On 13 February 2025, we reported that the General Synod of the Church of England had finally approved the new Clergy Conduct Measure; a subsequent post provided links to some earlier developments, the material presented to Synod and the amendments following discussion. This … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
The eight consistory court judgments circulated in October include: Procedural Reordering, extensions and other building works/ Church Treasures/ Sale of Paintings/ Loans/ Memorials Telecommunications Churchyards and burials Fonts This review also includes: CDM Decisions and Safeguarding; Reports from the Independent Reviewer; Privy … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
The See of London will become vacant on 28 January 2026 at the confirmation of the election of Sarah Mullally when she legally becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury. On 15 October 2025 The Diocese of London opened the Diocesan Consultation for next … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
The following information on the Installation of the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury has been posted on the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury; details about the Installation service will be shared in the lead up to the service. For completeness, … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
Reports describing the meeting of King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV on 23 October 2025 stress the ecumenical nature of the visit to the Vatican of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The events of this visit … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
On 21 October 2025, the Church of England issued the following Press Release which announced that the National Safeguarding Team had sought permission to bring a further ‘out of time’ complaint under the Clergy Discipline Measure against the Revd Iain Broomfield, a … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
The practicalities of achieving “net zero” in the Church of England were addressed recently in two items: “The case presents a cautionary tale in respect of the difficulties that can arise when proper consideration is not given at an early … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
Marginally later than in some previous years, the full details of the annual returns on attendance for the Church of England has been published ('Statistics for Mission'). This is in two parts, both linked here: a report, giving the main statistics and trends, helpfully illustrated with graphs; and the detailed breakdown by diocese in a serious of spreadsheets. Both are worth looking at. Thanks as ever to Ken Eames in Church House for their production. Preliminary figures were released in Jun...| Psephizo
Joshua Penduck writes: On a cold and wet evening sometime in early 2021, my church’s ministry and management team met on Zoom to discuss the first chapter of the then new Living in Love and Faith material. I knew that that there were mixed opinions on the team. I didn’t realise just how mixed. The ... Continue Reading The post The idiocy of the LLF process first appeared on Psephizo.| Psephizo
On Wednesday at about a quarter to five, the House of Bishops released a very significant statement, following their meeting the previous week in which they spent six and a half hours discussing the next (and final?) steps in the LLF process. The timing was odd; my understanding was that they were planning to release| Psephizo
Part 4 of Created for Love is entitled ‘culture.’ The first essay in this part, ‘Living in Love and Faith: The failure of history,’ is by Professor Mark Chapman. In this essay he begins by recounting his experience of being part of the ‘history group,’ which was one of the four working groups that contributed […]| Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
Part 3 of Created for Love is ‘Creation.’ The first essay in this part is by Olivia Graham, the former Bishop of Reading, and is entitled ‘Kingdom shaped love.’ In the introduction to her essay, Graham declares that: ‘…the time is ripe for us to look again at what we, as a Church, teach […]| Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
Part 2 of Created for Love is entitled ‘Church.’ The first essay in this part is by Bishop Stephen Croft and is entitled ‘Living well with Difference: A Primer in Anglican Ecclesiology. ‘ Croft begins his essay by declaring that: ‘As a church we face many challenges – just like the Church did in every […]| Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
This review is the first part of a six-part review of Theo Hobson and John Inge (eds) Created for love (Canterbury Press, 2024). I have divided the review in to six parts corresponding to the six parts of the book, because a very long review is difficult to read online. Created for love is a […]| Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
Challenging Homophobia: Championing Freedom, Faith and Sex-Based Rights| LGB Christians
Our letter congratulating the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally on her appointment as Archbishop-elect of Canterbury was published on Friday 10th October 2025. We pray for her leadership as the Church navigates issues around gender-identity ideology, safeguarding, and Christian doctrine.| LGB Christians
When King Charles attends a prayer service at the Vatican this week, it will be just a prelude to 2026, when a woman becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury. The post Will Women Rising in the Church of England Influence the Vatican? appeared first on Washington Monthly.| Washington Monthly
(Opinion) In the wake of the historic schism that has fractured the worldwide Anglican Communion, lazy and ignorant narratives have already begun to emerge. The secular media and even some progressive Christian outlets would have you believe this is a simple story of progress versus bigotry—a misogynistic, homophobic, and unenlightened conclave of Global South bishops mostly from the African continent breaking away because a woman was put in charge. This narrative is not only wrong; it’s ...| The Roys Report
Weeks after the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullally as the leader of the Anglican Communion, conservative Anglican prelates in Africa have rejected the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and have proclaimed their own network of conservative churches the official voice of Anglicanism. “The majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy. Therefore, her appointment will make it impossible for the archbishop of Canterbury to serve ...| The Roys Report
The unity of Church of England has been dealt a major blow to the denomination... The post Church of England Breaks in Two, Loses 40 Million Members After Conservative Majority Announce Major Split appeared first on Protestia.| Protestia
Stand-alone services for the blessing of same-sex unions and permission for clergy to enter civil same-sex marriages will now require action by General Synod, which will likely take years.| The Living Church
Martin Davie writes: The announcement of the choice of the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mallally, to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury has been accompanied by frequent references to the Archbishop of Canterbury as the ‘head of the Church of England’ or the ‘head of the Anglican Communion.’ In this post I shall explain why both of these statements are misleading, what roles the Archbishop of Canterbury actually has in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, and the...| Psephizo
On 8 October 2025, the Church of England published the following report of the in-person meeting of the House of Bishops on October 6-8 at Cookham, Berkshire. House of Bishops meeting October 2025 08/10/2025 The House of Bishops met in … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
