from Anglican Futures
1) Members asked 238 ‘Questions’ but were unimpressed by the answers
One member described the answers that members were receiving to their written questions as “partial”, “evasive” and “political”, he continued:
“We are correctly required to ensure that our questions are questions. Please can we ensure that the answers are answers?”
Dr Andrew Bell, Diocese of Oxford
2) £1m reparations fund for slavery is under attack
In 2023, the Church Commissioners published a report into its historic links to African chattel enslavement.
- The report claimed that ‘Queen Anne’s Bounty’, a fund set up in 1704 to help poor Anglican Clergy, had “financed great evil” by “investing in African chattel enslavement”.
- The response was to divert £100m of their current funds to provide, “permanent seed capital in communities damaged by African chattel enslavement’s legacy of racism and disadvantage.”
- The fund is known as ‘Project Spire’ or the ‘Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice’.
However, at a very feisty Fringe event, Synod members heard:
- the premise is historically incorrect
- the Church Commissioners cannot lawfully set up such a fund
- the approach risks encouraging “segregationist beliefs”
In response to questions about these issues, the Chair of the Church Commissioners deflected questions of fact and justified carrying on by saying:
“A Church that ignores our links with a fundamental historic wrong cannot credibly claim moral leadership in the present or the future.”
Chair of the Church Commissioners, the Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury