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Andrew Goddard writes: This article seeks to make sense of the LLF process and what sort of story it might be. It does so in the light of some of the key new information about LLF to be found in answers to questions at General Synod yesterday, particularly those relating to legal advice and its … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: The question as to whether it would be right for the Pastoral Guidance to change the current teaching and discipline of the Church of England in relation to clergy (and in some places licensed lay ministers) is one of the challenging questions still left unresolved. The latest paper for General Synod (GS … Continue Reading
Summary: The new paper for February’s General Synod lifts the lid on much that has previously been kept under cover in terms of both significant decisions by bishops and the content of legal advice. What it reveals is not a pretty sight and brings to light the depths of the problems. Drawing on a fuller … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: In February’s General Synod, two of the divisive looming questions are: introducing standalone services for same sex couples experimentally using Canon B5A; and whether we should “reset” the LLF process. This article asks if, rather than polarise again around these two issues, an apparent consensus on the need for greater honesty and … Continue Reading
Dr Christian Selvaratnam is Dean at St Hild College in Yorkshire and founder of the Centre for Church Planting. He has just written a Grove booklet on Why Plant Churches? and I was able to ask him about some of the remarkable impact of church planting. IP: I was amazed to read how important church planting has … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: The commendation of Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) as 2023 drew to a close marked a significant development in the life of the Church of England. Whatever one thinks of that step, multiple aspects of the process that led up to it were for me more concerning and revealing about the … Continue Reading
We have a serious crisis in the episcopal leadership of the Church of England. It has more than one dimension to it, and, as with any crisis, it has been a long time coming. If your ceiling caves in because a water leak has weakened the structures, you can be sure that the water has … Continue Reading
Sue Donymous writes: A major problem with the Prayers of Love and Faith package (PLF) that scraped through Synod is that no one actually wants this approach. The only caveat to that ‘no one’ is that—for now—some who want to see much greater change will swallow PLF (and just about stomach it) as a step … Continue Reading
Andrew Goddard writes: In response to Nic Tall’s recent argument that CEEC and others have been “plotting the division of the Church of England”, this article: Offers an alternative personal perspective from within CEEC and a critique of the partial nature of his account. Argues that CEEC has in practice recently become more, not less, broad … Continue Reading
‘Gosh, I never realised….X’. ‘Really? I knew that ages ago—it’s pretty common knowledge you know!’ I wonder if you’ve ever had that kind of conversation—at work, or church, or amongst friends or family. You have assumed that things are as they were claimed to be, or presented, but all the time ‘everybody’ ‘knew’ that … Continue Reading
Joshua Penduck writes: ‘Pope says Roman Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples’ declared the BBC News website. It was not alone in this. Anglo-American newspapers, news outlets, and websites emblazoned across their banners this seemingly huge shift in the ethics and polity of the Roman Catholic Church. Liberal Roman Catholics such as James Martin SJ … 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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Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
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