First woman dean of Guildford Cathedral; Time for C of E to drop the culture wars; After my sex change; Women and the Freemasons
First woman dean of Guildford Cathedral
Guildford Cathedral has announced its new dean will be a woman after the Queen approved her nomination.
The Very Reverend Dianna Gwilliams is the fifth woman to be appointed to the post in the Church of England.
She was born in Colorado, USA, and is currently a vicar in Dulwich having just completed a year as acting Archdeacon of Southwark.
Dean Gwilliams said she felt “hugely privileged” to become the new Dean of Guildford Cathedral.
She said: “I’m looking forward to working very closely with the chapter and cathedral community, to serve Guildford as best we can.
“I’m very confident about the future of the Church of England and what we have to offer.”
The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Christopher Hill, said Dean Gwilliams stood out from the rest.
“She was an outstanding candidate at interview,” he said. “The cathedral faces great challenges in the future and I have the utmost confidence in her ability to lead an already excellent team.”
Time for C of E to drop the culture wars
The Spectator – Almost three thousand years ago the Prophet Amos asked ‘can two walk together except they be agreed?’ How can the Church of England, pragmatic and volunteer-led but with complex legal and cultural structures, stay meshed with its culturally incompatible overseas churches? What is its future?
Theo Hobson argues in this week’s Spectator that the C of E needs to find a third way in order to survive, affirming gay partnerships whilst simultaneously rejecting equal marriage.
Can this be done? If the deadlock Hobson describes arose from a frail incoherent compromise, Some Issues in Human Sexuality, how can more hand-wringing duplicity solve it?
The world has moved radically on since 1991. Education, smartphones and social media are driving rapid ubiquitous change. All over the world younger generations are challenging their parents’ cultural assumptions. In Britain a social tsunami has swept through national life. In education, healthcare, media, politics, police, law, armed services, homosexuality is now largely seen as phenomenon of nature, not an offence against it. Almost everywhere conventional discrimination is seen as a moral problem not a virtue.
Officially, the Church plays King Canute. But even within the Church, life has changed. Hobson describes ‘the Evangelicals’ as a homogenous bloc, but increasingly they are not. Some do exhibit traditional tribalism, but many if not most do not. Leaders like Steve Chalke and Rob Bell are re-thinking conventional shibboleths in the light of contemporary realities. Increasingly, homosexuality is openly discussed by Evangelicals who want to be good news to real people, not just tolerantly patronising.
News report “After my sex change, I’m now a woman in the eyes of God” with ref to St Andrew’s Church, Corbridge (Newcastle Diocese)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10018144/After-my-sex-change-Im-now-a-woman-in-the-eyes-of-God.html
Feature on women and the Freemasons with ref to comments by former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/30/freemasons-allow-women-join?INTCMP=SRCH