The resignation has intensified demands for Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, to follow suit due to his alleged neglect of multiple safeguarding complaints.

Tim Welby noted that "so many people were calling for his resignation" that his father's position had become "untenable," according to The Mirror.

He said his father was "really, really cross that it didn't occur to him to triple check" whether the abuse had been reported to the authorities. "The frustrating thing is I don't think it ever occurred to him that it hadn't been reported to the police," he said.

Read More

Bishop John Sentamu, then Archbishop of York, was the clear favourite with the Bishops of London, Liverpool and Bradford among others in the running.

One of the front-runners said to me: "You mustn't believe the stories in the press about bishops jockeying for position. It's more like a group of men sitting around a table, passing a revolver from one to another, knowing that one of them is going to get the bullet".

On 7 November 2012, both Ladbrokes and William Hill suddenly suspended betting on the new archbishop. They had noticed a "very significant move" in the betting towards a rank outsider. Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, hadn't even been at the table.

Welby had been a bishop for less than a year, and some of his five children hadn't even moved schools from his previous posting when his new appointment as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury was announced.

Some time in the coming weeks, Welby will announce that he is leaving Lambeth Palace after 12 turbulent years in the post.

The law requires him to step down by 6 January 2026 when he will be 70 - though an extension of 12 months would be possible in exceptional circumstances. Soon the betting is likely to open on his successor.

What the Archbishop of Canterbury does

The winner (or loser) in the contest (for the archbishop's role) will inherit not one but four jobs.

He or she will be the Ordinary of the Diocese of Canterbury, the Primate of All England, a member of the House of Lords and the spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

A review of the roles in 2001 by Lord (Douglas) Hurd concluded that the job had become unmanageable and needed to be reformed.

His main suggestion was that the Archbishop of Canterbury should be freed up to concentrate on his role as leader of the Anglican Communion around the world, with the Archbishop of York leading on matters in the UK.

Welby might have enjoyed that role. Insiders say that he is rarely caught smiling except when he is out of the country. But none of Lord Hurd's proposals were implemented. As a result, Justin Welby has looked exhausted and stressed for most of his years in office.

Part of the problem is that although the archbishop has considerable convening power and a public voice that can garner headlines positive and negative, he has almost no execu­tive power in the Church.

There's no such thing as an archiepiscopal encyclical letter. The vast majority of Anglican worshippers live outside the UK, but the Archbishop of Canterbury can't even tell other English bishops what to do, let alone those in the rest of the world.

Welby's successor

Some time in the next 12 months, a Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) will convene to choose Welby's successor. It will be made up of the Archbishop of York with another senior bishop, and six members of the General Synod.

They will be joined by three representatives of the Canterbury Diocese and five overseas members chosen from the regions of the worldwide communion.

At Welby's ­initiative, there has been a reduction in the representation from Canterbury and an increase in those from the rest of the world - a move aimed to give the international role greater legitimacy. There will also be a voting chair appointed by Sir Keir Starmer.

In the end, the CNC will make its recommendation to the prime minister who will convey it to the King, who makes the appointment.

In theory, the next archbishop could come from outside England - but that's not likely.

However godly and competent a candidate might be, bringing a bishop in from Africa or the United States and bestowing an automatic seat in the House of Lords together with the job of crowning a future monarch wouldn't help the Church's credibility.

Age matters. If the next archbishop is to have time to make an impact, he or she probably needs to be some fifty years of age.

That narrows the field considerably. The hugely capable Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, might be an interim candidate, but he will be 67 by the time the removal vans pull up at Lambeth Palace.

And anyway, he would hate it. Gender matters too. Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester, and Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle, are hugely effective. But large parts of the shaky Anglican Communion still see women in leadership roles as ­anathema.

Views on sexuality matter

It may be incomprehensible to the majority of the population, but the decision is likely to hinge on the candidates' views on sexuality. Gay sex is by far the most neuralgic issue in the Church of England.

Even a mild comment from Welby in answer to a question by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart in their podcast The Rest is Politics, suggesting that he and the majority of bishops believed that "all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship … whether it's straight or gay", called down the ire of conservative church leaders across England and around the world.

In recent months, the CNC has been deadlocked over the issue and has failed to appoint new bishops in key dioceses such as Carlisle and Ely.

It is hard to see how Canterbury will be any different, especially when a two-thirds majority of voting members of the CNC is required to make a recommendation. Just six voters could block a candidate.

When and if an appointment is made, be it conservative or liberal, it will be hugely divisive.

If we needed an indication of just how deep and personal this rift is, consider the Alliance, a confederation of conservative networks within the Church of England who affirm what they regard as the "orthodox" teaching of the Church on sexuality.

The Alliance has links throughout the Anglican Communion, not least through the founder of the Alpha Course, the Rev. Nicky Gumbel. Ironically, Gumbel was a key mentor to Welby from his conversion onwards, and was vicar of the church that sent him for ordination.

It is highly likely that Gumbel had a significant role in Welby's ­meteoric rise, and it is equally likely that he will play a role in brokering the appointment of his successor.

Part of the power of the Alliance lies in the threat to withhold funds if the Church moves further in a liberal direction. The Church of England may literally not be able to afford to appoint a progressive archbishop.

Which brings us to the figures gathered around the table this time, uneasily passing the revolver. Read more

• Andrew Graystone is a theologian and advocate for victims of church-based abuse.

