Do what’s hard: talk about God. An archbishop whose presence is a balm and who can beguile us with God might just turn heads and heal hearts
Daniel French, The Spectator website, 4 October
We should spare a prayer for those Anglicans who remain committed to the principle of the male-only threefold Apostolic ministry: their position within the Church of England now appears untenable. But there is a warm welcome awaiting them within the Roman Catholic Church, as those of us can attest who “swam the Tiber” after the first women priests were ordained in 1994
Francis Bown, formerly chairman of Ecclesia, letter in The Times, 4 October
Just over three decades after the Church of England ordained the first female priests, her appointment completes a once bitterly contested journey towards equality. Within an institution that endured an annus horribilis last year, it sends a message of necessary renewal and openness to change
The Guardian, leader comment, 6 October
I said when Justin Welby retired that the new Archbishop needed first and foremost to be a pastor and, despite her history as a manager within the NHS, we may well have found ourselves one: one who learnt how to wash feet at a hospital bed
Marcus Walker, the Telegraph, 4 October
Dame Jilly [Cooper] spoke movingly about her love of the Prayer Book, not least its power to help us “endure loss and heartbreak with fortitude. . .” Do pray for her family
The Prayer Book Society, 6 October
When you die, it is either the end of everything — you are gone, snuffed out, finished, or there is something. I happen to believe there is something — so I can’t think of a more exciting adventure than finding out what the something is
Jane Goodall, conservationist, who died on 1 October, quoted in a Financial Times profile, 2 October
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