Church of England Communication
Up-date
Archbishop of Canterbury's visit to
China
Bishop welcomes preservation of
Prisons Inspectorate
People of faith sustain vibrant rural
communities
Shock poster pressures supermarkets
to back Bishop
Commissioners to market financial
interest in housing loans
Prayers for all Times and Seasons in
three new publications
The Revd Sir Derek Pattinson RIP
Law Commission consultation:
"Cohabitation: the Financial Consequences of Relationship Breakdown"
Archbishop calls for secure future
for Hospital Chaplaincy
The Church of England appoints its
first Bishop for Urban Life and Faith
New Church of England schools to
offer a quarter of places to non-church families
Guidelines on dealing with domestic
abuse launched
Bishop of Manchester appointed to
chair women bishops legislative drafting group
Church launches official resources to
mark the journey of faith
Planting for growth: new ideas for
countryside churches
Archbishop announces new Third Church
Estates Commissioner
Tailor Made: Communications Training
for a Mission Shaped Church
Archbishop of Canterbury's visit to China
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr
Rowan Williams, spent a varied two weeks touring China and visiting
a range of communities across the country.
During a press conference on his
journey back to the UK, the Archbishop reflected on his trip and
spoke of his encouragement at the changing context of life in China,
including government concessions on the death penalty and the
development of Sunday Schools.
Read his full reflections at:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/releases/061023.htm
Highlights of the trip include:
The Archbishop's remarks to Chevening
scholars in Nanjing where he spoke of China emerging as a senior
partner in the fellowship of nations.
Read the full text of his remarks at:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/releases/061010.htm
The Archbishop's lecture at Wuhan University where he traced the
roots of the university system in the desire to nourish spiritual
and moral maturity, as well as intellectual skill. This, he said,
provided a model for universities to continue their contribution to
the ongoing debates on the moral dimensions of public life both in
China and in the West.
Read the full text of his lecture at:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/releases/061013.htm
The Archbishop's sermon preached at
Chaoyang Church, Beijing, where he argued that,
as part of building up a harmonious society, churches and church
members should join in and play their part in the debates that
responsible people are having.
Read the full text of the sermon at:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/sermons_speeches/061022.htm
Bishop welcomes preservation of
Prisons Inspectorate
The Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby, Bishop of
Worcester and Bishop to HM Prisons, has welcomed the Government's
announcement that it will not proceed with a proposal to merge the
Prisons Inspectorate in a 'super-inspectorate' covering all parts of
the criminal justice system.
Bishop Peter said, "I warmly welcome the Government's decision to
achieve
common purpose and shared working among the criminal justice
inspectorates by cooperative working rather than structural
reorganisation. This achieves exactly the balance of independence
for the particular > responsibilities of HM Chief Inspector of
Prisons and of the sharing of insight that we all want to see."
Read the full statement from the Bishop:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10806.html
People of faith sustain vibrant rural communities
Research published recently shows
that vibrant rural communities are sustained and enhanced by the
actions of people of faith. These often unseen actions benefit the
whole community, argues the findings of Faith in Rural Communities:
Contributions of Social Capital to Community
Vibrancy, which was supported by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). "It is
the quality of the relationships that make a rural place really
vibrant," said Dr Jill Hopkinson, National Rural Officer for the
Church of England, "and this contributes to breaking down barriers
between groups in rural places."
Read more about the report:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10706.html
Order it online:
http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/publications/faith%5Fin%5Frural%5Fcommu
Shock poster pressures
supermarkets to back Bishop
The Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Rev
David Gillett, has launched 'Halloween Choice', a campaign
challenging supermarkets to offer a wider range of merchandise to
people who want to celebrate Halloween in an alternative way.
The campaign is supported by a
striking poster and postcard design which features actual masks
available for parents or children to buy, one of which depicts a
serial killer from a film. The material carries the tag line - "Not
all parents want to see their kids dressed as monsters or murderers
this Halloween".
Read more about the Bishop's campaign:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10706a.html
Find out how you can get involved in
lobbying for change on next Halloween's supermarket shelves:
www.halloweenchoice.org
Commissioners to market financial
interest in housing loans
The Church Commissioners announced in
October that they had begun detailed discussions to sell their
financial interest in housing loans granted to the Church of England
Pensions Board. This is a sale of the Commissioners' income stream
from these loans and not a sale of the 'bricks and mortar.'
All retired clergy who have mortgages
under The Church's Housing Assistance for the Retired Ministry
(CHARM) scheme have been informed by letter of the transaction, and
reassured that their loan conditions with the Pensions Board remain
unchanged.
Find out more about this announcement:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10206.html
Prayers for all Times and Seasons
in three new publications
Common Worship further enriches the
worship of the Church of England with the eagerly awaited
publication of Times and Seasons. Concentrating on the major
liturgical cycles, particularly Advent to Candlemas and Lent to
Easter, this latest addition to the Common Worship family of
resources helps to plan and prepare worship that embraces the
richness of the Christian year.
Alongside that material, Times and Seasons provides resources for
the festivals and seasons of the agricultural year, as well as
material to explore themes such as creation and the environment.
Practical resources include creative service outlines, fully worked
out services for all the major festivals and a wealth of seasonally
appropriate liturgical material, such as that used in the new
Christingle service published this year by The Children's Society.
Discover more about Common Worship: Times and Seasons:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10506.html
Order your copy now:
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/product.asp?id=2392649
The Revd Sir Derek Pattinson RIP
The Church of England mourns the loss
of Sir Derek Pattinson, who died, aged 76, on Tuesday, October 10.