An independent review, led by safeguarding expert Keith Makin, condemned the Church of England for its failure to report the "abhorrent abuse" Smyth inflicted on young boys.

The review noted years of abuse could have been prevented if Welby and others had acted more decisively when allegations first surfaced in 2013.

Welby, who has served as Archbishop since 2013, announced his resignation on Tuesday after admitting he should have taken personal responsibility for the Church's response. He acknowledged he failed to ensure that the abuse allegations were fully investigated by police, even after survivors raised urgent concerns.

"When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow" Archbishop Welby said.

"It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024."

Welby expressed deep regret for the Church's failures, saying "This decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change".

Pressure on other Church leaders

Welby's resignation has intensified scrutiny on other senior Church leaders whom survivors accuse of failing to take sufficient action against Smyth.

Smyth, a Christian summer camp leader, used his influence in Church circles for decades to abuse young men. Despite the seriousness of these allegations, the Church's leadership has been criticised for failing to take appropriate steps to bring Smyth to justice.

Key figures facing pressure to resign include Bishop Stephen Conway and Bishop Jo Bailey Wells.

Bishop Conway, who received reports of Smyth's abuse in 2013, has been called upon to step down for his role in the alleged mishandling of the case. The Makin Review found that, while Conway was in a position to refer Smyth's case to police, he failed to follow through, thus missing a crucial opportunity to initiate an investigation.

Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, then Welby's chaplain, is similarly under fire. She deferred a safeguarding referral to local Church authorities, assuming police were handling the matter.

The report highlights that this decision left the allegations in limbo, with no further action taken to protect victims.

Survivors not appeased

Welby's resignation has not appeased survivors or advocates, many of whom argue that additional resignations are essential to restoring trust in the Church's commitment to safeguarding reforms.

Andrew Morse, a victim who Smyth severely beat as a teenager, backed calls for Bishop Conway to resign.

He said "Conway should resign for obstructing the Smyth victims in our long road to justice. I cannot see how someone so closely associated with the problem can be part of any solution".

Conway has apologised, stating "I am sorry that I did not pursue these actions at that time" but survivors insist that such apologies are insufficient without accountability.

Honourable decision

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, supported the resignation of Archbishop Welby, calling it an "honourable decision". Cottrell emphasised that Welby's departure should be a pivotal moment for the Church to commit to meaningful safeguarding reform.

Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley voiced the need for a structural overhaul, stating "This is a very clear indication that we must move towards independence in safeguarding".

A statement issued on behalf of victims by Andrew Graystone, author of Bleeding For Jesus: John Smyth and the cult of the Iwerne Camps, states "John Smyth was indeed the Church of England's very own Jimmy Savile".

Graystone told The Tablet that "The astonishing thing about this report is how many people at the most senior levels of the church knew about John Smyth's appalling abuse, but failed to do anything to stop him. The questions that arise, as ever, is who will take responsibility and what will change. The answers, at least thus far, are ‘no one', and ‘nothing'".

Sources

The Tablet

The Telegraph

CathNews New Zealand

Smyth's abuse, described as "brutal and prolific", targeted more than 100 boys and young men at Christian holiday camps in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

An independent review concluded that Smyth's crimes were systematically covered up by church officials, some of whom allowed him to relocate abroad where he continued his abuse.

"From July 2013 the Church of England knew, at the highest level, about the abuse that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s" the review states.

The review says that over forty years, John Smyth became "arguably the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England", operating in three different countries and involving "as many as 130 boys and young men".

The report, led by former social services director Keith Makin, criticised senior church figures, including Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, for failing to act on their knowledge of Smyth's conduct.

Although Welby volunteered at the camps where Smyth worked, he consistently denied any knowledge of the abuse until 2013, when a survivor's report made its way to church officials.

However, the review noted that it was "unlikely" that Welby had no knowledge of concerns about Smyth before this date.

Lifelong scars

Smyth's abuse was severe and wide-ranging. He subjected boys to physical beatings, sexual and psychological abuse and spiritual manipulation which, according to Makin, left lifelong scars on victims.

One of his victims was Andrew Watson, now the bishop of Guildford, who said he was subjected to a "violent, excruciating and shocking" beating.

In total, the abuse spanned multiple countries, with at least 30 known victims in the UK and more than 85 in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In Zimbabwe, Smyth was implicated in the death of a 16-year-old boy, Guide Nyachuru, at one of his camps, although charges were dismissed.

Missed opportunity for justice

The review criticised the C of E for its "ineffective" response, noting the active cover-up of Smyth's actions in 1982, when the Iwerne Trust, which sponsored the camps, produced a confidential report on his abuse.

The Trust, along with church officials, kept the findings from authorities, allowing Smyth to continue his abuse with impunity.

When Smyth's actions resurfaced in 2013, church officials including Welby evidently did not report the matter to authorities, a failure the review identified as a missed opportunity for justice.

In a statement, Welby apologised "profoundly" for his failures and those of the Church. "I am sorry for my own omissions and for the broader wickedness, concealment and abuse perpetrated by the church". However Welby has said he will not resign over the matter.

John Smyth died in 2018, aged 77, before he could face trial over the allegations.

Sources

The Guardian

Daily Mail

Channel 4 News

CathNews New Zealand

The 26 bishops should "be on the side of those who … want a dignified, compassionate end to their lives", Lord Carey told the Guardian.

