Anglican Mainstream

Read text here

by Peter Wooding, CBN

A recent poll shows two thirds of Christians in the United Kingdom believe they are a persecuted minority.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey says the situation isn't that bad yet, but he does believe that discrimination against Christians is getting worse and that Prime Minister David Cameron is responsible.

Cameron's support for gay marriage, along with a growing number of discrimination cases against Christians in the workplace, had led Lord Carey to accuse the prime minister of betraying Christians.

The former archbishop wrote an article in the Daily Mail accusing the government of aiding and abetting discrimination against Christians and said many doubted Cameron's sincerity in pledging to protect their freedoms.

"I was very keen to make a very clear statement about what I regard as the duplicity of the prime minister in saying wonderful words about the Christian church and what the leaders are doing…but the actions of his government go in a completely different direction," he wrote.

Read here

From Leicester Mercury

The Archbishop of Canterbury will issue a statement following the murder of a soldier in Woolwich when he visits Leicester today.

The Most Revd Justin Welby and Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, will take part in a briefing outside Evington Valley Primary School, in Evington, at 12.30pm.
.
It comes after Drummer Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was killed in the street near army barracks in Woolwich, London, on Wednesday, in a suspected terrorist attack.

The Archbishop is visiting Leicester for the annual Meissen Commission talks aimed at strengthening relations between the Church of England and the German Protestant Church.

Read here

By Steven Swinford, and Peter Dominiczak, Telegraph

The Archbishop of Canterbury has told MPs to oppose an amendment to the gay marriage bill which would allow heterosexual couples to have civil partnerships.

In a briefing to MPs, the Archbishop warns that the amendment does not have any "clear social good" and will only create "further confusion" about the role of marriage in society.

As many as 150 Tory MPs are expected to join forces with Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs to vote for the amendment, which the Government has said could derail the whole same-sex marriage bill.

Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, has warned that giving heterosexual couples the right to enter civil partnerships would "throw up significant challenges" and mean a "significant delay" to legislation.

The Church of England's briefing, which has been published today, says: "We believe that this would introduce further confusion about the place of marriage in society.

"We remain unconvinced that the introduction of such an option would satisfy a genuine and widespread public need, other than for those who pursue 'equality' as an abstract concept.

Read here

By Andy McSmith and Sarah Morrison, Independent

U-turn will anger both Tory backbenchers and campaigners who argue same-sex couples should be able to enter civil partnerships as an alternative to marriage

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has abandoned his support for allowing heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships under pressure from the church hierarchy.
 
His climbdown will be welcomed by the Government as it looks to finally ensure the smooth passage of the equal marriage bill through the House of Commons this week, against Conservative backbench and Labour Catholic opposition.

But the Archbishop’s U-turn will anger both Tory backbenchers and campaigners who argue that in the name of equality, same-sex couples should be able to enter civil partnerships as an alternative to marriage.

The Archbishop had assured campaigner Peter Tatchell four weeks ago during a private meeting in Lambeth House that when the Bill goes before the House of Lords, he would personally vote for an amendment legalising civil partnerships for heterosexuals.

But a statement, endorsed by Welby, has been put out by the Church of England contradicting his privately expressed opinion. It said: “We agree with the Government’s view that the Bill should not be amended to introduce an option of civil partnerships for couples of the opposite sex” and that it “would introduce further confusion about the place of marriage in society.”

It added that the Church was “unconvinced” there was a “genuine and widespread public need” for the change.

Read here

From Christian Today

BBC News

The City of London has been affected by a "culture of entitlement" at variance with what others think reasonable, the new Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

But the Most Reverend Justin Welby told the BBC business morality was in many ways much better than in the past.

He also defended his description of the UK's economic situation as a depression rather than a recession.

Asked if this had upset Number 10, the archbishop said: "Sometimes feathers get ruffled. I mean – that's life."

The archbishop – a former oil industry executive – is a member of the cross-party Banking Standards Commission.

He told BBC Radio 4's the Week in Westminster there should be exams for those who want to work in the banking industry and suggested employees could be overseen by a professional body.

Read here

From BBC News

A "severe" economic crisis and "a breakdown in confidence" made for "a generational problem", the Most Rev Justin Welby said.

"Recapitalising at least one of our major banks" and breaking it up into regional banks could help, he said.

He was speaking at a Bible Society-organised event at Westminster.

The former oil executive is on Parliament's banking standards commission and his comments come days before the release of gross domestic product figures that are expected to show the economy has stalled.

Archbishop Welby said that, in the past, "the great failures in banking have led to very, very long periods of recession at best".

"I would argue that what we are in at the moment is not a recession but essentially some kind of depression," he added.

"It therefore takes something very, very major to get us out of it, in the same way as it took something very major to get us into it."

Read here

By Tris Reid-Smith, gaystarnews

New Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby admits gay relationships have values but won’t shift on same-sex marriage, activist Peter Tatchell has said after meeting with him.

Tatchell urged Welby to reconsider gay marriage equality, apologize for past church persecution of LGBT people and engage with activists in Africa where parts of the Anglican church are leading a wave of homophobic hate.

