Bp Martin ill

Bishop Martin Warner taken ill

Tuesday, 24th August 2010

We've received the news that Bishop Martin Warner collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest yesterday while on holiday in Florence. The Archdeacon for Italy, the Ven Jonathan Boardman has visited Bishop Martin in hospital, and reports that he is seriously ill and in intensive care, but is being looked after by an excellent team of doctors and has made some progress. We will let you know more information as we're made aware - please keep Bishop Martin and his family in your prayers.

Ministry and Bishops Course

Teaching Course on Ministry and Bishops

The teaching material is aimed at providing an explanation of

why the historic faith of the Church teaches that priesthood

and episcopacy are male ministries. It is hoped that those who

explore this material, whatever their view on this question, will

grow in understanding as to what it is that those who keep to

the historic faith believe. Many misconceptions abound. We

also hope that the content will be accessible to those who

are coming new to the question of the identity of men and

women in ministry. Deliberately we start are the beginning by

asking some basic questions about the nature of vocation and

ministry and its relationship to God and the world. We then

move on to look more specifically at ordained ministry and the

sacred symbols that it bears. The second session opens up

the subject of the female vocation and ministry drawing on the

strong Biblical tradition. Having established the historic nature

of male and female within ministry the third and fourth sessions

give explanation of episcopacy. The sessions work rather like a

microscope, focusing more precisely as the course continues.

The material is primarily intended for ordinary C of E folk.

The media, who have little time for giving the theological

background, forms the perception that much of the debate

is merely about political manoeuvring. The teaching material

presents a traditional thesis – that said we hope that it is

encouraging of women’s ministry and in a modest way may

contribute to the on-going process of discernment.

Ideally the sessions would be given within a group as

discussion is anticipated. The group convenor may wish to

distribute the whole course material or just the associated

handouts. It will be useful to have Bibles to hand. Each session

starts with an opening prayer for the group. The supplementary

material is provided as a support for discussion.

Session One: What is vocation, ministry, priesthood?

Handout for Session One

Session Two: The Biblical roots of the ministry of women.

Handout for Session Two

Supplementary teaching/discussion material for Sessions

One and Two

Session Three: The Apostles and their Ministry

Handout for the group

Session Four: Zooming in on Bishops

Handout for the group

Supplementary teaching/discussion material for Sessions

Three and Four

Full course material at www.jbct.org

Divorced Bishops

Divorced bishops to be permitted for first time by Church of England

Divorced clergy are to be allowed to become Church of England bishops for the first time in a move which has been condemned by traditionalists.

Critics described the change in Church rules as "utterly unacceptable" and warned it would undermine the biblical teaching that marriage is for life.

Conservative and liberal bishops have been deeply divided over the issue, which they have been secretly discussing for months.

While Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, supported relaxing the rules, John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, is understood to have fiercely argued against a change.

But The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that the change was agreed at a meeting of the House of Bishops in May.

The Church is set to issue a statement announcing the new policy next month after legal advice made clear that there is no obstacle to a divorcee, or a priest married to a divorcee, being consecrated.

It means that a number of clergy who have been rejected in the past by the Crown Nominations Commission, the body responsible for appointing bishops, will now be put forward for consideration.

The first beneficiary of the change could be the Rev Nick Holtam, vicar of St Martin in the Fields in London, whose supporters want to propose as the next Bishop of Southwark.

Despite having gained a reputation as an accomplished preacher and a formidable fund-raiser, having masterminded his church's £36 million renovation appeal, conservatives had warned that his name would be blocked because his wife of 29 years had a brief marriage as a teenager.

Senior figures in the diocese of Southwark were angered by the prospect of not being able to appoint a man they saw as an outstanding candidate for the post. They have welcomed the change in the Church's position.

However, traditionalists have expressed their dismay at the change, which they argue weakens the importance of marriage. Some claim is more controversial than appointing homosexual bishops.