Carey, who retired as leader of the C of E in 2002 and still sits in the Lords, said he would back Kim Leadbeater's bill to legalise assisted dying "because it is necessary, compassionate and principled".

He said it was "ironic that I will represent the vast majority of Anglicans who favour change, and the bishops in the House of Lords will not."

Read More

Anglican and Coptic Orthodox congregations will share the newly refurbished church.

St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe's carbon-neutral refurbishment incorporated installing energy-saving technology including air-source heat pumps, new roof insulation and LED lighting.

The church is believed to be London's first Grade I listed church to become carbon-neutral.

A celebratory choral evensong on Wednesday of last week marked the church's reopening.

"As stewards of God's creation, we have a fundamental responsibility to act sustainably and protect the world we live in," Bishop of London the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally said.

"I am thrilled that St Andrew's is leading the way in showing us an example which we should all strive to follow."

About seven percent of England's churches are already carbon-neutral. That's a statistic the Church of England's General Synod would like to improve, with a General Synod resolution urging the Church of England at all levels to take action on climate change.

The Coptic Orthodox Archbishop Angaelos of London also attended the service.

He spoke of his delight that, besides being home to St-Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe's Anglican congregation, it will be the new Coptic Orthodox London headquarters as well.

"When we first embarked on this partnership, it was never expected to reach the scale which it has," he said.

"Having the 2000-year-old Church of Egypt now finding a home in a 1000-year-old iconic church in the heart of London speaks of the breadth of the Church in our current era.

"Our vision is that this not only becomes a place of worship for the Coptic Orthodox Community, but a space through which it serves London in all its breadth and diversity."

St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is sited near Blackfriars Bridge, with references to appearing almost 1000 years ago.

Sir Christopher Wren designed the current building's core, to replace the building destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

The church was further damaged during the Blitz in World War 2.

It was renovated in 1961, but in recent years has "become unfit for purpose, with the electrical system about to be condemned putting the church at risk of closure.

"It's been a true privilege to oversee the third regeneration of an irreplaceable part of the City's rich tapestry, and I am so excited to see worshippers welcomed through C doors once more."

St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe's name refers to its proximity to the Royal Wardrobe of Edward III, where clothes and other regalia were kept. This too was destroyed in the devastating fire of London in 1666.

Source

• Church Times

In February, the Church's lawmaking body approved blessings for lesbian and gay couples. The approval was limited to couples who were already married or had a civil partnership.

The landmark vote drew ire from both sides of the Church's same-sex blessings debate.

Progressives say it doesn't go far enough to offer full equality. They point out the Anglican Church still prohibits same-sex marriages.

Conservatives claim Holy Matrimony should be between only a man and a woman.

Several details regarding the February decision were supposed to have been ironed out during the Synod in York held on 7-8 July.

These details included deciding the final wording of the prayers and blessings. Pastoral guidance on whether gay priests can now have civil weddings and whether sexually active couples can be blessed were also on the York agenda.

However, the timetable for finalising these details has been delayed because bishops are "dithering" over finalising the approval, The Telegraph reports.

‘Implementation requires further work'.

The Bishop of Lichfield, Rt Rev Michael Ipgrave (pictured), says "given the emerging necessity for well-considered pastoral reassurance to meet a range of needs, the implementation phase has required further work.

"We recognise the frustration felt by those who were hoping to use the prayers sooner, as well as the uncertainty for couples and ordinands.

"However, it is important that the theological, pastoral and liturgical work promised… is conducted thoroughly and responds to the many questions raised by General Synod and others."

Ipgrave's comments followed written questions submitted by Synod members.

He says February's landmark motion "gave no timetable for the completion of the work".

He adds, however, that "it was hoped to complete the majority of the tasks by July 2023". The draft guidance should be ready by November, he says.

Cost of waiting

"There is a cost to the time taken to make sure we get everything lined up," says Nic Tall, a lay Synod member.

"I've had clergy who have had people wanting to get dates in the diary, which then had to be cancelled.

"And there are other people just waiting…

"There will be others for whom being able to effectively declare their love for their partner in church and before God is deeply important. That's why we want to facilitate this, and it is just being put on hold."

Source

• The Telegraph
• This article has been changed to reflect that it is the Church of England that is delaying the plans to bless same-sex couples. Originally the article said it was the Anglican Church.

The move aims to preserve the potential for these churches to reopen in the future rather than be sold off after merging with larger parishes.

This proposal is set for discussion by the General Synod, the Church's legislative body.

The Telegraph reports that the plan suggests renting the underutilised buildings to local authorities, other Christian denominations, or different institutions through shared ownership agreements.

The Church Commissioners for England, the group in charge of managing the Church's $13 billion endowment fund and investment portfolio, proposed this plan.

The Archbishop of Canterbury leads this group.

Proponents of the plan will present it for debate at the Synod this week.

They believe in allowing these churches to hibernate rather than abandon them, providing an opportunity for the Church and community to stay open to new possibilities for service and witness as circumstances evolve.

Critic of the archbishops for overseeing the rapid decline of parishes, campaigners view this proposal as a significant victory.

The Rev. Marcus Walker, the chairman of the Save the Parish campaign group, applauded the plan as a win for local parishioners.

However, this proposal requires parishioners from churches that go into hibernation to seek alternative worship locations.

Drop in attendance a personal failure

Despite this positive reception, the plan faces the backdrop of a steep decline in church attendance over the past decade.

