Rowan Williams:
protect the poorest from the effects of the economic
downturn
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury -
26 April 2008
Speaking in the House of Lords the Archbishop highlighted the fact that government targets on alleviating poverty, particularly child poverty, risked not being met and warned that in a period of economic decline the poorest in society, who carry a higher proportion of personal debt, were most at risk. In the debate, called by the Archbishop, he suggested ways in which government might help low income families avoid entering into cycles of unsustainable debt -by improving financial education in schools, enforcing tighter controls on doorstep credit agencies and by helping to foster responsible alternatives to doorstep lending, such as those offered by Credit Unions.
What did the Archbishop
actually say?
There has been a strong
reaction in the media
and elsewhere to the
Archbishop of
Canterbury's remarks of
yesterday on civil and
religious law.
The full text of the
Archbishop's lecture at
the Royal Courts of
Justice 'Civil and
Religious Law in
England: a religious
perspective', can be
viewed on the
Archbishop's website,
here:
Archbishop's Lecture -
Civil and Religious Law
in England: a Religious
Perspective
The transcript of his
interview on yesterday's
World at One programme
can also be viewed
online, here:
BBC Interview - Radio 4
World at One.
The Archbishop made no
proposals for sharia in
either the lecture or
the interview, and
certainly did not call
for its introduction as
some kind of parallel
jurisdiction to the
civil law.
READ MORE
A Letter
from Mind
20 January 2008
My name
is Jo Middleton and I am writing on behalf of
Mind in Taunton and West Somerset
with regards to your concern about our office on Kingston Road. I
understand that many people in the area were surprised to see the office
close and would like to know what is happening to Mind in Taunton and
West Somerset.
READ
MORE
Global
Warming: what next?
by Janet
Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 9 December 2007
What can I do now?
Many of us are already trying to be more
careful about the use of energy, we recycle what we can, but
want to know more about what else can be done to reduce
carbon footprints. Here are some ideas.
READ MORE
Talking about the
teddy
by Mark Greene
of LICC
30 November
2007
The pope gives a lecture in Europe and nuns
are murdered in Ethiopia. A writer publishes
a novel and is forced into hiding. A teacher
allows her class to name a teddy bear after
a popular pupil and a crowd call for her
death.
To its credit, the Muslim Council of Britain
was swift to distance itself from the
actions of the Sudanese police; but for most
people in Britain, sadly, this new
development only reinforces the growing
perception of Islam as a repressive, violent
faith. Perhaps even more damaging, it makes
ordinary non-Muslims very wary of saying
anything at all about Islam. Fear
increasingly stifles comment, debate, and
even everyday conversation at the school
gate and in classrooms and workplaces.
READ MORE
Rowan Williams: An
article marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion
Act in the UK
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury -
21 October 2007
Most of those
who voted for the 1967 Abortion Act did so in the clear
belief that they were making provision for extreme and
tragic situations – conception as a result of rape, foetal
or perinatal complications threatening a mother’s life and
so on. Forty years on, a good many of these same people have
expressed their dismay at what has in fact happened over
this period. As we review these years - and as some of the
issues are reopened in connection with the proposed
legislation on embryo research – it may be important to
think about where this unease comes from and whether it has
any lessons for us now.
READ MORE
The Archbishop of
Canterbury's sermon at the dedication of the Armed Services
Memorial
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury -
12 October 2007
Human
beings are specialists in not seeing things. Most of the
time, we screen out a vast amount of our world, a vast
amount of what comes to us through our senses,
especially through our eyes. Part of this is simply
practical: no-one can manage to respond to all the
promptings and signals that are actually coming at us,
and one aspect of ordinary growing-up is simply
acquiring the skills to select what is most useful.