Fr Geoffrey Kirk, the national secretary of Forward in Faith, an Anglo-Catholic group representing around 400 parishes, said that scripture is clear in stating that divorce and remarriage are not permissible for Christians.

"The doctrine of matrimony is closely associated with ecclesiology and so it would seem utterly unacceptable that divorce and remarriage be part of the regimen of those who are called to represent and effect the unity of the Church."

He added: "Promoting divorced bishops is a far more serious matter than homosexual bishops because it is undermining one of the fundamental teachings of scripture."

The Rev David Phillips, chair of the Church Society, an evangelical group, said: "Though one recognises there are very difficult cases, in terms of the public ministry of the Church we should be modelling the standards Jesus set out, which is that marriage is for life.

"I don't think it's appropriate for bishops to be divorcees."

The Church only softened its stance on remarriage in 2002, when the General Synod, the Church Parliament, voted to allow divorcees to wed again in church in exceptional circumstances.

This is in contrast with the Catholic Church, which does not permit Catholics to receive Holy Communion if they are remarried.

Under current rules, trainee clergy who are divorced, or are married to a divorcee, are required to obtain permission – known as a faculty – before they can be ordained, but priests with such a personal history are currently blocked from becoming bishops.

Now the moratorium is to be dropped in favour of clergy being considered for promotion on a case-by-case basis, a Church spokesman said.

There is currently one bishop in the Church who is divorced, but his marriage broke down after he had been consecrated. (AND HERE IN SCARBOROUGH WE'VE GOT HIM!)

Is there room on the bench?

Women in the episcopate - House of Bishops’ statement

18 May 2010

At its meeting in York on 17/18 May, the House of Bishops discussed the Revision Committee’s report on the draft legislation to enable women to become bishops.

The House noted that the forthcoming meeting of the General Synod in July would be a key moment in the legislative process when all 470 members of Synod would have the opportunity to debate the report and proceed to a clause by clause consideration of the draft Measure and Amending Canon. The House believed that the Synod would be helped in its task by the clarity and thoroughness of the Committee’s analysis.

As previous debates have shown, a majority of the members of the House strongly support the admission of women to the episcopate. At the same time there remains a strong commitment on the part of the House to preserve an honoured place within the Church of England for those unable to receive this development. There continues to be a variety of views within the House over the best way of achieving that, while enabling women fully to exercise their new ministry.

The July Synod has the potential to be one of the most demanding meetings of the Synod for many years. It will, in the view of the House, be an occasion when all concerned will need to listen with particular care to those with views that differ from their own and to acknowledge the passion and sincerity with which those views are held.

The House is aware that there are those who believe that the present legislative process does not have the potential to lead to a satisfactory conclusion and that a better outcome is more likely to be achieved in some years’ time. Most members of the House consider, however, that it is crucial to keep faith with the present process. They see no grounds for believing that the issues with which the Church is grappling will become significantly easier to resolve with the passage of time.

The July debates will provide the chance for the full Synod to decide whether it wishes to make significant changes to the draft legislation, including whether to retain an approach based on a statutory code of practice or to support amendments giving effect to some other approach. What happens thereafter will depend on what Synod decides. On any basis it will be at least another two years before the mind of the Church of England can be determined at the final approval stage.

The House accepted the recommendation of the Revision Committee that, if the proposal for a statutory code of practice is retained in July, work to develop a fresh draft of the code should start soon thereafter. The House will, in those circumstances, establish a group, constituted consistently with the Committee’s recommendation.

Abolish Bishops

A group called Power 2010 has been running a campaign urging people to mass mail bishops asking them to abolish themselves from the House of Lords (slight simplification). The Ekklesia website has been supporting this, and so far over 50000 e-mails have been sent, although the number of senders is a tiny fraction of this given that the 'easy to use tool' has all of the bishops names ticked by default, meaning that they all get sent identical messages.

Church in Wales

As I mentioned the other day, a group called Friends of the Ordinariate (FOTO) has been set up by Anglicans in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Their website displays the logos of their respective Churches. Membership of the Friends does not imply a firm intention to convert, but obviously the bulk of members are interested in Pope Benedict’s offer to Anglo-Catholics who feel compelled to make this spiritual journey. Most Anglicans, to their credit, have shown sympathy and generosity towards those of their brethren considering this move.

Most, not all. The other day, Friends of the Ordinariate received a charming communication from the Anglican Church in Wales, underneath this logo:

Dear Sirs

I introduce myself as the solicitor for the Representative Body of the Church in Wales. It has been drawn to my attention that you have added the Church in Wales logo to your website. This use is unauthorised and we require you to remove our logo from your website immediately. Failure to do so will leave us no alternative than to seek the assistance of the Courts.

Yours faithfully…

And so FOTO have done precisely as requested:

The Welsh name of the Church, I see, is Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru. Does anyone know the Welsh for “mean-spirited”?

Clergy Bashing

A bishop is among the 150 clergy and ministers who have sought protection with the trade union Unite from what it describes as a culture of bullying in the established Church.

Most of those who have sought help are in the Church of England but Roman Catholic priests, rabbis and imams have also joined Unite, according to Rachael Maskell, national officer for the union’s faith workers’ branch.

The union, which has set up a special helpline for priests intimidated by their bishops or congregations, is reviewing its clergy caseload as part of its campaign for full employment rights for clergy.

Among the 2,500 members of the faith workers’ branch are four bishops, including one “very prominent” Church of England bishop and one from the Church in Wales.

The union was asked recently to help one bishop after he was ordered to return his licence and “go” for reasons that it did not disclose. Criminality was not alleged, but Unite says that there should be due process rather than a wall of silence.

Ms Maskell told The Times that bullying and sexual harassment of clergy were serious problems that were not being adequately addressed. One cleric suffered bullying from parishioners when he refused to perform “pagan blessings”, she said. In another parish disgruntled worshippers put notices up around the village, alleging that their vicar was incompetent.

“Church of England bishops are in denial about all sorts of things that go on. Sexual harassment of women clergy is not rare; it is out there,” Ms Maskell said.

She compared it to the problem of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church, which was shaken last month by the resignation of four out of five Irish bishops after the Murphy Report into the Dublin archdiocese exposed a cover-up.

“The more they try to bury it, the more pain there will be,” Miss Maskell said. She warned that clergy who dared to raise the issue risked being put on a “black list” that would make it difficult to find work in future.

The Church of England believes that most clergy, currently defined as “officeholders” rather than employees, do not want full employment rights.

The Church’s recent review of terms of service found that reclassifying clergy as employees “would entail radical changes to the way in which ministry would be provided across the country.”

The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Rev John Packer, said that most clergy did not want their status changed because they saw their work as a vocation not a job.

The Archbishop of Canterbury admitted that there was a problem with bullying in the Church when he spoke at a TUC conference last year. He said: “I have good reason to know from pastoral contacts with people how much of an issue it can be and I wish we were better at that.”

Last month Unite called for the resignation of two bishops after claiming that a vicar, Mark Sharpe, had been forced out of his home and job in the Worcester diocese by what the union described as “a culture of neglect and bullying”. His departure with his family came after four years of alleged harassment, during which the family’s pet dog was fatally poisoned, faeces was smeared on his car and his tyres were slashed twice.

Mr Sharpe, 42, has an employment tribunal listed for May when he will claim damages from the Church of England for failing to provide protection from harassment. He is now planning to sue for constructive dismissal as well after he resigned his living due to ill health.

The Bishop of Dudley, the Right Rev David Walker, denied the allegations. (Ruth Gledhill in The Times)

Who/What next for Bishop?

(NB: I am not the author of the following item. Indeed, I deplore the uncharitable spirit in which it was conceived. Shame on you, Anglican Curmudgeon!-Damian Thompson of The Telegraph)

(ENS, Rome) The Emperor of Rome, Gaius Caligula, announced yesterday that he had become a convert to Christianity, and that the Roman Empire would now become the “Episcopalian Empire.” In celebration of this momentous event, he said that he would make his horse, Incitatus, a bishop in the Episcopal Church.

