Diocese of Oxford puts a green stumbling block into liturgy of baptism
by Archbishop Cranmer:
On 15th June, the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, issued an ad clerum to the clergy in his Diocese:
Dear xxxxx,
In every service of baptism, confirmation and the renewal of baptismal promises there is a commission where the whole congregation promise to live out our everyday faith.
The commission is a well used and familiar part our liturgy. However it contains nothing about our care for the environment and the 5th Mark of Mission.
The Bishops in the diocese have agreed to authorise (under Canon B5) a new final question in this commissioning, which we began to use in confirmations from the end of May:
Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth?
With the help of God I will.
We want to warmly commend this question for use in parishes where the Commission is used and, of course, to encourage teaching and preparation on this theme as part of preparation for baptism and confirmation.
With kind regards,
Steven Oxford
This hasn’t gone down very well with some clergy in the Diocese of Oxford (who have written to Cranmer’s Tower in confidence [fearing what?]); and wider, such as Fr Marcus Walker in the Diocese of London, who dissents without fear, because he’s of the view ‘There’s no role for green politics in Christian baptism‘:
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