On Saturday July 16th there will be a CHURCH VISION MORNING. It will take place at the Winn Hall, from 9.30 am to 12:30 pm. Reverend Rutton Viccajee explains: “This is an exciting opportunity to review where we are, what we have, share ideas, and set our overall objectives for the coming year or so.“What’s the big picture? Think in terms of large concepts: church (however defined), worship, outreach, pastoral, discipleship, all age/ families (these are just examples).“What are the priorities, even if they overlap? In fact, especially if they overlap! Once we know that, we can then drill down from there in terms of planning how to implement.Please bring your blue sky thinking, ideas, concerns, prayers, inspirations, and anything else useful.“There is no agenda here – save what we make for ourselves, albeit in faith, and with prayer. That’s why we need YOU! If you want to send in ideas, concerns or thoughts in advance, especially if you can’t be there in person – that also would be very welcome. Just drop me a line at rutton@stnicolascranleigh.org.uk“I really want to hear from YOU! (It’s the silence that hurts!)May God bless us all at this time.Rutton
The General Synod has welcomed a Church of England report paving the way for an overhaul of clergy discipline with a new system for the investigation and disposal of a range of complaints.Members voted to back the first moves to create legislation for a Clergy Conduct Measure, replacing the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) 2003.The vote follows the publication of the report Under Authority Revisited which sets out proposals for complaints to be allocated into three different tracks, depending on seriousness. Opening the debate, the Bishop of Worcester, John Inge (see photo), who headed the Implementation Group that drew up the report, said that the time for change was ‘overdue’.“Whilst the critique of the CDM could be extensive, the principal failing of it as a piece of legislation lies in its inflexibility to respond to different levels of misconduct and complaint,” he told the Synod.“In meeting our objectives the Implementation Group has sought to apply four fundamental principles – first, the process must provide for a proportionate and efficient way of dealing with a much wider range of grievances and misconduct. Secondly, the process must protect clergy from frivolous, malicious and vexatious accusations. “Thirdly, there must be swift access to justice for both those who have been wronged and those who face allegations. And fourthly, the rules of natural justice must permeate the system as a visible sign of fairness.“The report has been published after a working group was set up to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) for the Church of England to make improvements to the CDM in dealing with safeguarding complaints.The findings of the working group identified that there was a pressing need for the creation of a system that could deal with different levels of misconduct and behaviour and that the CDM needed replacing in full.• Bishop John Inge is Chair of the Clergy Conduct Measure Implementation Group which was formed last year to formulate legislative proposals for the creation of a new Clergy Conduct Measure. The text of the motion passed is below: ‘That this Synod: (a) welcome the report from the Clergy Conduct Measure Implementation Group (GS 2277); and (b) request that the Archbishops’ Council introduce legislation to give effect to the report’s recommendations for first consideration by this Synod at the next available opportunity.’
As the first female bishop in the House of Lords, Bishop of Gloucester Rachel Treweek explains that there is no tension between Christianity and feminism.Having made history as the first woman bishop in the House of Lords, Rachel Treweek believes equality is rooted in the Bible. “In Genesis, it talks about God creating humans in God’s image,” she says. “If we’re all made in God’s image, then God is neither male nor female – so men, women, girls, boys – we’re all equally created.”She is happy to debate with those who do not share her view. On her first day as a bishop, she went to meet parishioners of a church most opposed to her appointment. “I always say: ‘Let’s talk about theology, but if it’s misogyny, I am going to call it out.’ A lot of what has been framed as theology is blatant misogyny,” she adds.Treweek has occasionally been called “bossy” – “That’s so gendered. If I were a man, I’d be called assertive,” – and faced patronising comments: “When I lead prayers, a man will say, ‘You did that so well’; I reply: ‘If I were a man, would you say that?’”The bishop, 59, grew up in Hertfordshire, in a Christian household. In her mid-20s, she was working as a paediatric speech therapist when she heard God’s call. She told her local vicar, who replied: “I have been waiting for you to say that.”One long night, after going to see a pantomime – “so I know God has a sense of humour!” – she had a “wrestling experience with God”. She cried, but a song kept playing in her head: You Laid Aside Your Majesty, Gave Up Everything for Me, which made her think about the sacrifices she believes God made for her, and how she wished to do the same. “It was a Road to Damascus moment – and what is extraordinary is that women couldn’t be ordained at that time.”When the vote to allow women priests went through the General Synod in 1992, Treweek was at theological college. She became a priest in 1995 and 20 years later, after being a bishop for only four weeks, entered the House of Lords. She had to send back her writ of summons to be tweaked as it referred to a “Right Reverend Father in God”.“I hadn’t realised how historic it was,” she admits. “The gallery was full – a lot of female MPs came in – and applause broke out... People often say I’ve been a pioneer, but I’ve never seen it as a career path; it’s always ‘what is God calling me to do?’ But I feel passionately about girls and women being equal.”Still today, only five of 26 bishops in the Lords are women and she worries progress is stalling. “A lot of dioceses have appointed suffragan – assistant bishops – who are women, and I wonder if there is an [attitude of]: ‘we don’t need another one.’”Feminism informs much of her work. She is bishop to HM Prisons and says far too many women are in prison who shouldn’t be. “A lot of them have been abused. They go in for petty crimes when we’re not dealing with the root issues.”She must also be the only bishop who talks about Love Island, as she goes into schools to discuss body image. “It was an issue for me as a teenager, but I didn’t have social media,” she recalls. “And in reality shows, they make it seem as though you have to look a certain way to get a relationship. The campaign says: ‘your value does not come from what you look like’.”It is a much-maligned woman – Mary Magdalene – who inspires her. “People often think she was a prostitute, but she wasn’t,” Treweek says. “She was the first person Christ appeared to after his resurrection, and he always spoke to her as an equal.”