READ MORE
Outside the comfort
zone: responding to the challenge of our Local Ministry
Group
A sign on the
M66 proudly proclaims that it is "the highest motorway in
England". Last week I was driving along it in thick fog, and
thinking that I would like to write something for this 'FWIW'
column. But my ideas were as murky as the morning. So I
murmured something along the lines of "OK, God, have you got
any bright ideas?" Well, maybe it was the high altitude and
hence the relative closeness to Heaven that the M66 enjoys,
but communications must have been pretty good because "Local
Ministry Groups" flashed into my mind with the resulting
feeling of "ah yes, of course". A more charismatic Christian
might use the phrase "God told me to write about Local
Ministry Groups" - but I'm not in the least charismatic and
feel uncomfortable with the idea of God addressing me so
directly. So I'll limit myself to saying that the idea came
from somewhere and it felt important to follow up on it. So
here goes.
READ MORE
Global
Warming: “Reduce, Repair, Recycle and Reuse!”
by Janet
Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 30 September 2007
The words “reduce, repair, recycle and reuse” suggest
we need to think carefully before buying or replacing a product. We live
in a culture that encourages us to “buy, buy, buy”. Every product we buy
has a carbon footprint, there are energy costs for anything manufactured
or processed and transported to the point of purchase. Refusing to buy
when we don’t actually need the product can dramatically reduce our
carbon footprints. It can also help to preserve the world’s natural
resources. Charities are already looking to Christmas and encouraging us
to buy “virtual” gifts to help people in the developing world, we can
choose projects that reduce their carbon footprints as well as our own!
READ
MORE
Harvest
Festival proceeds to go to the Bishop Andrew Memorial Fund
It is a year since Bishop
Andrew was so tragically taken from us. Please remember in your prayers
at this time Christine and their daughters Joanne and Nicola.
We have decided that the
proceeds of our Harvest Festival events this year should go the the
Bishop Andrew Memorial Fund. Please find below some information about
the fund from Jenny Humphreys and Nick Denison.
READ MORE
Archbishop: hopes and prayers at the start of the Jewish New
Year
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 11 September 2007
The Archbishop
of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has sent a greeting to
Jewish Communities at the start of the festival of Rosh
Hashanah, marking the start of the Jewish New Year.
READ MORE
Passing by on the
other side?
Child
Protection and the Church - what can you do about it?
by Sigurd
Reimers, 2 September 2007. (Final part in a series of 3)
Child
protection is everyone’s business. Children cannot be kept
safe just by the experts or their families.
READ MORE
That they may have
life…in all its fullness:
Child Protection -
what is the Church doing about it?
by Sigurd
Reimers, 29 July 2007. (Part 2 in a series of 3)
The Church of
England, the Diocese of Bath and Wells, and now St Andrew’s
have a detailed child protection policy in place. This is a
statement of practical commitment to ensure that any
children with whom the Church is in contact can be as safe
from harm as it is possible to be. Mind you, as a recent
news item reminds us, the presence of a policy didn’t
protect some children in a Clevedon parish, who had
experienced sexual abuse at the hands of their Vicar.
Policies can only work if people carry out the procedures
contained in the policies.
READ MORE
Global Warming
– What can I do about shopping?
Part 7 in
the series by Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton
5 August 2007.
Tricia
is writing about
Fair
Trade in her article this month. Ethical shopping includes fair
trade, it takes into consideration the working conditions of those who
produce our food and other goods, and the effect our purchases have on
the global environment. It is this environmental impact that I shall
discuss in this article. Even this is a huge and complex area!
READ
MORE
Ethical and Fair Trading
by Tricia Anderson,
Reader at St. Andrew's
Do you consider 'Fairtrade'
when shopping? I'm not thinking about the monthly Fairtrade stall at
church, nor looking for Fairtrade apples, bananas and roses when you're
in the supermarket. What about your clothes? How and where are they
made? What conditions do the workers suffer or enjoy? It's good to be a
savvy shopper and get the same goods at half the price your neighbour
paid, but who pays?
READ MORE
Suffer the little children – do
the little children suffer?
by Sigurd Reimers, 29 July
2007. (Part 1 in a series of 3 articles)
Why is child protection
such a big issue?