But Tatchell emerged from meeting Archbishop Welby this afternoon (18 April) with an agreement to further dialogue as the biggest concession he could secure.

Tatchell said: ‘It was a very constructive, engaging meeting. But also quite frank with a number of disagreements.

‘Quite clearly Justin Welby is struggling with how he reconciles Christ’s gospel of love and compassion with the church’s current position which is to oppose marriage equality.

‘I think he took on board my point that discrimination is not a Christian value.

‘He kept on saying is not discrimination, that same-sex marriage is not the same as opposite-sex marriage. He believes there is an “intrinsic difference” in the nature of same-sex relationships and opposite-sex relationships which justify the law.’

Read here

Read also: Welby gay marriage views 'evolving', Evening Standard

Archbishop of Canterbury 'supports civil partnerships for heterosexuals' by Sam Jones, Guardian

New Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, backs civil partnerships for heterosexual couples by Andy McSmith, Independent

Peter Tatchell: Being invited to Lambeth Palace by Justin Welby represents LGBT progress by Joseph Patrick McCormick, Pink News

Anglican head holds talks on gay marriage with activist, Reuters

Archbishop backs law change to allow straight civil partnerships by John Bingham, Telegraph

Archbishop Welby struggles to support gay equality by Peter Tatchell

by Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden, AAC

The installation of Justin Welby as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury.

The installation of Justin Welby as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury was an energy creating event. We both witnessed it, one on the internet in Bangalore, the other in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral.

The new Archbishop was unapologetic about putting his stamp of joyful evangelical Christian discipleship and service of Jesus as Saviour and Lord on the whole afternoon.

As he entered the Cathedral’s West Door, in a liturgy he created, he was questioned by Evangeline Kanagasooriam, a 17 year old student of Sri Lankan origin. 

Read here

By David Virtue, VOL

The installation is over. He is the new king of the Anglican castle. His agony has only just begun.

Rowan Williams left before his time because of irreconcilable differences in the Anglican Communion that he could not resolve. A decade of bitter infighting between orthodox Global South archbishops and pro-gay Western pan Anglican archbishops did him in.

Now we have an evangelical on the throne of Canterbury and at the helm of 77 million Anglicans. But it will not be an easy ride; in fact it could turn out to be the worst ride of his life despite saying all the right things, appointing a Director of Reconciliation, and hoping, presumably against hope, that he can make it all work.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, said Shakespeare.

Almost immediately following his consecration, Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council wrote a compassionate but hard hitting column asking Welby why other North Americans, including the Presiding Bishop of TEC and the Primate of the ACoC, the Rector of Truro, and others were invited to the enthronement – but not the Archbishop of the ACNA (Robert Duncan)? What signal does that send to the members of the ACNA and to the leadership of the GAFCON Anglican Churches, who represent a majority of Anglicans in the worldwide Communion, and who recognize the ACNA?

Making it very clear that he was imputing the best of motives, Ashey honed in by asking, "Help me understand why there has been, apparently, no meaningful engagement with the leadership of the ACNA, given that they are one of the parties to the 'Anglican wars?' Clearly you are engaging publicly with the leaders of TEC and ACoC. How does the lack of engagement with the leadership of ACNA square with the processes of "reconciliation-as-detoxification?"

Ashey concluded by saying that it is precisely this faith that has been undermined and challenged by the unilateral actions of North American leaders from The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) by, among other things, consecrating actively practicing homosexual and lesbian bishops and authorizing same-sex blessings – contrary to the Bible, apostolic and catholic teaching, and the teaching of the Anglican Communion on human sexuality, marriage and holy orders (Lambeth Resolution 1.10 1998).

Read here

Financial crisis is not an excuse for missing Millennium Development Goals, say religious leaders. Supporters encouraged to add their voices on Twitter using#1000DaysToGo

With 1000 days left to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has joined religious leaders across the G8 urging governments to keep their promises on foreign aid.

by Jonathan Wright, Catholic Herald

The ecumenical process will be enlivened by the Pontiff and archbishop having some spirited rows

There can be little doubt that the new Pope and the new Archbishop of Canterbury will get along very well. The two men share an admirable concern for the poor and the disenfranchised. They have similar styles when it comes to meet-and-greets and, perhaps most significantly, there is considerable harmony when it comes to the taproots of their spirituality. Welby, the Anglican who has sought spiritual advice from Catholics, is also a fan of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Pope’s order. Francis, the Catholic who knows the value of grassroots initiatives, will have been impressed by Welby’s pre-enthronement “prayer pilgrimage”.

The similarities can be exaggerated, of course. That puzzling word “evangelical” has been mentioned a lot in recent weeks, but there is room for caution. An evangelical Catholic (and we might as well go by George Weigel’s detailed, but still rather hazy definition) is not the same as a Protestant Evangelical, and I can’t imagine that Francis would be terribly impressed by everything that transpires at Holy Trinity Brompton. Still, there is a lot of common ground, and this is marvellous. There was a time when popes and Archbishops of Canterbury spat anathemas at each other and traded accusations of heresy. It is good that we are past all that: sending congratulatory messages is much healthier for the Christian commonwealth than burning martyrs at the stake or indulging in continent-blighting religious wars. This doesn’t mean, however, that there should be no tension between Rome and Canterbury. It should always be a respectful but slightly awkward relationship, and there must always be an opportunity to articulate profound differences of opinion. This serves to make both communions stronger and lends moments of genuine agreement much greater significance. With some audacity I urge the Pope and the archbishop to bear this in mind whenever they share a pot of tea.

