A voice-controlled app called Alexa has answered tens of thousands of questions about the Christian faith since it was launched last year. The Church of England says so far more than 75,000 people have engaged with its app (or skill), “Alexa Skill”. People with a smart speaker, such as an Echo, or with Alexa on Read more
The Church of England put its reputation above the needs of sexual abuse victims, UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has found. The IICSA says there was a serious failure of leadership by the former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey (1991-2002) in the church’s handling of the case of a bishop who eventually went Read more
A Church of England (C of E) working party says the Archbishops’ Council and House of Bishops must decide if C of E church law should change so priests can breach the seal of confession. The working party’s focus was on whether the law could be changed to enable priests to report the abuse, or Read more
A Church of England synod has decided to put aside a centuries-old requirement for every church in every benefice to celebrate the weekly Sunday services. The synod says the rules will be amended to say morning and evening prayer need only be held at “at least one church within a benefice, which might include multiple Read more
Responding to growing concern about the kinds of priests the Church of England is attracting, Anglican leaders are considering expanding its assessments of clergy candidates to include more rigorous psychological testing. Anxiety about the quality of those who aspire to become clergy is rooted in the series of child sex abuse scandals that have emerged from Anglicanism’s Read more
Transgender people are being urged in two British counties to become vicars. The move is based on Church of England fears that the church’s reputation for tacitly discriminating against them is alienating young people. Read more
An Anglican-Methodist reunion is on the cards after a Church of England general synod overwhelmingly backed plans to reunite the two churches. Although some synod members consider the moves as being controversial and threatening to the fundamentals of the Church of England, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York both backed the proposals for an Anglican-Methodist Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has given Prince Harry and Meghan Markle permission to marry in church even though Markle is divorced. The Archbishop must grant a licence for marriages not held in parish churches. Since 2002, following a ruling by the General Synod, divorced people have been allowed to marry in the Church Read more
Allegations of sexual harassment and abuse among Church of England clergy must be faced, say prominent Anglican women. They say the the church must take a lead in tackling the issue. Jayne Ozanne, a senior member of the church’s ruling general synod, wrote to the Guardian newspaper about the problem. She said harassment within the Read more
Because people don’t carry cash much these days, 40 Anglican churches in the UK are offering an alternative to collection plates: passing a hand-held payment device around the pews. Read more