Historic Church of England village churches could be closed down except on feasts like Christmas and Easter as a move to cope with dwindling congregations. A committee of senior CofE clerics and laity is recommending many village churches throughout England be designated as “festival” churches. This would be a new category of parish used only Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Church of England’
Church objects to trend of exhuming ‘portable remains’
Friday, August 7th, 2015
A UK alarm has been sounded over a trend of bereaved family members, when they move home, seeking to exhume deceased loved ones to stay close to them. Senior Church of England officials have warned that the practice is incompatible with Christian beliefs. The UK’s Ministry of Justice receives 25 applications a week to exhume Read more
Cardinal warns against reading encyclical in puritanical way
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015
English Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said that people should not regard the Pope’s encyclical “Laudato Si’” as puritanical in its message. At a press conference following the release of Laudato Si’, the cardinal was asked about the encyclical’s appeal for “sobriety and self-denial”. Cardinal Nichols said that people needed to go beyond reading the encyclical Read more
CofE asked for baptism-like service for transgender people
Friday, May 29th, 2015A Church of England vicar has formally called for a new liturgy akin to baptism that would celebrate a newly transgender person’s new identity and name. Rev. Chris Newlands has put forward a motion for the church’s General Synod to consider. The vicar said he was asked about re-baptism by a church member who had Read more
Parallel conservative Anglican Church for UK?
Friday, April 17th, 2015
Conservative Anglican leaders have been meeting this week to discuss whether to back a parallel Anglican Church in the United Kingdom. The Global Anglican Futures Conference in the London this week was expected to discuss divisions in the worldwide Anglican Communion over women’s ordination and homosexuality. Gafcon was launched at a meeting in Jerusalem in Read more
First husband and wife bishop team for C of E
Friday, March 27th, 2015The Church of England is to have its first husband and wife bishops, after nominating Alison White to be the next Bishop of Hull. The bishop-elect7 is married to Bishop Frank White, who is deputy bishop in Newcastle. In a statement, Bishop-elect Alison White said “you may have noticed that I am married to a Read more
CofE to allow full funerals for people who commit suicide
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
The Church of England has decided to change its rules to allow full funerals for people who died by suicide. The church’s General Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of the change, by 262 votes to 5, with six abstentions. Church officials said the reform will bring ecclesiastical law into line with the 1961 Suicide Act Read more
Two per cent of Anglican clergy don’t believe in God
Tuesday, November 4th, 2014Two per cent of Anglican priests don’t believe in God, a poll of clergy in the United Kingdom has revealed. A YouGov survey covered more than 1500 clergy from the Church of England, the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church. As many as 16 per cent were “unclear” about God and two per cent Read more
Catholic academic calls for no absolution for child abuse
Friday, October 31st, 2014
A Catholic academic in England says Catholic priests should refuse absolution to people who confess to abusing children. Cambridge academic John Cornwell made this call after the Church of England announced it would look at whether abuse admitted in the confessional should stay confidential. Dr Cornwell, who has written a book on Confession and is Read more
Anglican parish can’t serve tea and biscuits from altar
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014A Church of England parish has had its request to serve refreshments from the altar in its church knocked back. Worshippers at St Michael and All Angels Church in Uffington, Lincolnshire, wanted their oak altar to double up as a place to “serve refreshments”. But Mark Bishop, chancellor for Lincoln, and a judge of the Read more