“I have learned that the Episcopal Church is a very inclusive church,” he said in an interview with Empirical News. “Their Presiding Bishop has said that she will take orders to consecrate any bishop elected in accordance with the rules. Incitatus has been baptized, and so now under the Church’s canons, he cannot be excluded from holy orders. We will hold a convention, which I personally shall call, to declare ourselves a Diocese of the Church (I have been told that they cannot wait to have a Diocese of Rome), and then we will elect my horse and notify the Presiding Bishop.”

Asked about this news, the Archbishop of Canterbury had the following to say: “The Anglican Communion welcomes all to its doors, and asks only that they observe a period of gracious restraint before engaging in acts which some might take to be contrary to the mind of the Communion. As in any Communion, there can be many a slip betwixt cup and the lip, and I am confident that when (and if) the time comes to extend episcopal fellowship to those whose holy orders qualify them for full participation in the councils here at Lambeth, I or my successor will be up to that task, and will weigh in at the appropriate time with further remarks.”

Bishop J. Jon Bruno, of the Diocese of Los Angeles, said that a baptized horse had every bit as much right to become a bishop as he, a divorcé, did. He praised Caligula for his humanitarian act, and observed that it would lead to less lion fodder in the Circus Maximus. “Everyone can be welcomed into the Episcopal Church,” he said. “The only losers are the lions.”

Landmark Consecration

First New Bishop for the Anglican Church in North America
Aug 26, 2009

It was my joy and privilege on Saturday, Aug. 22, to share in the consecration of the Rt. Rev. William H. Ilgenfritz, the first new bishop for the Anglican Church in North America. Archbishop Robert W. Duncan was the chief consecrator, and the other co-consecrators were Bishop Keith Ackerman, Bishop Edward MacBurney, and Bishop William Wantland, who also preached at the service. Thirteen bishops participated in the apostolic laying on of hands in the historic ceremony.

Bishop Ilgenfritz continues to serve as Rector of St. Mary's Anglican Church in Charleroi, Pa., in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The service took place at the local Roman Catholic parish a few blocks away, called Mary, Mother of the Church. The new bishop previously served here in the Diocese of Fort Worth as Rector of St. John's Church in Brownwood from 1990 to 1994.

It is important to recognize that this first consecration was of a Forward in Faith Bishop and that it creates a new diocese for FIF congregations across the country. This new Missionary Diocese of All Saints begins with about 13 congregations and is charged with planting new churches for traditional anglo-catholics in the United States and Canada. Bishop Ilgenfritz continues to serve as Vice-president of Forward in Faith, North America.

This consecration fulfills the vision of the Episcopal Synod of America, formed in 1989 here in Fort Worth, to create a non-geographic diocese or province for congregations upholding the faith and practice of the historic catholic church, including the tradition of an all-male priesthood. It secures a continuing line of apostolic succession for traditional anglo-catholics, which is no longer possible in The Episcopal Church in the United States.

Please continue to pray for Bishop Ilgenfritz and this new missionary diocese.

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth
Aug. 25, 2009

Power of the cross

The recently consecrated bishop parked his car outside the old downtown church, paused for a moment as though reconsidering his next move, and then briskly climbed the four steps onto the simple but sunny verandah.

On a bench near the front door sat a grey haired priest, seemingly in silent meditation. The bishop approached him diffidently, carefully studying his heavily lined features, clasped hands and closed eyes as though establishing his identity.

Then he spoke softly: "Father, may I sit with you a while?" The old man looked up at the unfamiliar features and pectoral cross, his tired but keen eyes puzzled but polite. He smiled and motioned to the bishop to sit beside him.

"Forgive my intrusion," the bishop said. "But I have a story I must tell you." The old man nodded quietly and waited.

