by Madeleine Davies, Church Times
Report draws on 74 interviews with bishops, clergy, lay people, and officers of the national church institutions
THE report Trust and Trustworthiness in the Church of England: Listening and responding to usual and unusual challenges was the subject of a presentation on the Monday afternoon.
The author, Professor Veronica Hope Hailey, is a former Dean of the Business School at the University of Bristol, and the report draws on 74 interviews with bishops, clergy, lay people, and officers of the national church institutions (NCIs).
Introducing the presentation, the Bishop of Peterborough, the Rt Revd Debbie Sellin, described it as “the culmination of six years of work”. It was, she said, “not simply a catalogue of challenges. Rather, it offers us insights and reflection to help us understand how trust may be built and rebuilt”.
The author of the theological reflection accompanying the report, Professor David Ford, said: “This has been a deeply moving experience. For me, personally, it has been something of a culmination of my life in the Church of England since I came over 50 years ago from the Church of Ireland.”
Among the four things that had “especially gripped” him were “the cries of pain and anguish, disappointment, anger, and lament, and also of trust, thanks, and hope” in the interviews, which echoed the Psalms: “Wisdom is often found in the discernment of cries.” Most important, however, was Jesus’s desire “that they may all be one”.
He continued: “Our Church has always wanted to be a blessing to this country. . . This country needs institutions that show how trust can be repaired, renewed, and sustained. We need these lively signs of trust and trustworthiness. At present, in most people’s eyes, we are not that. If we humbly seek to follow through practically on this report . . . that could change.”
He highlighted both receptive ecumenism — “a patient pursuit of unity that begins with humility asking what we can learn from others” — and pastoral supervision — a “new blessing” — as key responses to the findings.