In June, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby acknowledged the drop in attendance during his tenure as a personal "failure."

The report on the rental plan includes a "theological introduction" by the Bishop of Ramsbury, Andrew Rumsey.

The bishop emphasises the significant burden of governance on small communities and the challenges local volunteers face to keep their churches open.

Rumsey highlights the premature closure of architectural legacies due to stress and lack of resources.

He proposes a fallow or "jubilee" period for church buildings, allowing them to rest and recover, mirroring the natural cycles of growth and abundance.

This approach aims to preserve the common ground between the church and the neighbourhood while waiting for future growth.

The statistics paint a stark picture of the decline in church attendance and closures.

Between 2010 and 2019, 423 churches closed and, from 1987 to 2019, nearly 1,000 churches shut down, according to CofE data analysed by The Telegraph.

The number of operational churches now stands at about 15,496. Furthermore, according to the Office for National Statistics, the share of Christians in England and Wales has also decreased, dropping from 59.3% in 2011 to 46.2% in 2021.

Sources

Christian Post

The Telegraph

Christchurch's Anglican Dean, Lawrence Kimberley lives rent-free in a clergy house - with a stipend of $50,000 a year.

He's held the job since 2015, but has now decided to pursue a new career, aged 61, so he can earn enough before he retires.

"We've got good retirement income coming up with the pension from the church, but the gaffe is the housing provision. And at the moment, we just don't have sufficient capital." Read more

Auxiliary Bishop Guerino Di Tora of Rome, vicar for the basilica's chapter, has acknowledged and apologised for the communication problem, which led to an Anglican bishop and 50 priests celebrating the Anglican service on the main altar.

The service was part of a conference in Rome for Anglo-Catholic clergy.

Benedictine Father Martin Browne, an official at the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, noted the apology.

"I also think that everyone acted in good faith and without any intent to cause offence or embarrassment to anyone else.

"That the celebration has caused comment is perhaps, above all else, a reminder of the need to pray continually for the Lord's gift of unity, so that all may one day celebrate at the same altar the saving mysteries of the one Lord."

Ecumenical reciprocity

The Vatican "Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism" says Catholic churches are "generally reserved for Catholic worship."

However, Browne says "it does not rule out celebrations by communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church."

Rather, such hospitality can be offered when other Christians "do not have a place or the liturgical objects necessary for celebrating worthily their religious ceremonies.

"One presumes that the request was granted in that spirit of reciprocity, welcoming what was clearly an Anglican pilgrim group."

While the visiting Anglicans could have celebrated at the Anglican parish in the centre of Rome, Browne says the directory also encourages "a certain ‘reciprocity'.

"Sharing in spiritual activities and resources, even with defined limits, is a contribution in a spirit of mutual good will and charity, to the growth of harmony among Christians."

Browne says many of the great historical cathedrals of the Church of England occasionally welcome groups from other churches, including the Catholic Church, to celebrate the Eucharist.

"Such hospitable gestures are always appreciated," he says.

Just the same, "it would have been more appropriate if this dicastery and other relevant entities of the Holy See had been involved in considering the request."

Private celebration

The Anglican celebration took place in the apse, which was clearly roped off, with staff on duty throughout.

No members of the public nor anybody else was present or nearby, so there was no chance that a pilgrim or tourist could have attended and thought it was a Catholic Mass, Browne says.

A statement from the office of the archpriest of the basilica expressed "profound regret".

The Anglican celebration violated canonical norms. As the seat of the pope in his capacity of bishop of Rome, St John Lateran ranks highest among the four Vatican basilicas in Rome.

Source

• America Magazine
• AP News

The church's General Synod has, however, clarified that it will not abolish or substantially revise any of the currently authorized liturgies.

Nonetheless, this news made headlines and brought up questions of how religions refer to God. Is God male? What pronouns should be used to refer to God?

As a Catholic feminist theologian who runs a women's center at a Catholic university, I understand the impact of the pronouns Christians use for God.

Historically, Christian tradition has recognized many pronouns for God, including "he/him," "she/her" and "they/them."

This is partly because God does not have a gender.

Despite the diverse images used for God in Scripture and Christian tradition, male language and images predominate in contemporary Christian worship.

Many images for God

When we speak about God, we do so knowing that what we say is incomplete. All images for God reveal something about God. No image of God is literal or reveals everything about God.

For example, while Christians can refer to God as a king, they must also remember that God is not literally a king.

Calling God a king expresses that God is powerful.

However, it is not expressing factual accuracy about God's gender or implying that God is human.

Referring to God with many titles, descriptions and images invites many of us to recognize the mystery of God.

God is like all of these things but also more than all of these things.

Thomas Aquinas, an influential 13th-century Catholic theologian, asserted that individuals can talk about God in ways that are true but always inadequate.

Aquinas explained that our language about God affirms something about God, yet God is always beyond what we can express.

We express truths about God in human terms and constructs, but since God is mystery, God is always beyond these categories.

Scripture is filled with multiple images of God.

In some of these images, God is depicted as a father or male. Jesus teaching his disciples to pray the "Our Father" prayer is perhaps the most well-known example of a male title for God.

In other parts of Scripture, God is female.

The prophet Isaiah compares God to a nursing mother in the Book of Isaiah.

A mother hen gathering her chicks is an analogy for God in the Gospel of Matthew.

The Book of Wisdom, a book in the Catholic Bible, depicts wisdom personified as a woman.