The bishop began: Quite some time ago now a small group of rather boisterous young louts, fresh from an afternoon's drinking session, were walking past a little church. One of them drew the attention of his companiopns to a notice on the door, listing times of confession.

Amid raucous laughter, he suggested: "Why don't we have a bit of fun. Let's make a list of the worst sins we can think of and then draw lots as to who should go in and confess them. It'll be a lark seeing how the poor old priest reacts."

"I've got a better plan," jeered a companion. "Seeing it's your bright idea, why don't you put your money where your mouth is. I bet you 20 dollars you don't have the guts to do it."

The young man tensed a bit but rose to the challenge. "Right," he said, "let's get working on the sin sheet."

It wasn't long before the young man emerged from the church beaming, brandishing a slip of paper. "Well Ive won the bet," he said. "Here's proof I've been to confession."

"What's that?" asked his companions. "It's my penance, handed to me by the priest himself." "What did he say?" the others asked. "He didn't say anything, just handed me the slip."

"Well," said one, "have you done your penance?" "Don't be silly. I don't go for that nonsense," he replied. 2Then I don't pay you your 20 dollars" said his challenger. No penance, no confession. He was adamant.

Seeing they were unyielding, the young man went back into the church, reading the priest's note as he went.

"Kneel before the crucifix at the altar and repeat ten tuimes: All this you did for me and I don't give a damn."

"That's no hassle." he thought, making his way to the chancel. He reached the crucifix and knelt down. His eyes took in the nailed hands and feet and the infinite sadness in the eyes. Then they moved to the text below: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".

He began his penance: "All this you did for me and I don't give a damn. All this you did for me and I don't give a damn. All this you did for me and I don't..."

About half an hour later his friends, impatient, went in to the church to find out what he was up to. They found him at the altar rail sobbing profusely.

"Well, that's the story," said the bishop. "Except for two things. I was that young man and you were the priest."

Christian Agnostics?

Richard Holloway says the worldwide Anglican Church has made room for "happy clapping" evangelicals, bells-and-smells Catholics, women priests and, in the United States, openly gay clergy and even practitioners of other faiths. So surely, he argues, it can find room for people like him - Christians who don't believe in God.

Holloway, contrary to popular belief, has not left the Episcopal Church, as Scottish Anglicanism is known. He may have taken early retirement as Bishop of Edinburgh but the writer remains an ordained priest and consecrated bishop, who still preaches from the pulpit, performs baptisms and weddings and even presides at communion.

"I had a crisis in 1998 and I was in a kind of internal exile for a bit," he told the Herald yesterday, while en route to Sydney, where he is a speaker at the Sydney Writers' Festival.

"I am in a slightly mellower place with the church right now. I've still got my pilot's licence, so to speak. They didn't take it away from me."

But Holloway has abandoned his belief in - or at least certainty about - God and the afterlife, and is now known as a "Christian agnostic".

"I am not trying to persuade people in the church to adopt my angle," he insists. "I just want space enough to be honest about my own convictions. The congregation I belong to in Edinburgh knows my position and is hospitable enough to include me."

That he still presides at communion - indeed, as recently as three weeks ago - raises the thorny question of how an agnostic, unconvinced about the divinity of Jesus, can consecrate the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. Surely, it becomes a mere gesture? "It very much depends on the interpretation you put on it," he explains.

"I still very much believe in the community of the church. One of the most fundamental strengths of the church, or any religious community, is that it is still an expression of the human family.

"The eucharist [communion], in my understanding, is the family meal. It is the way you express your identity and membership of that body. I happen to believe that it is a beautiful art form as well."

Holloway - whose most recent book, Between The Monster And The Saint, contemplates the way humans wrestle with their impulses towards evil - sees the church as a valuable institution, as much a social club, welfare organisation and counselling service as a community of believers - or doubters.