In this guest post, Simon Hunter, of 13 Old Square Chambers comments on the legal claim of the Zimbabwean victims of John Smyth against the Church of England On 4 October 2025 we posted Legal claim from Zimbabwean victims of John … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
The law firm Leigh Day has been instructed by seven Zimbabwean victims of John Smyth to bring a legal claim against the Church of England, alleging that senior clergy and church officers orchestrated a cover-up that enabled Smyth to continue abusing … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
A week in which everything else paled into insignificance after the killings at the Heaton Park synagogue. The Archbishop of Canterbury On Friday, it was announced that the Rt Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, is to be the … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
The Government has announced that HM the King “has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, for election by the College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral in the place of The Right Reverend … Continue reading →| Law & Religion UK
Review of the ecclesiastical court judgments during September | Law & Religion UK
The free exhibition opens October 17 and runs through January 18, and responses to previews offered by the cathedral’s leaders have elicited protests.| The Living Church
The Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally, Anglican Bishop of London, will become the next Archbishop of Canterbury, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office announced Friday. She is the first female to be named to the role. While the position is technically the equal of others in the global 85 million-member Anglican church, the Archbishop of Canterbury has long been regarded as “first among equals.” That could be challenging in more conservative Anglican regions, which have resisted o...| The Roys Report
Last weekend, in an online conversation, someone highlighted to me the most recent ministry statistics, which were released in June, but seem to have gone under the radar. I certainly did not spot them, and I don't recall anyone commenting on them. They show that 47.5% of current C of E stipendiary clergy are aged 55 or over, which of course means that they will all have retired in 12 years' time. 12 years might sound like quite a long planning horizon—but at the sessions of General Synod t...| Psephizo
We have been made aware of a deeply regrettable data incident involving the independent Redress Scheme administered by Kennedys Law LLP.| Law & Religion UK
Labour needs to embrace – and use – the power of the Church. Keir Starmer was in Baku last year when the news broke of the Makin review. The Prime Minister was in the Azerbaijani capital for a climate summit, but the old sins of the Church of England, as detailed in the review, threatened […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
A former Church of England priest convicted last month of abusing members of a “cult-like” church group will face a second trial next year. Chris Brain, 68, had been the leader of the Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield, an evangelical worshipping community within the Church of England, and stands accused of further sexual assault charges […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
A mood shift seems to be suggesting brighter days ahead I feel hope. For the first time in a long time I think I can honestly say that I feel hopeful about the Church of England and its future. I’m currently writing from the front line, from General Synod, and I can’t begin to tell […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
Is it time to exorcise the false religion of wokeness and return to our Biblical foundations? About a month ago, the Christian Conservative MP Danny Kruger rose to his feet in a virtually empty House of Commons on a sleepy Thursday afternoon to make a speech. It was an adjournment debate, when any MP can request […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
Following an investigation by Thames Valley Police, a man has been jailed for defrauding a parish church and an educational trust out of more than £285,000. Terence Capstick, aged 75, of Park Road, Winslow, was sentenced to four years for two counts of fraud by abuse of position at Aylesbury Crown Court on Wednesday (6/8). […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
The Governors of Ripon College Cuddesdon are delighted to announce that the Revd Dr Harriet Harris MBE will be the next Principal of the college. She will take up the post on 1st January 2026, following Bishop Humphrey’s retirement at the end of 2025. Dr Harris is currently the University Chaplain and Head of Chaplaincy […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
The Church of England’s treatment of former school chaplain, Rev Dr Bernard Randall, deserves to be described as evil. The Christian Legal Centre is rightly calling for Dr Randall to be restored to ministry after statutory authorities found that he did not pose a safeguarding risk. But the Church of England should have backed him in 2019 over the sermon that […]| Anglican Ink © 2025
Introduction On Tuesday 15 July this year the following motion was passed by General Synod after a show of hands: That this Synod request that the House of Bishops remove any requirements relating …| Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
LGB Christians welcomed the Church of England's General Synod's decision on 15 July 2025 to do away with Issues in Human Sexuality, writes Rev Lorenzo Fernandez-Smal.| LGB Christians
In his address to the York Diocesan Synod on 5 July the Archbishop of York addressed the issue of the eventual outcome of the Prayers of Love and Faith process. He declared: ‘No one in the Y…| Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
Should the organ scholarship be abolished? At the time of writing, 23 of the 43 colleges in Oxford offer organ awards. These consist in a mixture of funding, housing privileges, and symbolic perks such as the right to don a scholar’s gown. It is no secret that those who secure the scholarship are likely to […]| Cherwell
News items from Severn Wye| Severn Wye
Andrew Goddard writes: What follows demonstrates a recent statement about PLF by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is significantly misleading in relation to what the bishops have decided, what the church teaches on sexual ethics, who PLF is for, and what PLF offers. This development, contradicting and undermining past theological and legal advice as| Psephizo
John Root writes: Eric Kaufmann's Taboo (reviewed last week here) is centrally about the damaging slippage in Anglophone culture from ‘cultural liberalism’ (such as equality of opportunity) to ‘cultural socialism’ (such as equality of outcome); a process that requires cancelling the expression of resistant ideas, inflated concern about the dangers of ‘harm’, and an increased| Psephizo
Bishop Steven speaks during the House of Lords debate on support for persecuted Christians around the world. My Lords, may I too add my congratulations and appreciation to Baroness Foster for securing this important debate and for her comprehensive and moving survey and speech. It is also a pleasure to follow the noble Lord Lord […] The post Debate on support for persecuted Christians around the world appeared first on Bishop Steven's Blog.| Bishop Steven's Blog
What is the connection between Marxist thinking, Critical Race Theory, and actions by churches (including the Church of England) to address the perceived experience of racial injustice? The question is contested, but it is not straightforward, since Critical Race Theory has a complex intellectual history, and the underlying assumptions in the debates about race and| Psephizo
