Chichester plan for strategic grant
From the Revd Martin Poole
Madam, — Chichester diocese appears to propose doing two contradictory things at once with its £22-million ten-year strategy (News, 15 August). It aims to rebalance stipendiary ministry towards areas of deprivation while cutting some posts in relation to their parish-share contributions.
The glory of the Church of England is that it maintains an Anglican presence in every community irrespective of ability to pay, and that the most deprived will not be penalised for their poverty. The strategy is heavily skewed towards more “apostolic partnerships”, which have purportedly yielded 100 new Christians from the £4.2 million spent so far with the expectation that the new funding will magically create 3000 new Christians from a very similar strategy.
Admittedly, there are also plans for a whole phalanx of paid youth workers, although no indication where these will come from, and the creation of new “focal ministers”, who appear to be unpaid, and who will be tasked with the objective of holding numbers at their present rate.
I would hope that such a large amount of money would be accompanied by a bigger vision of growth with more imagination and consistency. I applaud the ambition of this project and hope that the full grant is awarded, but I want to plead for more creative thinking about deployment of the money across all parishes, and a greater emphasis on helping those who sit at the gate begging for alms rather than the affluent few who worship with their flat-screen TVs and post-service smoothie bars.
MARTIN POOLE
64 Old Shoreham Road
Brighton BN1 5DD
The war in Ukraine and responsibility for it
From the Revd John Powell
Madam, — Jonathan Luxmore’s interesting report (News, 15 August) portrays the one-sided nature of the appeal by Ukrainian church leaders. They do not recognise any fault on their part.
I do not agree that Ukraine is continuing “to protect the peace of Europe and the world with their breasts”. We have seen a persecution of an Orthodox Church in the past years which has been cruel and vindictive. There has been an ominous silence throughout the period of the war on any raison d’etre for the war. Why is this? I believe that it is because the West knows the answer but chooses to suppress it.
The war did not start with President Putin’s invasion. He could not stand by and watch the Russian-speaking people of the Donbass being crushed by powerful shelling from Ukraine forces, as early as 2014. The two regions being attacked asked for the assistance of Russia. He invoked article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
In order to make the Russian intervention totally illegal in the eyes of the public, we deliberately hid the fact that the war actually started earlier. The Ukrainian Army was preparing to attack the Donbass as early as 2021. There is so much that we have not been told about this war, and it is we, not Russia, that have aggravated the situation and brought the world closer to a Third World War. It is as if the West and the United States have been eager to engage in a proxy war against Russia which has been in the making for a very long time.
JOHN POWELL
12 Maesydderwen
Cardigan SA43 1PE
Obstacles to obtaining permission to officiate
From the Revd Colin Noyce
Madam, — The letter from Dr Penelope Upton (15 August) and her reference to that of Canon Suffern (8 August) rang many familiar bells with me. Having worked (voluntarily) with the Royal Navy Chaplaincy for many years after my retirement from full-time ministry, I was very aware of the number of security and safeguarding clearances required when engaging in a busy ministry these days.
All RN chaplains also require a licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the permission/good will of the diocesan bishop in whose diocese they are ministering. When leaving that ministry, aged 75, to retire “properly”, I returned to the diocese in which I was born and, in fact, had previously ministered as an incumbent.
Not long after we joined our local Anglican church, there came an interregnum, and I was delighted to offer to help out. When applying for permission to officiate, I found myself faced with a fair amount of safeguarding training, which I had, of course, expected. Although I was only expecting to celebrate the eucharist occasionally and help out with other services while there was no incumbent, I was required to undertake the full course as if applying to take on the incumbency.
At this time, my wife needed more care than previously; so I felt unable to devote the time required for me to do justice to the course, and I withdrew. Despite a conversation with our local bishop, there was, it seems, no way to make this requirement any less onerous for the likes of me. So, although returning to my home diocese, having travelled and ministered around the world, I feel denied the privilege of an occasional altar and using what gifts I may still possess.
After almost 50 years of service to country, Church, and people, is there really no other way to decide whether we can be trusted to do this?
COLIN NOYCE
26 Hammmond Court
Connaught Avenue
Frinton-on-Sea CO13 9LZ
Israel, Hamas, and the 7 October 2023 attacks
From Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert
Madam, — The Revd Dr Fiona Haworth’s claims made in her letter (15 August) raise some important questions that need to be considered in the interests of balance and the recognition of political and moral complexity.
First, during the 30-year ceasefire “offered to Israel”, has the peace been broken? If so, by whom and why?
Second, how can a commitment to accepting the pre-1967 borders stated in Hamas’s 2017 revised charter be reconciled with a contradictory commitment to a Palestine state reaching from the river to the sea, especially when this is commonly understood as a denial of the right of Israel to exist?
Third, why has Dr Haworth referred to only part of Moran Gaz’s judgement on evidence of rape and sexual assault? In response to misrepresentation of her words, Ms Gaz clarified that the lack of evidence from 7 October was due to either the murder of the rape victims, or their extreme trauma, which made them unwilling to testify.