He still believes humans should live ethically, as though there is a promise of an afterlife. "What I hold is another great philosopher, [the Spaniard, Miguel de Unamuno], who said, 'Man is perishing, that may be, but if it is nothingness that await us, let us perish resisting and let us so live that it will be an unjust fate.' I want people to live as though life had eternal meaning. Even if you don't believe in a God of unconditional love, choose to live as though there were."

The House of Bishops

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Open Letter to the House of Bishops

Thursday 13th November 2008

Most Reverend and Right Reverend Fathers in God,

Tomorrow you will meet as a House of Bishops to discuss the current state of the Church of England and, particularly, the decision made at General Synod over the summer. As young people training for the ministerial priesthood in the Church of England we have attempted to put into words our concerns and anxieties about the future, and to offer you, in some small way, an insight into our hopes and fears for, potentially, forty years of ordained ministry.

The decision by General Synod in July to consider a Code of Practice, rather than structural alternatives, presents a significant problem for those who are opposed to the ordination of women. Many of this integrity have suggested that it is “too soon to give up” and that something effective can come from the next Group of Sessions. We fear this is unlikely. If the Church of England chooses not to provide appropriate structural solutions, as this resolution by General Synod would seem to indicate, it would be foolhardy - and even disingenuous - to continue to prepare for a life of ordained ministry in the Church of England.

General Synod is the “synodically governed” part of the Church of England’s systems of authority, but there is another: the recognition that it is “episcopally led” is as vital to this discussion, and it is this element that we wish to address. At the July Group of Sessions, Synod decided to disregard the interventions of the two Archbishops and a number of our most senior bishops. This would seem to undermine the authority of the Archbishops, and appears to reflect a distressing disunity within the House of Bishops itself.

If the House of Bishops is to lead us from the brink of irreparable damage to the systems of government within the Church of England, then this is the time to do it. Whether you, as the bishops of the Church of England, wish to follow this route is your decision. We will continue to pray for an increased unity in the House of Bishops in order that the same unity might spread throughout the Church of England.

There has been much discussion of a Code of Practice but, as we have stated above, this is unworkable. Fr Jonathan Baker’s resignation from the Manchester Group indicates the strength with which the constituency resents being, seemingly, ‘dealt with’ in this way. A Code of Practice may seem attractive on paper, but it is hard to see how it could sustain a body of Christians shaped for mission and evangelism and who are not merely tolerated, but respected.

Many have pointed to other Provinces within the Anglican Communion as examples of places where women are ordained to the episcopate, using this as a reason for us to consider it within the Church of England. If this is taken seriously as legitimising the quest for episcopal ordination for women, it follows that other related examples within the Communion should also be taken seriously. The House of Bishops need not be reminded of the current situation in the United States, where it is possible to see instances in which such a Code of Practice has failed to provide for those it intends to. A similar situation has developed in the decision by the Governing Body of the Church in Wales not to replace the Provincial Assistant Bishop following his recent retirement.

The House of Bishops has the opportunity to bring this situation under control.Nobody would suggest that this issue is going to go away; nobody would suggest that the House of Bishops can, over the course of this weekend, solve all the problems that currently exist. However, it is possible for the House of Bishops to provide the leadership and unity that is so urgently needed on this matter.

The House of Bishops represents as broad a range of opinions as the Church of England encompasses—and well it should. On this issue a matter of Christian Unity is at stake. Not only within the Church of England, but in the church at large, there is genuine concern that the future could bring further dissonance and disunity to Christ’s Church, bringing realistic hopes for Christian Unity to an end.

A Code of Practice cannot sustain the Church of England as it is today. The House of Bishops has the potential to do something about that, and to come together as a model of Christian living, affirming and including all within our number.

With our good wishes and prayers,

An Unholy Alliance

Obama and the Gay Bishop: 'Three Private Meetings'

Today I had the chance to discuss the US election with Bishop Gene Robinson, who is briefly in London for the annual Stonewall awards where he won 'Hero of the Year'.

But he was actually most interesting on his private meetings with President-elect Barack Obama. Bishop Gene said: 'I had the great honour of having three private conversations with him.' These took place in May and June last year and were not initiated by Robinson.

