Welsh Camino gets £78k Lottery funding
THE North Wales Pilgrim’s Way, known as the Welsh Camino, has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £78,000 for the improvement of its infrastructure along the 130-mile route from Basingwerk Abbey, Holywell, to Aberdaron and the Llyn Peninsula. The Welsh Camino was launched in 2011 and was the route taken by the celebrity pilgrims on last year’s BBC2 series Pilgrimage (TV, 12 April 2024).
Issues on way out as Bishops rubber-stamp Synod decision
THE House of Bishops has formally agreed to remove the teaching document Issues in Human Sexuality from the discernment process, replacing it with a requirement that those seeking ordination adhere to the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy. This month, the General Synod voted almost unanimously to call for Issues to be replaced with the guidelines (News, 18 July). At an online meeting on Wednesday morning, the Bishops agreed. A statement said that the “tone, language, and some of the assumptions” in Issues “are now considered inappropriate and offensive to many people”. The move did not, the statement said, change the Church’s teaching on sex or marriage, but was “intended to ensure the discernment process is both theologically robust and pastorally sensitive”. Along with being dropped as a formal part of discernment, the document will also be removed from the House of Bishops website. On Wednesday, the Bishops also heard a presentation on the findings of a survey on giving, completed earlier this year. It found that giving exceeded inflation during the past five years, and that three-quarters of C of E givers had been thanked in the past six months, up from less than one third five years ago. Letter
Date set for election of Archbishop of Wales
THE Electoral College of the Church in Wales will meet in Chepstow on 29 July to choose the next Archbishop of Wales. Candidates for the 15th Archbishop are the current Welsh diocesans: Bishops Gregory Cameron (St Asaph), Cherry Vann (Monmouth), John Lomas (Swansea & Brecon), Mary Stallard (Llandaff), and Dorrien Davies (St Davids).
Pension providers focus on corporate governance
THE Church of England Pensions Board is one of several providers that have jointly launched the Governance for Growth Investor Campaign. Together, they manage approximately £150 billion in assets and represent 11 million members. The Board’s chief executive, John Ball, said: “This campaign places good corporate governance at the heart of an agenda to support long-term sustainable growth in the UK. We are excited by the role we can play in joining with peer funds to support this vital agenda.”
Edinburgh chaplain to head Ripon College, Cuddesdon
THE new Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon, from January, is to be the Revd Dr Harriet Harris, University Chaplain and Head of Chaplaincy Services at the University of Edinburgh since 2010. She has taught theology at Oxford, Exeter, and Edinburgh, and will be returning to the diocese in which she was ordained. She will succeed the Rt Revd Humphrey Southern, who retires at the end of the year, after ten years in post (News, 17 April).
CEN pauses print publication
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWSPAPER (CEN), founded in 1828, has announced this week that it will publish no more issues until further notice. A notice on its website says that the CEN has had to “review its operations” after the death of its owner, Keith Young. “We are now exploring all options to secure a future,” the Editor, Andrew Carey, writes. This week also brought the final issue of Life And Work, the Church of Scotland’s magazine, after 146 years in print.
Immigrants failed by arrivals process, says Jesuit report
WIDESPREAD dysfunction and systematic failure across the immigration and asylum process has been revealed in the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) UK’s new report, Accessing Legal Advice in Detention, based on evidence from Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre. Automatic representation has often been neglected and become a cause of serious mental-health issues, because of the drop in Legal Aid funding, it says. “This report confirms what JRS UK encounters time and again: people in immigration detention are being denied access to justice,” the service’s director, David Ryall, said.
Happisburgh may have to give up its dead
MORE than 100 sailors shipwrecked before they could join Nelson in 1801 and buried in a mass grave look set to be reinterred, together with hundreds of others of bodies buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Happisburgh, in Norfolk, North Norfolk News reports. Coastal erosion means that there are now only 80 metres of land between the crumbling cliff edge and the churchyard. The diocese of Norwich, Happisburgh Parish Council, and North Norfolk District Council are working with the Coastwise scheme, which seeks to prepare coastal communities threatened by erosion and offer guidance on burial grounds at risk.
Children’s Society backs youth vote
THE move to enfranchise 16- and 17-year-olds at the next General Election has been welcomed by the Children’s Society. Its chief executive, Mark Russell, said: “Young people have a voice — and now they’ll finally have a vote. This is a landmark step in recognising that young people care deeply about the issues facing our country and deserve to be heard not just at the ballot box, but throughout the political process.”
Church Army commissions evangelists
NINE new Church Army evangelists were formally admitted and commissioned in Sheffield Cathedral on Saturday by the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, who is the chair of the Church Army Board. Lawrence Bellew, Meg Borges, Sarah Clayton, Bing Liu, Anna Mansbergh, Rachel Marlow, Tracey Needham, Hannah O’Neill, and Jack Wright will deployed across the UK and Ireland. Letter, page 15
Salvationist to head Spring Harvest
THE new Head of Spring Harvest, the Christian teaching holiday, is Major Jo Moir, a former midwife and hospital chaplain, who joins from the Salvation Army. She has managed events at the Royal Albert Hall and ICC Birmingham and Wales, and been a regular writer and presenter of Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4. She took up her post on Monday and succeeds Abby Guinness, who held the position for 11 years. Spring Harvest will be in Skegness (30 March-3 April) and Minehead (6-10 April).
Correction: In last week’s report of the General Synod’s assisted-dying debate, Dr Alan Dowen (Chester) said: “When my father was approaching his own end of life, it always concerned me that, in law, he was allowed to show more love and compassion for his dog than he was for himself.” There was no suggestion that anyone should be able to “advance the deaths of their dying relatives”. We apologise for the error and for the incorrect spelling of Dr Dowen’s name.