Read here

By Jemima Thackray, Telegraph

Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, has kept true to his word and continued to subtly underline the importance of women to the Church of England in his first Holy Week, trainee chaplain Jemima Thackray, observes.

From Huffington Post

The Church of England must show it can manage disagreement "gracefully" over issues such as women bishops and gay marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said the Church faced a "challenge" of showing the rest of society that its members can hold different views but still remain "gracefully and deeply committed to each other" before it could be a "sign to the world" of peace and reconciliation.

"We need to understand reconciliation within the Church as the transformation of destructive conflict, not unanimity," he said.

"It doesn't mean we all agree, it is that we find ways of disagreeing, perhaps very passionately but loving each other deeply at the same time, gracefully and deeply committed to each other.

"That is the challenge for the Church and that is the challenge if the Church is actually going to speak to our society which is increasingly divided in many different ways, here and overseas, over huge issues."

Welby's remarks were part of a wide-ranging interview for an Easter Sunday broadcast of the Travellers' Tales slot on Premier Christian Radio.

Read here

Speaking on Radio 4's Thought for the Day this Good Friday morning, Archbishop Justin said that news coverage of this week's financial bail-out of Cyprus shows the limits of single perspectives. Just like those watching Jesus on the cross, he said, "where you stand determines what you see."

This week, Cyprus became the latest country to need a bail-out from the international community. Archbishop Justin noted that news coverage of these events revealed two radically different stories: as bureaucrats enjoy the satisfaction of a deal well done, a country of people have been rocked by uncertainty and despair.

In the same way, Archbishop Justin said, the story of Good Friday presents us with two starkly opposed narratives: the ruling class efficiently doing their job by killing Jesus; the women and disciples left traumatised and without hope. But, he said, "both were wrong."

"Whoever you are, whether rulers and rich, or ordinary people dealing with the worst of times, the death of Jesus is both a challenge and a promise of hope," he said.

Read full text below of Archbishop Justin's 'Thought for the Day', Good Friday, 29 March 2013 – or listen again on the BBC website. 

'This week Cyprus became the latest country to need a bail out from the European Union, the IMF and others. By the standards of the last few years the money involved was small, €10 billion if you call that small, but the impact is overwhelming. On Wednesday I saw, side by side, two stories about the bail-out. One told of a deal done, an agreement reached, and satisfaction over a complex a diff job completed. The other revealed companies running out of cash, people in despair, a whole country heading into penury, not just the banking sector. At that point, there was not even much rage, just grim acceptance.
Read here

Thought for the Day for Good Friday from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Listen here

By John Bingham, Telegraph

A poll of practising Christians in the UK has found that only a minority believe the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, will improve the image of the church.

The survey found that two thirds of churchgoers believe that Christianity is in serious need of a new image.

But they appear to reject traditional ways of reaching a wider audience, such as advertising, as the way to go about it.

The ComRes poll of churchgoers for Premier Christian Radio comes at the end of a fortnight in which religion has been higher in the media agenda than for years – with a new Pope and new Archbishop of Canterbury formally installed just two days apart.

Yet 85 per cent of those polled claimed that the Christian church is generally represented negatively in the media and 83 per cent thought it is portrayed unfairly.

Neverthelesstwo thirds said they accept that Christianity has an image problem in Britain.

Read here

From Theos

Last month Cambridge University hosted a debate about the future of religion in public life. The speakers included the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the world-famous atheist, Richard Dawkins. Not surprisingly, it was extremely well-attended.

Holy Courage needs company

By Dr Chris Sugden
 
I left the installation service for Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury feeling the same as after the Royal Wedding or the Diamond Jubilee or the Olympics. Archbishop Robert Runcie said that some events inspired energy and other events drained energy. He would have been greatly energized by yesterday’s installation.
 
Archbishop Justin Welby began the service with a new and fresh piece of liturgy written by himself.
 
Following the traditional three knocks, the great west doors of the cathedral opened to frame Justin standing in silence his hands in front of him grasping his bishop’s staff. Standing in front of him was the slim figure of a dark haired girl in a green sari. She asked him: “Who are you and why do you request entry?”

“I am Justin, A servant of Jesus Christ, and I come seeking the grace of God, to travel with you in his service together.”

Evangeline Kanagasooriam, standing less than forty feet from the font where she had been baptised 17 years ago, continued: “How do you come among us and with what confidence?” “I come knowing nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and in weakness and fear and in much trembling.”
 
One suspects that this liturgy will find its way into future entrances of other bishops into their cathedrals, not inappropriate for the day that the church remembered Thomas Cranmer the father of the English Prayer Book.

Read the rest of this entry »