'I was actually sought out by his campaign. He had quite an extraordinary outreach to the religious community. By that I mean all religious communities. And through those contacts I had the opportunity to speak to him. And I must say I don't know if it is an expression here in England or not but he is the genuine article. I think he is exactly who he says he is. And I serve on the church pension fund board at the national level and  I serve with someone who has been his friend since Barack was in college and says what you see is exactly who he has been for as long as I've known him.

'He is impressive, he's smart, he is an amazing listener. For someone who's called on to speak all the time when he asks you a question it is not for show, he is actually wanting to know what you think and listens, or at least gives you that impression. I think we've had eight years of someone who has listened to almost no-one. So the thought of having a president who gathers the best people around him and then listens to what they have to say to him, especially the things he doesn't want to hear I think he will be open to, that is very refreshing. So I'm absolutely delighted about him.

They did not discuss Anglican issues in great depth. 'He certainly indicated his broad and deep support for the full civil rights for gay and lesbian people. 

They discussed what it was like to be 'first' in something - first gay bishop, potentially first black president.

Bishop Gene said: 'One of the things Barack and I did talk about when we were together was just  the experience of being first and the danger of that and we talked about being demonised by one side and, I don't know if the word is angelicised, by the other. Expectations are laid on you both negative and positive and neither are true. And the importance of remaining centred and grounded in the middle of that so that you don't begin to believe either your negative press or your positive press.'

'We did not talk about assassination specifically but we did talk about the physical risks to ploughing new territory. I don't think anyone can have observed life in America in the last century without noting that we tend to be a more violent society than most and that the availability of weapons and the willingness of some people to use them present enormous challenges. At the end of the day you have to decide whether or not you are going to be paralysed by threats and by violent possibilities  or whether you are just move on and do what you feel called to do despite the risks. (Ruth Gledhill)

Earlier Report from CEN last September

The Bishop of New Hampshire has broken with tradition and endorsed a candidate for political office. In a letter published on “LGBT for Obama,” a website that states it serves as the “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community’s online campaign to educate voters on John McCain’s anti-gay policies” Bishop Gene Robinson called on all LGBT voters to “put our differences and disappointments aside, and get behind the one candidate who has our interests at heart.”

On Sept 4 Bishop Robinson wrote LGBT voters were “faced with the most stark choice in recent memory, with ramifications for our community like no other. If nothing else convinces you to vote for Barack Obama, surely the likelihood of the next president appointing one, two, or possibly even three Supreme Court justices should do it.”

While endorsing specific issues and or programmes is not uncommon, lending the support of the episcopal office to a single candidate is uncommon. It also skirts US tax laws, as clergy or church endorsements are prohibited by a 1954 amendment to the Internal Revenue Code. Nonprofit, tax-exempt entities may not “participate in, or intervene in . . . any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.”

Past challenges to the law have so far failed, with the Courts holding that while clergy are free to speak out on religious, moral and political issues they cannot use tax-exempt resources to support or oppose candidates for public office, which includes statements from the pulpit by church officials and other indications of campaign intervention.

In May of 2000, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously held that the IRS properly revoked the tax exemption of the Church at Pierce Creek, a congregation near Binghamton, N.Y., that bought newspaper ads in 1992 opposing presidential candidate Bill Clinton.

Bishop Robinson said that the election of John McCain would lead to the packing of the US Supreme Court with justices that would rule against the recognition of gay marriages. “With Barack Obama, we have someone who is utterly sympathetic to our full and equal rights as citizens.”

He added that while Senator Obama “won’t say he’s for equal marriage rights” Bishop Robinson knew from his “own private conversations with him that he is totally in our court. I believe him, and I trust him, not to throw us under the bus when the election is over.”

Paulinus

Residents attending 'Friends of York Minster' meetings today.

