The neoliberal revolution within the Church

Aug 6, 2020 by

The neoliberal revolution within the Church

by Giles Fraser, UnHerd: The ancient institution has been asset-stripped by an expanding bureaucracy of management-speak types. On the ground, many of us parish clergy are getting increasingly cheesed off. In The Church Times this week there is yet another advertisement for a non-parish job loaded full of vacuous HR devised buzzwords. Sheffield Diocese are looking for an Associate Archdeacon — which is a new one on me — to be a “transition enabler”. Their job will be to “grow teams of lay and...

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Church of England Parochial System

Aug 6, 2020 by

Church of England Parochial System

Letter to The Telegraph: SIR – I do not always share the views of Giles Fraser (Comment, August 3), but his article on the future of the Church of England parochial system makes many points that which the Church would do well to take on board. It is ironic that Chelmsford diocese has announced it will axe 60 posts having, during the episcopate of Stephen Cottrell (now the Archbishop of York), created three more for archdeacons, making a total of seven. The new “super-diocese” of Leeds was sold...

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Rotten to the core group

Aug 5, 2020 by

Rotten to the core group

from Private Eye: CHURCH of England guidelines say that if complaints about sexual abuse, or safeguarding failures in the way such complaints are treated, are made against a member of the clergy, the local bishop should immediately form a local “core group” to consider the claim. If the accusation is against a bishop or a dean, the core group is formed at a national level. One might expect such allegations against bishops to be pretty rare – so members of the General Synod were aghast to learn...

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A cathedral choir is for the glory of God, not church officials

Aug 2, 2020 by

A cathedral choir is for the glory of God, not church officials

by Janet Greenwood, The Conservative Woman: I WAS deeply saddened to see Sheffield Cathedral close their choir after 400 years, with a view to restarting next year in a more ‘diverse’ format.  In my experience as a cathedral chorister (volunteer, not professional), Glasgow Cathedral Choir, St Mungo’s, Church of Scotland (1984 – 1988), cathedral music is about excellence. Also in my experience, you can have excellence, or you can have quotas. The minute you start with quotas (which is what...

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Are churches ready to open?

Aug 1, 2020 by

Are churches ready to open?

By Martin Down, CEN: As the new dictatorship allows us, step by step, to leave the house again, are we ready to go? With the opening of places of work it seems that there are two groups amongst the workers: some who are desperate to get back to the office or the factory, to the jobs they enjoy doing, to seeing their friends and mates, to getting a full salary and, maybe, a bit of overtime: others who are very happy to go on getting paid for doing nothing at home, except fish or play golf. What...

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Bristol church hosts drive-in service in Sainsbury’s car park

Jul 31, 2020 by

Bristol church hosts drive-in service in Sainsbury’s car park

from Premier: A church in Bristol has hosted an innovative ‘drive-in’ service in a bid to keep its congregation worshipping together during the coronavirus pandemic. St Michael’s Church, Stoke Gifford, partnered with Sainsbury’s East Filton to host the socially distanced service in the supermarket car park on 26th July. Revd Tom Benyon, a member of the clergy at St Michael’s, spoke from a stage at the front of the car park and live music was facilitated by the church worship band....

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