As Associate Secretary General, he helped to see into being the
General Synod of the Church of England in 1970 and served as its
Secretary General from 1972 to 1990. Pattinson oversaw a huge range
of significant discussions within the Church, including a possible
Anglican/Methodist Reunion, the televised Ban the Bomb debate and
debates on women and the priesthood.
Read the full obituary:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10606.html
Law Commission consultation: "Cohabitation: the Financial
Consequences of Relationship Breakdown"
The Church of England has told the
Law Commission consultation: "Cohabitation: the Financial
Consequences of Relationship Breakdown," that public policy should
promote and encourage marriage, as it contributes to the common
good.
The Rt Revd Tom Butler, Bishop of
Southwark said: "It is perfectly justified in terms of public policy
for marriage to continue to confer particular benefits and
privileges not available to those who choose not to commit to an
enduring legal relationship, so long as adequate steps are taken to
prevent manifest injustice. The test we would commend in assessing
possible solutions is whether they will genuinely correct injustices
without at the same time downgrading or creating disincentives to
marriage."
Read the full response:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10406.html
Archbishop calls for secure future for Hospital Chaplaincy
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr
Rowan Williams, has given his strong support to the work of hospital
chaplains and has stressed the need for a commitment to securing
effective chaplaincy services across the National Health Service at
a time of job cutbacks and financial restraint.
In a recent meeting with Health Minister, Lord Warner, Dr Williams
spoke of his concern about reports of disproportionate cuts in
chaplaincy services in some parts of the NHS. Whilst recognising the
financial constraints on the NHS and the need to ensure that all
areas – including chaplaincy - bear their fair share of any
cutbacks, Dr Williams stressed that chaplaincy should neither be
considered a 'soft target', nor bear a disproportionate burden of
staff reductions
Read the Archbishop's full statement:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/abchcc.html
The Church of England appoints its
first Bishop for Urban Life and Faith
The Archbishops of Canterbury and
York have appointed the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Hulme, to
promote the dissemination and implementation of the report Faithful
Cities, the follow up report to Faith in the City, which was widely
welcomed at its launch in May. The appointment is for three years,
during which the Bishop will respond to issues of urban policy and
life on behalf of the Church.
Discover more about this exciting appointment:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10006.html
New Church of England schools to
offer a quarter of places to non-church families
All new Church of England schools
should have at least a quarter of admission places available to
non-Christians but Parliament should not expect the same commitment
from other faith communities, the chairman of the Board of Education
has told the Secretary of State for Education.
In a letter to Alan Johnson, the
Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Dr Kenneth Stevenson, writes: "As
chairman of the Board of Education and National Society, and as the
Church of England's spokesman on education in the House of Lords, I
want to make a specific commitment that all new Church of England
schools should have at least 25% of places available to children
with no requirement that they be of practising Christian families."
Read the Bishop's letter:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10106.html
Guidelines on dealing with domestic abuse launched
Pastoral guidelines on Responding to
Domestic Abuse, prepared in response to a General Synod motion in
2004 and approved by the Archbishops' Council, have been published.
The guidelines give basic information about domestic abuse, set out
principles for dealing with it, and offer practical recommendations
for those with pastoral responsibility, as well as encouraging
parishes and dioceses to develop policies. They point out that the
most useful resources are generally those available locally but cite
a selection of church resources for training and raising awareness.
A series of appendices discuss particular topics in greater detail.
The guidelines can be found at:
www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/domesticabuse.pdf
Bishop of Manchester appointed to
chair women bishops legislative drafting group
The Rt Rev Nigel
McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester, has been appointed by the
Archbishops' Council to chair a legislative drafting group to
consider proposals for allowing women to be consecrated as bishops.
The drafting group was called for in a motion carried by the General
Synod in July 2006.
Find out more about this announcement:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr9806.html
Church launches official resources
to mark the journey of faith
The Church of England has published
resources to equip local parishes with tools to help mark major
milestones in a Christian's journey of faith. The new materials have
been developed in response to calls from churches for quality
resources to help celebrate baptisms and confirmations - the two
major services at which Christians make a public affirmation of
their faith or their commitment to raising a child in that faith.
Learn more about these new resources
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr9706.html
See what they look like, and order them now, by searching the Church
House Publishing site for the resources you are interested in:
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk
Planting for growth: new ideas for
countryside churches
Churches in the countryside should
consider setting up farmers' markets and using school buildings
after hours to organise café-style events to reach out to rural
communities, argues a new book released today by the Church of
England.
Mission-shaped and Rural, written by the Revd Sally Gaze, sheds
light on how traditional models of the Church's work in the
countryside should be complemented by emerging forms of ministry in
order to meet the needs of today's rural communities. This follow-up
book to Mission-Shaped Church seeks to transform the aspirations of
the original report into further reflection and recommended actions
specifically for those engaged in rural ministry.
Find out more about Mission-shaped and Rural:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10906.html
Order your copy now:
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/product.asp?id=2392633
Archbishop announces new Third Church Estates Commissioner
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr
Rowan Williams, has announced the appointment of Mr Timothy Walker
to serve as Third Church Estates Commissioner in succession to Lady
Brentford.
Read more about this announcement:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/abcthirdcec.html
Tailor Made: Communications
Training for a Mission Shaped Church
You know what you want to say, you
know what you want people to hear, but how can you make it happen?
Our 2007 programme of communications training courses are tailor
made to help you get your key messages across. Next year we are
offering different streams of courses to match different levels of
experience and different needs.
Details are being finalised at
present, and the 2007 programme will be launched at the end of
November. To request a copy of the course brochure please contact
Suzanne Gray on 020 7898 1465 or
comms.training@c-of-e.org.uk