Firstly, there’s a
lot of it about. At least 10% of all children can expect to experience
at least one serious episode of abuse before they grow up. By abuse we
mean heavy physical chastisement, being deprived of food or clothing
over a long period of time, living in an atmosphere without human
warmth, and with constant ridicule or threats, or sexual abuse.
READ MORE
Church youth worker
finds faith in popular culture with Harry Potter’s magic
A new resource guide published today
by the Church of England suggests youth leaders should use the popular
Harry Potter series of books and films as a launch pad for
exploring Christian themes within church youth groups or Sunday schools.
READ MORE
Global Warming
– What can I do to save energy in the home?
Part 6 in
the series by Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 17 June 2007.
If we want to reduce the amount of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere a good place to begin
is at home. We can reduce the amount of energy we use,
and use clean energy for our electricity.
READ MORE
Archbishop in Time
Magazine
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury
- 8 June 2007
The
Archbishop of Canterbury is today on the front cover of
the European and African editions of Time Magazine. In a
frank account of the challenges facing the Anglican
Communion worldwide, Time Magazine outlines Dr Williams'
hopes for the future in the run up to the Lambeth
Conference.
READ MORE
Archbishop pays tribute to the Prime Minister
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury - May 2007
Responding to the Prime
Minister's recent announcement that he will stand down from 27th June,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made the following
statement from Sri Lanka:
“Tony Blair has understood
as well as any Prime Minister in recent times why religion matters, how
faith communities contribute to the common good and why religious
extremism should have no place in a progressive society..."
READ MORE
Global Warming
– What is my carbon footprint?
Part 5 in
the series by Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 13 May 2007.
This
month I begin to consider what each of us individually or as households
might do to help to slow down global warming. This means doing what we
can to reduce the amount of carbon we use that then ends up in the
atmosphere. In order to do this effectively, knowing what carbon we
individually produce is important. The carbon we personally help to
produce is sometimes referred to as a carbon footprint, sometimes as a
carbon elephant!
READ
MORE
Global Warming
– What can we as a congregation do?
Part 4 in
the series by Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 15 April
2007.
Last month I referred to the new Bath
and Wells Environmental Policy in a document produced by
the diocese. In one part of this document there is a
section entitled “What some churches do to improve the
environment”. Improving the environment is much more
than reducing carbon emissions or tackling global
warming, but there is a strong relationship between
considering ways to cut non renewable energy and a
policy that cares for the environment.
READ MORE
Diocese publishes
environmental policy
News from
The Diocese of Bath and Wells - April 2007
The
Diocese of Bath and Wells, under the chairmanship of the
Reverend David Osborne, set up a working party to look
at environment issues... At the March 2007 Diocesan
Synod the Working Party presented its report which was
endorsed by Synod.
READ MORE
Archbishop's
sermon given at the service to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 27 March 2007
'Human beings are born free, yet everywhere
they are in chains.’ A great and inspiring
slogan for progressive thinking in the last
two centuries; but the very fact of this act
of commemoration should make us question it.
We are born into a world already scarred by
the internationalising and industrialising
of slavery in the early modern period, and
our human inheritance is shadowed by it.
READ MORE
Global Warming – What is the church
doing?
Part 3
in the series by Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church
Taunton 18 March 2007.
Christians have been discussing
environmental issues for many decades, the concerns were
air pollution, de-forestation and soil erosion. Global
warming itself has been recognized as a major concern
for at least a decade. There are many Christian
initiatives that are helping us to think and take action
on climate change. Of the four campaigns selected here,
two are from the Church of England and two are
ecumenical.
READ MORE
Global Warming – Is there anything we
can do?
Part 2 in
the series by Janet
Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 18 February 2007.
Two important reports on climate
change have been published recently. Both the Stern
Report by economists and a UN Report by leading world
scientists have emphasized the importance of taking
urgent action to reduce carbon emissions. We may have a
sense of helplessness when bombarded with all the facts
we have heard. Can what I do make any real difference?