Wisdom 10:18-19 states: "She took them across the Red Sea and brought them through deep waters. Their enemies she overwhelmed." This account presents God as female, leading Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

Depicting God as female in Scripture speaks to God's tenderness as well as strength and power.

For example, the prophet Hosea compares God with a bear robbed of her cubs, promising to "attack and rip open" those who break the covenant.

Elsewhere in Scripture, God has no gender.

God appears to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3, defying all gender categories.

The Book of 1 Kings presents a gentle image of a gender-neutral God.

God asked the prophet Elijah to go to a mountain.

While there, Elijah experienced a strong wind, an earthquake and fire, but God was not present in those.

Instead, God was present in a gentle whisper.

The creation stories of Genesis refer to God in the plural.

These examples emphasize that God has no gender and is beyond any human categories.

The social impact of male pronouns

Pronouns, like "He/Him" in the Christian tradition, can limit one's understanding of God. It can also make many individuals think that God is male.

It is not wrong to refer to God with male pronouns, but it can have negative social and theological consequences to refer to God with only male pronouns.

Feminist theologian Mary Daly famously stated, "If God is male, then the male is God."

In other words, referring to God only as the male gender has a significant social impact that can exalt one gender at the expense of others.

Referring to God only as a male can also limit one's theological imagination: Using many pronouns for God emphasises that God is mystery, beyond all human categories.

The Church of England is not only responding to modern questions about gender, but also continuing a long tradition within Christianity of referring to God as male, female and beyond gender constructs.

• Annie Selak is the Associate Director, Women's Center, Georgetown University, United States
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission

The Church of England's General Synod voted on February 9 to permit the offering of prayers and liturgies at civil marriages.

This compromise measure included the church's desire to "lament and repent" its failure "to welcome LGBTQI+ people and for the harm that LGBTQI+ people have experienced — and continue to experience — in churches".

The church has not changed its doctrine that marriage is a lifelong union between one man and one woman, but the archbishops of Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria are rejecting the decision to bless the unions as contrary to the teaching of the Bible.

The Church of England joined several other member churches in recognising all civil marriages, including the Episcopal Church of America, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and the Episcopal Church of Brazil.

The archbishops of Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria posted responses on their diocesan websites to the Church of England's decision.

Archbishop Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu of Uganda said, "The Church of England is very good at making contradictory statements and expecting everyone to believe both can be true at the same time. That's what they have done with this decision".

Kaziimba stated that despite the English church's insistence that it was not changing its doctrine on marriage, it is doing exactly that. The only significant difference is the terminology of a wedding versus a service of blessing.

Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit, the primate of the Church of Kenya, attributed the move to "the unfortunate rise of devious liberal churchmanship within the Anglican Communion".

He said, "We make a humble request to these churches: Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead".

Anglican Church on threshold of reformation

According to Archbishop Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba of Nigeria in a statement on Sunday, "The Anglican Church is at the threshold of yet another reformation, which must sweep out the ungodly leadership currently endorsing sin, misleading the lives of faithful Anglicans worldwide".

The news from England pleased LGBTQ activists in Africa, including some who are Anglican clerics.

The Rt Rev. Christopher Senyonjo, a former bishop in the Anglican Church of Uganda and a founder of Integrity Uganda, said the Church of England had allowed the blessing of partnerships, not marriages.

"It is expected that when two people come together in a love relationship, they are going to have children, but as time goes on, it is realised that two people can be in love when they are not going to have children," said Senyonjo.

"We should not just condemn the action (by the Church of England) without a very careful consideration of what love relationship is."

The Rev. Michael Nzuki Kimindu, a former Anglican priest now president of Other Sheep Africa, a Christian organisation that advocates for LGBTQ rights in Christianity and Islam, criticised the African hierarchy's attempt to paint the Church of England's action as a Western anomaly.

"Homosexuality is not a Western issue," Kimindu told RNS.

"It is a human condition found in every culture, geographical area and religion. It's just fair that people should understand that it is not going anywhere no matter how much we bury our heads in the sand."

Sources

Fox News

Religion News Service

A written question posed to the Liturgical Commission, which prepares and promotes forms of service and religious worship in the Church, prompted the news. The project is expected to begin later this year. However, the exact details of the project remain unknown.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Michael Ipgrave, stated "We have been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years.". This has been in collaboration with the Faith and Order Commission.

The move has been criticised by some conservatives who have warned that "male and female imagery is not interchangeable".

Meanwhile, liberal Christians have welcomed the project, saying "a theological misreading of God as exclusively male is a driver of much continuing discrimination and sexism against women".

The use of male pronouns for God is a long-standing tradition in the Church and any permanent changes to the language would have to be agreed by the General Synod.

No plans to revise current liturgies

However, the Church of England stated that there were no plans to abolish current services and that "there are absolutely no plans to abolish or substantially revise currently authorised liturgies, and no such changes could be made without extensive legislation".

The move towards a more inclusive language reflects a growing global awareness about the assumed usage of pronouns and their impact on those who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.

A spokesperson for the Church of England said, "Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship".

The issue of a gender-neutral God is one of several topics causing tension within the Church as the General Synod prepares for a historic vote on blessings for same-sex couples.

Sources

Reuters

The Telegraph

The approval came after bishops rejected calls to allow same-sex marriages in churches at a meeting in January. Instead, they proposed numerous options and suggested offering blessings after a civil partnership or marriage, known as Prayers of Love and Faith.

