C of E hits three own goals. Last week was a bad week in the press for the Church of England.
There was the customary report on a zany issue – the vicar who was leaving church based ministry to become a full time Elvis impersonator and in “Starship Enterprise” fashion was determinedly going out into the unknown – to take the Gospel to the untouched in bars and clubs throughout the land.
There was a report of a far from edifying incident in which a senior cleric circulated by Facebook and in the language of a 19th century trooper, that he wasn’t exactly looking forward to doing the religious business his priestly responsibilities required of him on Sunday. Some of the messages were sent as he declared there was another gin on the way. The press was silent as to whether or not the anonymous complaint to his bishop came from a “non g and t” Anglican. They do exist.
However, these two reports were well out-distanced by the C of E House of Bishop’s dealings on the ordination of women to the episcopate – a discussion which obviously took place behind well closed doors. What emerged was fairly disastrous. The Times described it as the worst ever C of E press release. Andrew Brown in the Guardian was equally scathing and at greater length, describing it as a C of E suicide note. An ordained woman, a Durham College lecturer, stated that the bishops were wife-beaters. A bishop, no less, accused his fellows of lie telling. He highlighted theological lies. He seemed to indicate they were even worse than ‘ordinary’ ones. (CNI carried links to these reports last week). Such was the reaction that their graces of Canterbury and York issued a joint communique.
The combined impact of these three reports was the Titanic-like sinking of two reports on matters of social import, each of which demonstrated the relevance of the C of E in the communities it serves with a great degree of commitment.
Firstly, there was the survey conducted of each parish in England which detailed social deprivation and poverty. The local angles in this were picked up by the regional press throughout the length and breadth of the country. The work had been commissioned by the Church Urban Fund which itself grew out of a response to a major C of E report, “Faith in the City”.
Customarily churches commission reports and feel they have dealt with the problem on which they have focused when the report is published. Not so in the case of “Faith in the City” as a visit to the CUF web site will indicate. There are worship resources, diocesan services highlighting the work of the fund, and an opportunity to nominate people who bring hope to difficult situations. The web site is reflective of long haul, committed, Church service bringing hope in places which desperately needs it.
Secondly there was the news of the commissioning, after a detailed tendering process, of three professional bodies to conduct extensive research on various aspects of church growth. If this process produces insights of the quality of the “Faith in the City” report, and prompts further initiatives, experiments and exploration, once again the C of E will show its membership and observers elsewhere, the integrity and depth of its commitment.
By right it should have been a good week for the C of E. But a couple of ‘idiot’ reports, and a rash of reports on bishops whose utterances caused confusion and undergirded differences, meant it was otherwise. Own goals outnumbered two good, successful, strikes.
Methinks that may also have happened this side of the Irish sea a few weeks ago in Dublin…
Houston McKelvey