Enjoy Anglican priests while you still can
In the Spectator, Quentin Letts writes about how front-line clergy will become oversight ministers and area deans, managers of lay and unpaid ‘focal ministers’.
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In Defence of Faith
The Christmas Spectator’s excellent leading article “In Defence of Faith” mentions the local parish in its final paragraph. You can read the original article at the Spectator here.
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The Church of England’s volunteering crisis
Two recent articles have drawn attention to the crisis of dwindling numbers of volunteers in the Church of England. The first is by Patrick Kidd and is published in full…
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Spectator article: Emma Thompson says Save our parish priests!
Read the original article here
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Spectator article: Inside the fastest growing – and fastest shrinking – churches in the UK
Dan Hitchens suggests that those churches that stick closest to the liturgy and offer ‘full fat’ faith are most likely to grow. Those trimming faith to fit with culture tend…
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Prospect: Can Britain’s churches still be saved
Philip Rutnam argues the case Read original article here
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Spectator: Is the Church of England giving up on Sunday worship?
Marcus Walker suggests that football should not replace Sunday worship. And there is a wider national problem too. A series of dioceses are pursuing plans to slash the number of…
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There is something truly counter cultural about Midnight Mass | Marcus Walker, the Spectator
“There’s also something extremely counter cultural in the fact of finding what we need on our doorstep. While our bodies can be fed in vast, soulless out of town shopping…
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Brexit-bashing bishops could ruin the Church of England | Andrew Tettenborn, the Spectator
“…Instead it could become simply a prescriptive sect: an organisation with an official line which its prelates are expected to toe. If ever there was an effective way to make a church unattractive to all but the dreariest of zealots and and empty its pews still further, this is it.”
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Common Prayer: When Churches Become Mosques | Tanjil Rashid, The Spectator
If this decade sees the closure of another 2,000 churches, as looks likely, it’s time to ask what should become of them. There are now charities set up to save them, to keep them open for the community even without a congregation. That’s an option. But if that can’t be done, then Muslims would certainly rather a house designed to worship God stayed that way. Christians may think the same. In a fast-secularising society, the People of the Book should focus on the fact that worshippers of all religions are treading different paths up the same mountain.
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The Church Closers’ Charter must be torn up | Emma Thompson, the Spectator
The demise of the parish system is not inevitable. If the Archbishops are truly ‘passionate’ about the parish, they should tear up the Church Closers’ Charter. As it is, it’s as if they are denying that the revolution is coming, even as they build the guillotine.
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Is this the last chance to save the Church of England | Fr Marcus Walker, The Spectator
“And if we’re going to promise to ‘Save the parish’, let’s use those ‘limiting factors’ as our banners: ‘a building and a stipend and long, costly college-based training for every…