The Anglican General Synod - the Church's elected governing body - spent five hours discussing and voting on the bishops' new proposals.

The vote was passed in all three Synod houses: the bishops, clergy and laity.

Bishops voted for it by 36 to four, with two abstentions. The clergy voted for it by 111 to 85, with three abstentions. The house of laity approved it 103 to 92, with five abstentions.

While their approval for gay-couple blessings after nearly six years of internal debate has been welcomed by some as progress, others say it doesn't go far enough.

Last week both bishops and clergy made impassioned pleas to back or block the plans and 28 related amendments.

The amendments include no change to rules banning Anglican priests from officiating at weddings of same-sex couples. However, they could offer "God's blessing" for civil marriages or civil partnerships in a church.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, said in a joint statement: "It has been a long road to get us to this point.

"For the first time, the Church of England will publicly, unreservedly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples in church. The Church continues to have deep differences on these questions which go to the heart of our human identity.

"As archbishops, we are committed to respecting the conscience of those for whom this goes too far and to ensure that they have all the reassurances they need in order to maintain the unity of the Church as this conversation continues.

"We hope that today's thoughtful, prayerful debate marks a new beginning for the Church as we seek a way forward, listening to each other and most of all to God. Above all we continue to pray, as Jesus himself prayed, for the unity of his church and that we would love one another."

The momentous shift in church orthodoxy was welcomed by the Archbishop of York.

He told Synod that same-sex couples "could now come to church and have that relationship acknowledged, celebrated and the couple receive a blessing" in a move that will be optional for priests.

Last month, in an open letter, the Anglican bishops also issued an unprecedented apology directly to LGBTQ people for the sometimes "hostile and homophobic response" they have faced in parishes.

Blessings without marriage

Veteran UK gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell described blessings without a marriage as "an insult".

He said same-sex couples should be able to marry in their own parish church.

"This is a right extended to every heterosexual man and woman in England, regardless of their religion - but not to LGBTs. That's discrimination, and discrimination is not a Christian value."

Source

• Telegraph
• UCA News

The study published by Anglican evangelical mission agency CPAS is based on church attendance figures at Easter this year.

CPAS found that, although in-church Easter attendance was three-quarters what it had been at Easter 2019, many people were also attending online. When the two groups were added, attendance was about the same.

The figures show the vision of a "mixed-ecology" Church of England is right and "realistic", the authors say.

The study examined data submitted immediately after Easter by four dioceses — Lichfield, Oxford, Canterbury and Rochester.

Analyst Dr Bev Botting and church-growth consultant the Ven. Bob Jackson analysed the data.

They found a wide variety in the numbers attending individual churches: attendance at many had fallen dramatically, but at others it had grown.

They concluded: "Decline was not inevitable. Some churches showed that it is possible to grow congregations post-Covid, and it is possible that onsite numbers will increase further by October once the threat of Covid has reduced further.

"It was always likely that the shock of Covid lockdowns would be a blow to all churches but an opportunity for some."

The study also found the number of churches offering online services had fallen over the previous six months. About 44 percent still offered some online provision over Easter, usually on YouTube.

Online attendance added more than one third to those churches' Easter attendance figures.

Churches that did not offer online services were the only ones to show a drop in total attendance.

The fall in "onsite" attendance between 2019 and 2022 in churches also offering Church at Home was the same as other churches. This may mean people are treating online attendance as an additional option rather than an alternative, the authors say.

"That online attendance continues to be so significant, even when the buildings are fully opened, suggests that it will continue to play a significant role in the future churchgoing mix."

Although this was the first Easter without Covid restrictions for three years, there was another small surge in cases of a sub-variant around Easter, so the study was still not carried out in "normal times".

Of the 755 churches that submitted attendance figures, small churches showed stronger post-Covid recovery in in-church attendance than bigger churches. In many instances, the congregation had grown.

The "Smallest" churches are defined as having fewer than 25 in the congregation, while the "largest" ones have over 200 people.

In 2019 larger churches had only 69 per cent of their 2019 attendance, while the smallest averaged 188 per cent. This was true in each of the four dioceses.

"There have been fears for small churches emerging from Covid — will their elderly congregations have died, fragmented or been unable to reconvene?" the report says.

"With their technological edge and younger profiles, perhaps larger churches will have had the strength to withstand the lockdown better. The Easter onsite attendance numbers however suggest the exact opposite", it continues.

Describing the online attendance at Canterbury Cathedral as "phenomenal" — the authors say the figures for Easter Eve and Easter Day outnumbered the 2019 Easter figures across the whole diocese.

They therefore removed them from the broader analysis to avoid skewing the overall picture.

The Cathedral's YouTube Easter service had 47,000 views, representing at least 30,000 people.

The Cathedral also played host to people who had joined online services during the pandemic. Some "even flew across the Atlantic to attend in person the Cathedral that had become their own online", the authors say.

The study concludes that churches should continue to develop their online services.

They should also "invest in the old-fashioned pastoral basics of a team making lists and visiting" the authors say.

In particular, the churches should visit families who have been slower to re-engage with church after the lockdowns.

Additionally, dioceses should invest in support for larger churches that are struggling to recover numbers and offer technical support to parishes to develop high-quality online provision, the authors recommend.

