Archbishop of Canterbury detour to Gafcon; Archbishop urges energy firm ‘generosity’; Archbishop welcomes faith leaders to Lambeth Palace; More female representatives to House of Bishops Elected
Archbishop of Canterbury detour to Gafcon
The Archbishop of Canterbury is meeting fellow archbishops from the conservative Gafcon movement in Kenya after making a detour on his way from London to Iceland.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24600619
Archbishop urges energy firm ‘generosity’
The Archbishop of Canterbury has entered the debate about energy prices by urging firms to act with generosity, rather than just maximising profit.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24599887
Archbishop welcomes faith leaders to Lambeth Palace
The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed a range of religious leaders to Lambeth Palace on Thursday evening last week.
The gathering of about 100 leaders, drawn from the nine major religious communities in the UK, showed that people of faith are ‘not a disappearing minority’, Archbishop Justin said. He affirmed the contribution that people from different faith traditions make to the common good.
The keynote speaker was the Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, who brought artefacts from the museum through which he told the story of how, at its best, the Church and the nation had held a valued space for communities of different faiths. However, this space could not be take for granted, and was one that church and nation need always to guard and cherish.
Addressing the faith leaders next, Baroness Warsi, the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, said that Dr MacGregor’s speech demonstrated that ‘tolerance and living alongside each other goes back a long long way’.
Baroness Warsi called for people of faith to speak for those of other faiths around the world who do not enjoy freedom of religion and belief.
Archbishop Justin said that the gathering of leaders made a ‘powerful statement’ about how people from different faith traditions are ‘deeply engaged in society’ with a ‘commitment to the common good’. People of faith are ‘not a disappearing minority who are still fool enough to believe in God’, he said.
The objects brought by Dr MacGregor were a reminder that there is a ‘particularity’ to faith that, in the secular West, ‘we are encouraged to downplay in order to blend in’.
Archbishop Justin encouraged the faith leaders present to ‘commit not simply to sharing the objects which represent the past of our faith. . . But let us commit the objects of our daily lives: what we have, what we live each day – those things which mark us out as distinct and different and particular.
‘And while we’re sharing in such a way, may our lives show that, rather than faith being the problem, it does in fact put us in the best time and place for understanding, respect and becoming the answer in a world that is wandering.’
More female representatives to House of Bishops Elected
Further results from the elections for female representatives to attend the House of Bishops have been announced.
At its meeting of 7 February 2013 the House of Bishops decided that eight senior women clergy, elected regionally, will participate in all meetings of the House until such time as there are six female Bishops who will sit as of right.
The latest four elected members are: • East Midlands region – Ven Christine Wilson, Archdeacon of Chesterfield • West Midlands region – Revd Preb. Dr Jane Tillier, Preb of Lichfield Cathedral • East Anglia region – Ven Annette Cooper, Archdeacon of Colchester • South and Central region – Ven Joanne Grenfell, Archdeacon of Portsdown
This follows a previous announcement of the first three female representatives on the 26th September.
• South West region – Ven Nicola Sullivan, Archdeacon of Wells
• North East region – Very Revd Vivienne Faull, Dean of York
• South East region – Ven Rachel Treweek, Archdeacon of Hackney
The representatives will take up their roles on 1st December.