Bishop of Manchester threatens orthodox Anglicans

Jun 11, 2021 by

Bishop of Manchester threatens orthodox Anglicans

By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream: “If I was to stand up on a soapbox and start spewing hate speech, the fact that I might begin by saying ‘Dear God’, and end by saying ‘Amen’ wouldn’t protect me…” But what the Bishop of Manchester goes on to say in this interview in the Guardian, and the context of his comments, lay him open to the charge of doing what he condemns – using a position of influence to promote a divisive ideology, relying on emotion and appeals to groupthink rather than...

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Christ Church Oxford: Dean Martyn Percy cleared for the fifth time

Jun 2, 2021 by

Christ Church Oxford: Dean Martyn Percy cleared for the fifth time

by Archbishop Cranmer: In the case of the allegation of sexual assault and harassment made against Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church Oxford, the Church of England determined that the CDM (Clergy Discipline Measure) should proceed to trial. But one of Britain’s most senior Court of Appeal judges, Dame Sarah Asplin, President of Tribunals for the Church of England, has ruled that it would be “entirely disproportionate” for the matter to be referred to a Clergy Disciplinary Tribunal. The ruling...

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A contribution to the work of the new Next Steps working group

Jun 1, 2021 by

A contribution to the work of the new Next Steps working group

by Martin Davie: According to a Church of England press release giving details of the meeting of the House of Bishops on 17 and 18 May, the bishops ‘agreed in principle to the formation of a working group on gender identity and transition under the auspices of the LLF Next Steps Group.’ [1] The purpose of this article is to offer a contribution to the thinking of this new group from a traditional Anglican perspective. Why the traditional Christian view of sexual identity is being challenged....

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Bullying, Lack of Pastoral Experience appears to undo a Bishop’s Episcopacy

May 31, 2021 by

Bullying, Lack of Pastoral Experience appears to undo a Bishop’s Episcopacy

By David W. Virtue, DD, Virtueonline: The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt. Rev Tim Dakin is at the epicenter of an ecclesiastical storm. Dakin has revealed a bullying personality with no previous experience of parish leadership. Dakin catapulted through the ranks from humble beginnings in Kenya as principal of a college for Church Army students to become the fifth most powerful bishop in the Church of England. There are also questions over whether he was ever validly ordained. Procedures in most...

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Was Tim Dakin made Bishop of Winchester without being validly ordained priest?

May 30, 2021 by

Was Tim Dakin made Bishop of Winchester without being validly ordained priest?

by Archbishop Cranmer: There is something very peculiar going on in the Diocese of Winchester (which may or may not have spent £500,000 on NDAs). Not only has its Bishop ‘stepped back‘ or ‘stepped down‘ “for six weeks” after being threatened with a vote of no confidence, but there is some grave doubt about whether he should ever have been enthroned as the 97th Bishop of Winchester at all. If so, that temporary stepping back or stepping down may become rather more permanent. Setting aside...

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Institutional narcissism in the Church of England

May 24, 2021 by

Institutional narcissism in the Church of England

by Archbishop Cranmer: “The BBC, the NHS and Oxfam have a bad case of institutional narcissism”, wrote Matthew Syed in the Sunday Times yesterday. It is a terse but cogent thesis, coming in the wake of the BBC’s ‘Diana scandal‘ and the revelation that Martin Bashir resorted to forgery and fraud in order to further his career and secure the interview scoop of the century. “The Panorama scandal shows how the assumption of purity can allow bad things to go unchecked”, we are told, because, as...

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