Can any actions here in Britain really prevent further
global warming?
READ MORE
Archbishop – Commission of enquiry needed into failing
penal system
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1 February 2007
The
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is calling
for a commission of enquiry into the Penal Justice
system which, he says is failing both offenders and
victims because it can’t cope with the primary need to
change the behaviour of those convicted.
READ MORE
Global
warming - should Christians care??
by
Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton
-14 January 2007
This is the first of a series
of articles about climate change. Each month I
will look at some aspect of the environmental
problems the world now faces and consider what
we as Christians might be able to do. I am not a
scientist, my aim is to share with you some
information and ideas and give you some further
resources so that you can find out more.
READ MORE
Church leaders to make pilgrimage to Bethlehem
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury
- 5 December 2006
Christian leaders have called
for prayers throughout Advent
for Christians in the Holy Land
as they prepare for a pilgrimage
to the birth place of Jesus
Christ.
The four heads of Churches will
undertake the pilgrimage in
solidarity with Christians
living in the Holy Land in the
week leading up to Christmas.
The pilgrimage is in response to
invitations from Christian
Churches in the Holy Land.
READ MORE
Arms and the United States
by
Margaret Killingray of LICC - 3 December 2006
A month ago, on 26 October, the
UN General Assembly’s First
Committee (which deals with
disarmament and national
security) passed a draft
resolution requesting the
Secretary-General to look into
the possibility of creating a
comprehensive, legally binding
international instrument to
control the import, export and
transfer of conventional arms.
READ MORE
Archbishop of Canterbury comments on British
Airways
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 24 November 2006
At
a press conference in Rome today,
November 24, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, gave
the following comments in response
to questions about British Airways
and the wearing of the cross by its
uniformed staff.
READ MORE
Archbishop - newspaper reports 'wilful
misinterpretation'
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 16 November 2006
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr
Rowan Williams has dismissed as
'wilfully misleading' newspaper
reports that he is doubtful over
the ordination of women to the
priesthood, has ever felt that
the ordination of women priests
had been 'wrong' or believes
that a revisiting of the
question is likely, necessary or
desirable.
READ MORE
New Bishop of
Taunton announced
News from
The Diocese of Bath and Wells - 2 October 2006
The new Bishop of Taunton is to
be the Venerable Peter Maurice, the present Archdeacon
of Wells.
He will be consecrated in December and will be welcomed
back to the Diocese of Bath and Wells as a Bishop at a
special service in Wells Cathedral.
READ MORE
Archbishop's
interview on The Good Childhood Inquiry
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 18 September 2006
The Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams appeared on
the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning
to talk about the Children's Society's The
Good Childhood Inquiry which is being
launched today. He was interviewed by James
Naughtie; a transcript of the interview
appears below.
READ MORE
Fifth anniversary of 9/11
terrorist attacks - Archbishop
of Canterbury on BBC R4 Thought
for the Day
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 11 September 2006
Good morning. On
September 12th five
years ago, I was in
the vast cathedral
of St John in New
York, along with a
large congregation
of frightened,
confused or numbed
people. The day
before, I had been
one of those trapped
for a while in a
building a hundred
yards from the Twin
Towers; I and those
with me had been
fortunate enough to
be able to get out
by the end of the
morning, alive and
uninjured. And that
night, the local
bishop had asked if
I would lead a
service in the
cathedral next day.
READ MORE
Iraq ordeal was not in vain,
says Kember
News from
The Church of England Newspaper
- 1 September 2006
EX-IRAQI
CAPTIVE Norman Kember has talked openly about his four
month imprisonment in the Middle East and insisted the
ordeal had not been in vain. Speaking to a packed
auditorium at the Greenbelt festival on Monday he told
listeners how his Christian Peacemaker Team was captured
last November and thrown into a guarded house outside
the safe Iraqi ‘green zone.’
In an interview with Canon Lucy Winkett, of St Paul’s
Cathedral, Kember explained how his fellow captives kept
themselves sane while chained hands and feet to chairs.