St. Paulinus, Archbishop of York

Archbishop of York, died at Rochester, 10 October, 644. He was a Romanmonk in St. Andrew's monastery at Rome, and was sent by St. Gregory the Great in 601, with St. Mellitus and others, to help St. Augustine and to carry the pallium to him. He laboured in Kent -- with the possible exception of a mission to East Anglia before 616 -- till 625, when he accompaniedEthelburga (Aethelburh), the sister of King Eadbald of Kent, when she went to the Northumbrian Court to marry King Edwin, then a pagan (see SAINT EDWIN). Before leaving Kent, he was consecrated bishop by St. Justus,Archbishop of Canterbury. He was successful in converting Edwin and large numbers of his people, the king's baptism taking place on 12 April, 627. With the assistance of St. Edwin, he established his see at York and began to build a stone church there. His apostolic labours in instructing and baptizingthe people of the north country were unceasing, and tradition perpetuates his ministry at Yeavering, Catterick Bridge, Dewsbury, Easingwold, Southwell, and elsewhere, while his own name is preserved in the village of Pallingsburn in Northumbria. On the defeat of St. Edwin in 633, Paulinus carried the queen and her children safely to Kent; and, as the heathen reaction under Penda made missionary work impossible in Northumbria, he devoted himself to theDiocese of Rochester, then vacant. It was after his flight that he received the pallium from Rome (634), sent to him as Archbishop of York. ThoughAnglican writers have disagreed among themselves as to whether he wasjustified in leaving his archbishopric, Catholic writers, following St. Bede, have held that he had no choice and was the best judge of what was advisable under the circumstances. St. Bede describes him as tall and thin, with a slightly stooping figure; he had black hair and an aquiline nose and was of venerable and awe-inspiring aspect. He was buried in his church atRochester, and, on the rebuilding of the cathedral, his relics were translated by Archbishop Lanfranc to a silver shrine where they lay till the Reformation. His festival is observed in England on 10 Oct., the anniversary of his death.

John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu FRSA (born 10 June 1949 in Kampala, Uganda) is the 97th Archbishop of York, Metropolitan of the province of York, and Primate of England. He is the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Bishop of Whitby is an episcopal title given to a suffragan bishop in the Church of England Diocese of York, which is within theProvince of York, England.

The title takes its name after the town of Whitby in North Yorkshire. Today, the Bishop of Whitby is responsible for the Archdeaconry of Cleveland, and assists the Archbishop of York in overseeing the diocese.

List of the Bishops of Whitby

Tenure	Incumbent	Notes
1923 to 1939	Henry St John Stirling Woollcombe	(1869-1941). Translated to Selby
1939 to 1947	Harold Evelyn Hubbard	(1883-1953)
1947 to 1954	Walter Hubert Baddeley	(1894-1960). Translated to Blackburn
1954 to 1961	Philip William Wheeldon	(1913-1992)
1961 to 1972	George D'Oyly Snow	(1907-1991)
1972 to 1975	John Yates	(1925-2008). Translated to Gloucester
1976 to 1983	Clifford Conder Barker	(b.1926). Translated to Selby
1983 to 1999	Gordon Bates	(b.1934)
1999 to Present	Robert Sidney Ladds SSC	(b.1941)

The Rt Rev. Robert Sidney Ladds is the current Suffragan Bishop of Whitby . He was born on 15 November 1941 and educated atCanterbury Christ Church University . Ordained in 1981 he began his career with a curacy in Hythe, Kent  and was then successively Chaplain to the Bishop of Blackburn, Vicar of Bretherton and finally (before his elevation to the Episcopate) Archdeacon ofLancaster. A keen gardener he was a research chemist before becoming a clergyman.

THE BISHOP HAS RESIGNED AS FROM DECEMBER and is to take a house for duty priest position in a London Parish.

The Archdeaconry of York is an archdeaconry, or subdivision, of the Church of England Diocese of York in the Province of York.

Forder, Charles Robert (b 1907) Former Archdeacon of York, resident at Dulverton Hall, died today in Scarborough Hospital.