Source

• Church Times

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is understood to be appalled at the "merry-go-round" of failed asylum seekers changing religion and using other tactics to launch "appeal after appeal" to stay in the country.

The Iraqi man killed in the abortive suicide bomb attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital is understood to have been helped by the Church in his attempts to avoid being kicked out of Britain, after his claim for asylum was first rejected in 2014.

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The evening service was recreated in 3D for an online liturgy last month.

The Blessing of the Light gives thanks for Christ the light of the world as well as for "the lights of evening", as the hymn puts it. The service originates from the Lucernarium, or lamp-lighting, before evening prayer in the Early Church.

For viewers, the VR offers a simulated experience of standing alongside the choir or moving around the church during the seven-minute rite. It is available on the Church of England YouTube channel and can be watched without a virtual-reality headset.

Virtual reality is growing in popularity in the UK. A recent survey showed that more than a million people now own a VR headset.

The service is led by the Rev Tosin Oladipo, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, with music from St Martin's Voices, the professional ensemble from London's St-Martin-in-the-Fields.

This 3D service was a trial run, and more services might be considered if it had a wide appeal, according to the head of digital for the C of E, Amaris Cole. It was a natural extension to work done during the pandemic to make prayer and worship accessible online.

The clip offered people the chance to explore the inside of a church, perhaps for the first time.

"We worked on this project to bring an ancient tradition to a new audience. We are constantly thinking about how we can bring our prayer and worship content to new audiences using different technologies and platforms. If this first VR service is well received and useful, then we will look at what other traditions we can bring to digital devices using virtual reality."

"It's wonderful to be able to bring these ancient Christian prayers to a new audience who can be transported to St Stephen Walbrook for this service, wherever they might be in the world," said Cole.

Sources

• Church Times
• Church of England

But this year's Petertide has been marred by what many have interpreted as an attack on the future of the Anglican priesthood itself.

As Britain's national church prepared to gather for its General Synod, which begins Friday (July 9), one of its most senior clerics submitted a paper for discussion arguing that the future lies not with clergy in the pulpit, but with worshipping communities led by laypeople.

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell — second-only in the hierarchy to the archbishop of Canterbury — first floated his ideas last year in a report from a "Vision and Strategy" (pdf) committee that Cottrell heads. But its publication last month, just before the laity, bishops and other clergy attended the Synod sessions online, has caused an outcry.

Cottrell's latest reflections include not only a proposal for 10,000 lay-led communities within the next decade but a focus on young people: It urges a doubling of the number of children attending church and what he calls "active young disciples" by 2030.

The Church of England, he maintains, has to become a "church of missionary disciples," to "become younger and more diverse," and to become a church "where a mixed ecology is the norm" — referring to a mix of digital and lay-led services.

Cottrell's plan does not include dismantling the ancient parish system, but his criticism of it — calling it ineffective "in the networks of contemporary life" — has caused fear that this will signal a major change in the way the church is structured, leading to church closures and cuts to clergy numbers.

It also points to the growing influence of American-style evangelism in historically more staid Anglicanism.

The parish system is part of the warp and weft of England, especially in rural life.

England's more than 16,000 Anglican churches still dominate the country's landscape, and the vicar and his role in village life pepper English culture and art, from the works of Jane Austen to the crime novels of Agatha Christie.

But attendance at those churches has been in decline for many years.

Despite being the established church to which every citizen theoretically belongs, only an estimated 750,000 people out of an English population of 56 million attend regularly.

An internal church report, Perspectives on People, Money and Buildings, published earlier this year, showed that church attendance has declined 40% in 30 years and warned that stipendiary clergy positions — filled by priests and deacons supported by the church — would have to be pruned.

In Chelmsford — Cottrell's diocese before moving to York — 61 stipendiary posts are being cut by the end of this year.

The biggest financial issue for the Church of England, however, maybe its buildings.

Three-quarters of its churches are officially listed as historic and demand costly maintenance.

Some of those costs are covered by tourism and charitable grants, but the greatest burden falls on the church and each parish's membership.

If lay-led communities meeting in people's houses are the future, many fear that more of these treasures will be closed.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to churches being locked, collections not taken and services moved online, caused an 8.1% fall in the church's income as of November 2020.

But one of the most vocal Anglican priests, the Rev Marcus Walker, vicar of London's oldest parish church, the 900-year-old St. Bartholomew the Great, has warned that the bishop's plan envisages the death of the parish and argues that "this must be fought."

In Walker's view, the parish system has survived hundreds of years precisely because it works so well.

"The parish system works because the parish is local. It responds to local needs," he says.

What has particularly alarmed Walker and his fellow priests is that publication of Cottrell's paper coincided with another given at a conference on church planting supported by Cottrell and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, which goes much further in its critique of parishes.

Critics believe this second paper lifts the lid on the thinking of an increasingly influential evangelical strand of Anglicanism.

Canon John McGinley, a priest in the Diocese of Leicester and a leader in New Wine, a church planting and renewal organization that is part of an evangelical surge in the Church of England, argued at a recent conference that lay-led communities release the church "from key limiting factors," such as buildings and clergy pay and training.

He envisages a new Anglican lay structure based on groups of 20-30 people meeting in people's homes.

Archbishop Welby told the same audience at Multiply X 2021 that church planting would be a new discipline for Anglicans.

"We are not meant to leave Jesus inside the church when we go out, and pick him up again when we come back in the following Sunday but to go with him," said Welby.