READ MORE
Archbishop: 'The voices of the
innocent must be heard above the
din of war'
An edited version of this
article was published in the
Observer newspaper
News from
the
Archbishop of Canterbury - 6 August 2006
As I write, the UN continues its
deliberations about what kind of
resolution might be possible to
support and effect a ceasefire
in Lebanon. The optimistic gloss
is that this could be achieved
‘in a few days’, though the
organisation of an international
peacekeeping force is likely to
take several weeks.
READ MORE
Sinful to fly? Bishop of London
on the environment - interview
on Radio 4's Today programme
Is it sinful to fly on
holiday? The Bishop of London,
Rt Revd Richard Chartres, has
been reflecting on the moral
dimension of environmental
issues, he’s producing a booklet
on the matter, which will be
distributed to all the Church of
England’s dioceses - and he’s in
our radio car. You were quoted
in yesterday’s Sunday Times as
saying that ‘making selfish
choices such as flying on
holiday or buying a large car
are a symptom of sin’. Do you
care to unpack that sentence for
us?
Bishop of London: I’d be glad
to. Obviously it’s not my
business to issue fatwas
just like that against flying.
But it is very important that
people should be helped to take
responsibility for the decisions
they make, and people of faith -
Christians certainly and others
as well - regard ‘living in sin’
as an idea which has sometimes
been presented in rather a small
way; living in sin is really
living a life that is turned in
upon itself...
READ MORE
Archbishop's interview on Middle
East situation
News from the
Archbishop of Canterbury -
21st July 2006
The
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr
Rowan Williams appeared on the
BBC Radio 4 Today
programme this morning to talk
about the Middle East. He was
interviewed by Carolyn Quinn; a
transcript of the interview
appears below.
READ MORE
The Challenge and Hope of
Being an Anglican Today: A
Reflection for the Bishops,
Clergy and Faithful of the
Anglican Communion
News from
The Archbishop of Canterbury
- 27th June 2006
The Anglican Communion: a Church
in Crisis?
What is the current tension in
the Anglican Communion actually
about? Plenty of people are
confident that they know the
answer. It’s about gay bishops,
or possibly women bishops. The
American Church is in favour and
others are against – and the
Church of England is not sure
(as usual).
It’s true that the election of a
practising gay person as a
bishop in the US in 2003 was the
trigger for much of the present
conflict. It is doubtless also
true that a lot of extra heat is
generated in the conflict by
ingrained and ignorant prejudice
in some quarters; and that for
many others, in and out of the
Church, the issue seems to be a
clear one about human rights and
dignity. But the debate in the
Anglican Communion is not
essentially a debate about the
human rights of homosexual
people. It is possible – indeed,
it is imperative – to give the
strongest support to the defence
of homosexual people against
violence, bigotry and legal
disadvantage, to appreciate the
role played in the life of the
church by people of homosexual
orientation, and still to
believe that this doesn’t settle
the question of whether the
Christian Church has the
freedom, on the basis of the
Bible, and its historic
teachings, to bless homosexual
partnerships as a clear
expression of God’s will. That
is disputed among Christians,
and, as a bare matter of fact,
only a small minority would
answer yes to the question.
READ MORE
Archbishop of Canterbury’s
Sermon on the occasion of the
Service of Thanksgiving for the
Eightieth Birthday of Her
Majesty The Queen
News from
The
Archbishop of Canterbury
- 15th June 2006
The curse of our age has been
the inhumanity of absolute
ideology and of myths of racial
supremacy, the great lies that
have plunged our continent and
our world into darkness and
butchery so many times since the
nineteen twenties. And in the
new century and millennium, what
we have to fear is a toxic
mixture of religion that has
become inhuman, economic power
sustained at massive human cost,
and the technologies of
destruction that can be used by
armies and by terrorists alike
for impersonal killing.
READ MORE
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Archbishops’ Council publishes
response to consultation on
sexual orientation
discrimination