ALKA SEHGAL CUTHBERT
43 Bracondale
Norwich NR1 2AT
From the Revd Jonathan Frais
Madam, — I think I can help Dr Haworth. The documentation for sexual violence by Hamas on 7 October 2023 may be found in the all-party parliamentary report by Lord Roberts (pages 281-88). Data for food distribution are also available. The UN Lorry Tracker into Gaza shows (since May) numbers offloaded, collected, arrived, and intercepted (including “forcefully by armed actors”).
JONATHAN FRAIS
11 Coverdale Avenue
Bexhill-on-Sea TN39 4TY
Pilgrimage need not be far to be beneficial
From the Revd David Chance
Madam, — My wife and I enjoyed reading the Rt Revd Dr John Inge’s article (Faith, 15 August). It has reminded us of the many pilgrimages that we organised while in parish life. Our purpose was to take pilgrims on journeys to ancient holy places and to engage with those living and worshipping there today: for example, “Shrines and Lines” involved making part of the journey by the little steam trains of Wales, joining congregations for worship and fellowship (often with plenty of cake).
While guiding in Canterbury Cathedral recently, we attended Professor Nicholas Orme’s lecture on medieval pilgrimage. It was not about pilgrimages to great international shrines, but about how the medieval workers managed to make pilgrimages to local holy places that were easily accessible and affordable.
Professor Orme writes in his book Medieval Pilgrimage, which is a survey of West Country pilgrim sites: “Pilgrimage, then, gave benefits to its participants: new experiences, spiritual rewards and (sometimes) medical cures.”
I have found this to be true of all the pilgrimages we led and especially the ones to local holy places.
DAVID CHANCE
4 Kingfisher Drive
Barnstaple
Devon EX32 8QW
How courses can build on Christian ‘influencers’
From Mr Robert Knotts
Madam, — I was deeply inspired by the Revd Professor Sarah Coakley’s recent lecture (Comment, 8 August). Her call to reinvigorate parish life with theology that is both intellectually rich and spiritually compelling resonates deeply with the challenges and opportunities we face today.
Her insight into the part that digital technology can play in opening up theological engagement is particularly striking. History shows us the power of such channels. During the Welsh Revival of 1904, news outlets and word-of-mouth influencers helped to carry a wave of spiritual awakening across the nation.
Nowadays, a similar pattern can be seen: voices such as Jordan Peterson and Tom Holland — though speaking from different perspectives — have sparked curiosity about Christianity among Generation Z.
Social media, podcasts, and online discussion platforms have become the modern equivalents of the revival newspapers and public testimonies of a century ago. It is nothing new: the Apostles played such a part.
In this context, the Exploring Faith Matters (Education for Ministry, EfM) course (Letters, 15 August) could be a vital bridge between initial curiosity and deep discipleship. By delivering EfM through digital platforms alongside in-person discussion, we can meet Generation Z (and others) where they are, and offer them a path into a richer, deeper walk of faith.
By integrating courses like EfM into parish life, the momentum of this renewed interest can be channelled into something enduring — forming disciples who are spiritually grounded, theologically informed, and ready to serve God in today’s complex world. This is about participating in the living work of God, acting as influencers, just as those in the Welsh Revival did more than a century ago.
ROBERT KNOTTS
26 North Nook, Austerlands
Oldham OL4 3QR
The ministry exercised by the wives of the clergy
From Canon Brian Stevenson
Madam, — The Revd Dr Cally Hammond is usually helpful in her writings, but I have to contest her remarks on the role of vicars’ wives in her acquiescent review of Beth Barr’s Becoming the Pastor’s Wife, which suggests that marriage replaced a woman’s path to ministry (Books, 15 August).
I believe that the Vicar’s wife has, indeed, a ministerial role, though not headlined as such. She would set the tone in a parish and its hospitality and inclusion and in pastoral care. She and her husband were, in effect, a team, and she did not have to be a yes woman. Most of the clergy wives I have met were for women’s ordination, including my wife, who is at this moment at a PCC meeting; so she is not prompting me to write.
BRIAN STEVENSON
Michaelmas Cottage, Stan Lane
West Peckham, Kent ME18 5JT
National days of thanksgiving added to the BCP
From Canon Howard Tomlinson
Madam, — It is worth recalling that an additional national prayer “for Peace and Deliverance from our Enemies” was added in the late 17th century to the one commemorating James I’s deliverance “from the most traitorous and bloody-intended massacre by gunpowder” (Prayer for the Week, 18 July).
This followed the successful landing by William of Orange at Torbay on 5 November 1688, which occasioned (in Gilbert Burnet’s words) “a second service since God has enabled it so far as to be the beginning of that which we may justly hope shall be our complete deliverance from all plots and conspiracies”.
The Orders for the Church’s observance of all three days (30 January, 29 May, and 5 November) were not removed from the Book of Common Prayer until 1859.
HOWARD TOMLINSON
34 Park Street
Hereford HR1 2RD
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