficult to measure but a total of 850,000 tian events, as well as actual church The Rev Stephen Trott joining between 1998 and 2005 was estimated attendance. in the book Pulling Out of the Nosedive, pub- 2) The numbers converting to Christianity are HYMN SELECTION lished in 2006. That rate of joining would far too small to match the number of deaths. equate to a gain of 1.2 million people over a 10- Evangelistic efforts therefore need to increase year period, but it may be that the joining rate very greatly if the enormous drop in numbers Hymns for Lent 1 between 2005 and 2011 was not quite as great is to be rectified. Such, however, is hardly the A safe stronghold our God is still as in earlier years, so that the total for the right motive! We have the Great Commission I bind unto myself today decade was, say, 1.0 million. to take the Gospel to the whole world, and Abide with me That would then lead to the following equa- this, and the future destiny of the millions in Forty days and fort y nights tion, in millions: Britain, must surely be our deepest concern. O God, our help in ages past + 1.0 who joined – 4.3 who died – 0.5 leaving I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath for other reasons = – 3.8 decline. Sources: ONS Press Releases, and relevant In Christ there is no East or West If this equation is approximately true, it figures in Religious Trends and UK Church Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us shows that the large bulk of the decline in the Statistics. Jesus is Lord! Creation’s voice proclaims it number of Christians between 2001 and 2011 Seek ye first the kingdom of God is because of the number who died, rather © Dr Peter Brierley is a church consultant who than a dropping away for other reasons. The may be reached on [email protected] c Milestones

The Rt Rev Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury-Elect, bade farewell to the Durham Diocese last week with a message of hope for the people he is leaving behind... On Monday the new Archbishop was confirmed at St Paul’s Cathedral in a ceremony he asked to be ‘special’ rather than just a legal obli- gation... MPs on 29 January supported an amend- ment to the Equality Act to protect ‘conscientious beliefs on marriage’, voting 86 to 31 at the first reading of Edward Leigh’s Ten Minute Rule Bill... Marriage Week 2013 was launched on 7 February with a special announce- ment about its world record-breaking plans for 2014… The Church of England’s Parliamentary Office provided a briefing note to MPs on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill and the Church of England prior to the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons on 5 February, setting out why the Church of England cannot

PAUL support the Bill and addresses some of the con- cerns that have been voiced by MPs about the Bill RICHARDSON in relation to the Church of England... Church and World

Cameron’s EU gamble ‘ There is a school of thought that doch’s agenda, trumpeted statistics argues David Cameron has played showing that 47 per cent of voters a clever political hand by announc- in a referendum would vote to leave “Marriage is an ing a referendum on Europe. A ref- the EU, 37 per cent would vote to intoxicating mix of erendum may not be good for the stay and 23 per cent don’t know. As excitement and British economy by creating an air Nate Silver has warned us, much commitment. Marriage of uncertainty about the future and depends on how statistics are giving overseas investors cause for weighed and interpreted and a chimes with generations concern but it has won the support YouGov poll has given a rather dif- before us who have of critics in the Conservative Party. ferent picture. mustered the same Like the referendum that took YouGov in January showed more courage, to make the place under Harold Wilson in 1975, people voting to stay in the EU than same promise, in the same the real reason for a referendum in leave for the first time in the cur- way and in so doing bless 2015 is not to give the British peo- rent Parliament. According to Peter each other, any children ple a say but to unite a factious Kellner there has been a marked and the wider political party. shift in recent months in favour of But examine Cameron’s decision remaining in the EU. community.” carefully and all kinds of reasons When the last referendum took the EU get fed up hearing Tory MPs constant- Richard Kane, Director of emerge that suggest it could turn place all the polls showed a clear ly ‘banging on’ about it, to use Cameron’s own Marriage Week UK out to be politically disastrous. majority for pulling out for some phrase. Polls show less than 20 per cent think Cameron has set a clear date for time in advance until just before the it is the most important issue facing Britain the vote and, as Nick Clegg and vote when they began to shift. In and when MPs become obsessed about others have pointed out, there is no the end, Wilson secured a 2-to-1 Europe they give the impression of being out People guarantee that the planned renego- majority for staying in. Kellner sug- of touch with the people. ‘ tiations will be completed by then. gests a fear-factor started to kick in None of this means supporters of the EU The EU moves slowly and it will be near the vote and that it will do so can relax. As Kenneth Clarke and others have The Rev Ruth Worsley, until recently Parish important to secure widespread again. When asked whether leaving warned, there is a danger that people will use Development Officer for the Diocese of South- agreement to whatever terms the EU would be better for the a referendum not to give their opinion about wark, was collated as the first-ever female Cameron eventually seeks. economy, jobs, Britain’s relation- Europe but to punish the Government in Archdeacon of Wilts on 28 January... Lord Hope, a Cameron has been vague about ship with America, Britain’s influ- power. That danger will be less if Labour and former Archbishop of York, preached today at what exactly he wants. Some com- ence in the world or for the voters the LibDems are firmly in the ‘Yes’ camp. York Minster at the Memorial Service of Sir Mar- mentators think all he is really after personally, each time most people But as with the Scottish Referendum, it cus Worsley who passed away in December 2012 are guarantees for the City and said it would be worse rather than would be a pity if the vote on Europe were aged 87, a former High Sheriff of North York- changes to the working time direc- better although large numbers did- determined purely by what was thought to be shire, MP, Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Bn York- tive but many members of his party n’t know. our economic interest as a nation. The EU has shire Volunteers, a member of the General Synod have a more ambitious agenda. Far As Kellner points out, the history many defects, not least the fact that it has of the Church of England, and a past chairman of from ending division in the Conser- of referendums shows that as the been a project driven from the top rather from the Royal Forestry Society... Derby Cathedral vative Party, a referendum could vote gets nearer, the status quo the democratic base. But the founders of the bids farewell to Canon Elaine Jones when she well spark off a bitter debate about starts to appear more attractive. EU had a moral vision founded on their Chris- presides at the Eucharist for the last time on Sun- exactly what terms Britain should This is certainly proving to be true tian faith to create a peaceful, united Europe. day 10 February as Canon Pastor of Derby Cathe- seek. Populists like Boris Johnson in the Scottish referendum cam- Britain has suffered from not being a part of dral... are going to have a field day setting paign. the project from the first and from appearing the bar ever higher. Since Cameron has said that he to be a half-hearted member after we joined. The danger is that the electorate wants Britain to stay in the EU the The EU does need reform but we will could either tire of the endless prospect of a ‘Yes’ vote will please achieve this better if we are at the heart of Next Week’s News debate about Europe or grow fear- rather than trouble him. But the Europe rather than constantly sniping from ful of an irreversible British with- danger for him and for his party is the sidelines. In a globalised world, nations The Year of the Snake begins on 10 February, drawal. Poll statistics on Europe that polling data suggests that vot- need to act to together. To end the union which is Chinese New Year... The Appeal case at are difficult to judge. Just after ers are more concerned about jobs, between England and Scotland or to walk the Supreme Court of the President of the Cameron’s speech, The Times, set hospitals, prices, and crime than away from the EU would not only be against Methodist Council v Preston will be heard 13 free by James Harding’s departure they are about rule from Brussels. our national interest, it would also be a betray- February, after the Church was accused of unfair as editor to follow Rupert Mur- Even voters who are suspicious of al of values we should seek to uphold. dismissal...

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