Anglicanism has always performed a balancing act between a sacramental approach that puts the Eucharist at the centre of the life of a worshipping community, requiring a priest to celebrate the sacrament — and an evangelical idea of the church focused more on Scripture and lay leadership.

The Rev Andrew Lightbown, rector of Winslow, Buckinghamshire, said: "Within the reformed Catholic tradition of the Church of England we are a sacramental church. And it is also incredibly important that at the end of every service people are blessed and sent out to do God's work. You don't do that with a lay-led church. This plan could be rolling back hundreds of years of theology and changing the Church of England."

Lightbown also pointed out that a lay-led group of 20 would not have the same inclusiveness and sense of service to the whole community.

"The parish church is not limited to the worshipping community. It is there for everyone. Will these new lay-led groups carry out baptisms, weddings and funerals?"

The Rev Barnaby Perkins, of St. Peter and Paul in West Clandon, southwest of London, offers another difficult question in Cottrell's proposal: Will lay people be diligent keepers of the faith? "There has been a change in the way the hierarchy views the clergy, but there is a need for them to teach the faith and order the life of the church," he said.

Source

• Catherine Pepinster is an author at Religion News Service
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

The more the Church has sought to make its services more "inclusive" and "relevant", the more Christians have converted to other denominations where they think things are done properly (notably Roman Catholicism), and the more those curious about Christianity have avoided the C of E.

Confirmation of this absurd situation arrived yesterday in new guidance for faith schools from the Church, preposterously named a statement of "entitlement and expectation".

No, this does not refer to David Cameron's catastrophic attempts to build a post-Downing Street business career, but what hymns should be chosen for singing in assemblies.

The diktat has it that strongly "confessional" hymns are to be avoided because they may make children and teachers alike feel uncomfortable.

They are said not to be sufficiently "invitational", which seems to equate Anglican worship with a cheese and wine party.

Those of us (and I speak as an atheist) who thought one of the purposes of religion was to make people feel guilty about having done things frowned upon by the Bible, and to expect God to be both unhappy about our behaviour but to forgive us our trespasses, will wonder what is wrong with a little discomfort.

Apparently, the halfwits who run the Church of England (and are running it into the ground) feel it is dangerous because "there should be no assumption of Christian faith in those present."

It is all, of course, about diversity: and the increasingly toxic idea that causing someone the mildest offence (such as assuming that someone in a Christian school might actually subscribe to Christianity) is equivalent in gravity to gratuitously amputating one of their limbs without permission or anaesthetic.

In a Church of England school, it is surely a reasonable assumption that the children are there because their parents subscribe to the basic tenets of the Church of England and the Christian faith; and that the teachers are grown up enough to know what to expect when they sign up for such a job.

The children, like generations before them, can like it or lump it until they reach the age where the law says they are masters of their own destiny.

The teachers, having reached that age, if they feel the institution insufficiently diverse, should go and work somewhere else.

Millions of us who found the Christian story somewhat far-fetched nonetheless went through our educational careers being culturally enhanced by the magnificent tunes that many of our hymns featured.

The doctrine, except for the precociously devout, were neither here nor there.

One obvious casualty of this bonkers pronouncement will be one of the most ravishing hymn tunes ever written, Repton - recognisable immediately from its opening lines:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Forgive our foolish ways!

One can almost hear the squeals of anguish from the Church's imbeciles-in-chief.

Can we really be expected to tolerate being told that some of our ways might be foolish?

And even if they were, why would it be God's place to forgive them?

That magnificent tune comes from Sir Hubert Parry's oratorio Judith.

In these culturally benighted times, when the nearest most children come to being inculcated with an idea of beauty is being force-fed pop music and the inanities of CBeebies, when otherwise would they have a chance not just to hear, but to participate in, the music of a composer so great as Parry?

One must also doubt that they are encouraged to sing another of his majestic tunes, Jerusalem - which although not a hymn appears in most hymn books - given the entirely erroneous associations made for it with English nationalism and, therefore, colonialism, fascism, imperialism, white supremacy and all the rest of the largely imaginary components of our growing litany of cultural self-hatred.

It is suggested, instead, that other favourites such as Kumbaya and Lord of the Dance - neither of which one could pretend has the slightest association with a high aesthetic or cultural enrichment - are perfectly safe, because they do not entail undue grovelling to the Almighty for real or imagined wickedness.

It does not seem to occur to the those advocating this censorship that few take any notice of the words anyway, and that in life we all have to put up with things - including aspects of the Church of England - that we find tedious or that we disagree with; but that in putting up with them we are provoked to think, mature, and eventually form our own conclusions.

The Church of England has done its best to desecrate - and I choose that verb carefully - its cultural heritage.

Worshippers have been driven away by having to endure the Princess Margaret Bible and the Rocky Horror Prayer Book. Organs have been replaced by guitars and tambourines. Continue reading

• Simon Heffer writes a weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph

All governing bodies within the church, including parish councils, should have at least 15% of minority ethnic representation by 2030.

A failure to take immediate action will be "potentially a last straw" for many clergy and worshippers from minority ethnic backgrounds, with "devastating effects" on the future of the church, it adds.

The church must also take decisive steps to address the legacy of the C of E's involvement in the slave trade. Referring to statues and monuments, it said: "We do not want to unconditionally celebrate or commemorate people who contributed to or benefited from the tragedy that was the slave trade."

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