There continues to be a range of responses in the media (official and social) to the tweet about Captain Tom that was made last week by Jarel Robinson-Brown. Predictably, the furore is now the responsibility of everyone else - indeed, anyone else - but the Reverend in question. As usual, we are seeing a mass …
CofE curate unfit for office
The Rev Jarel Robinson-Brown has recently been appointed as curate at All Hallows By The Tower in London. Given the news today, one can only ask questions of those who approved him for training as a priest in the first place and those who later opened a curacy place for him. Call me naive, but …
Eco-Church: just what we need to solve life’s problems in Lambeth
St Mary at Lambeth, next door to Lambeth Palace (red brick) For the latest lunacy emanating from the Church of England, look no further than this. In today’s Times, the following headline announces: 'Eco church St Mary-at-Lambeth seeks shepherd and flock' Yes, you did read that correctly. An old church (see old painting, above) close …
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Democracy: a fragile concept
In 2011, I was privileged to do some work in Tunisia. Part of this involved developing some educational presentations with a Tunisian science professor. What was most memorable to me was not the science we were working on, but her experiences and thoughts on the recent (January 2011) revolution that triggered what is known as …
Hate speech? LGBT+ intolerance or ‘good disagreement’?
Since the launch of the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith (LLF) 'resources' last month, we have seen yet more 'love and faith' emerging from the LGBT+ community. Instead of greeting the materials with any degree of positivity, we have seen outrage (surprise, surprise) and referrals to the police (yes, really). Jayne Ozanne, …
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Laurence Fox is right….the NHS is not a religion
With wearying predictability and the usual deliberate failure to respond to what was actually said, the wokerati have piled onto Laurence Fox again. His crime? To refer to the NHS as not being a church and its staff not being his saviours. Well said, Laurence, mate. I totally agree. Shame that Piers Morgan can't address …
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Avoiding ‘the blame game’ – disposable marriage in 6 months or less
I have a guilty secret to divulge....I quite enjoy watching 'Say Yes To The Dress'. There, I've said it. This is a TV programme originating in the US (where else?) in which we see brides-to-be going to a wedding dress shop with their 'entourage' - family and friends, in plain English - to try on …
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Living In Love And Faith: the roadmap to the extinction of the C of E
So - we finally have the Church of England's Living In Love And Faith report/book/resources available to us. Does any of this help us to see a clear way forward? Or does it simply muddy the waters further, while advertising itself as a remedy for confusion? Or is it in fact the beginning of the …
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Archbishop Cottrell: the gift that keeps on giving
Just in case we had been lulled into a false sense of security by the Covid-19 decline, up pops the soon-to-be Archbishop of York, the Rev Stephen Cottrell. Currently lying in wait in Chelmsford, he is about to be unleashed on us via York, this coming Thursday. By Zoom, no less. In The Sunday Times …
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Forgiveness: a new transactional theology
Photo: https://www.thedolectures.com/ The Archbishop of Canterbury appears, in his recent stint on the BBC’s Today programme, to have come up with a new theology of forgiveness. Interestingly, this seems to have passed most clergy by. Or perhaps they have simply given up trying to balance what the Archbishop says with actual life in the pews. …