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Andrew Goddard writes: A recent service at York Minster in which the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) were used for two men who had entered a civil same-sex marriage has ignited controversy, highlighted several problems, and raised the question as to whether people are playing fast and loose (PFL) with PLF. The initial social … Continue Reading
Martin Davie writes: In a letter of 2 July this year to the signatories of a letter from the Alliance group within the Church of England to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishop of Oxford wrote as follows: The mind of the majority House of Bishops now seems to me to be settling … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: Reflecting on the recent July Session of the Church of England’s General Synod and considering where we now find ourselves on the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) questions of sexuality, marriage and identity I was struck by the fact that we seem to be engaged in a game of episcopal Jenga. … Continue Reading
Christopher Landau writes: In some of the cases of marriage breakdown I have known, a crucial moment came when one party no longer believed the marriage could be saved, and so the only option was to proceed to divorce. I fear the Church of England stands on the precipice of such a moment. I hope … Continue Reading
Not everything was bad at the session of General Synod last weekend. When someone asked me how I was, I replied ‘I feel like the violinist in the orchestra on the Titanic. The music is going very well!’ There was an important discussion about ‘rest periods for office holders’ (C of E language for vicars … Continue Reading
Joshua Penduck writes: In a striking, and near seeming coincidence, at the same time the Bishop of Oxford’s Letter against the Alliance has been published, a new previously undiscovered letter of +Eustathius of Sebaste to Athanasius of Alexander has been brought to light. Eustathius of Sebaste was one of the leaders of the ‘homoiousios’ party, … Continue Reading
Robert Tombs and Lawrence Goldman write: The Church Commissioners have pledged £100 million over nine years in reparation for what are claimed to be their eighteenth-century predecessors’ involvement in and large financial gains from slavery and the slave trade. They argue that the Church, through Queen Anne’s Bounty (a corporation created by statute in 1703-4 for ‘the … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: Yesterday, the latest proposal as to the way forward in relation to Living in Love and Faith (LLF) appeared in the form of GS 2358, to be added to all the previous General Synod papers since January 2023. This 31-page paper provides the motion (p. 17) the House of Bishops will be … Continue Reading
Last week, Martyn Snow, the bishop of Leicester and current lead for the Living in Love and Faith process debating sexuality in the Church of England, wrote an article in the Church of England Newspaper arguing that ‘Unity Matters—it really matters’. The article, and comments he makes in support of it, set out some … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: A new article by the Lead Bishop for LLF, Martyn Snow, offers some promising signals as to how the LLF “reset” is progressing, particularly in relation to the importance of doctrine and its relationship to the form of our unity, but it also leaves major questions unanswered. The following article explores six … Continue Reading
Summary Reviewing the development of Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) reveals that it demonstrates an even more serious ‘PLF’ problem, one that is evident in other areas of church life as well: Persistent Leadership Failure. It first traces this failure back to the rushed origins of PLF in late 2022 and early 2023. These … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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