Bishop calls for press regulator with guaranteed independence; Promising effective social care is a moral duty, says lead healthcare bishop; Civil partnerships: ‘We should have shown workings’ bishop; C of E statement on food waste; House of Laity meeting; Media review
Bishop calls for press regulator with guaranteed independence
The Rt. Revd. Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, yesterday called for a “fully independent body able to investigate the practices of the press without the trigger of a complaint bringing it into action.”
Speaking in the House of Lords during a debate on the Leveson Report the Bishop highlighted how the public conscience had been animated by the outrages of phone hacking: “Anyone who believes that Britain’s moral conscience is duller than it was might do well to reflect on our collective response to the phone hacking scandal. … And that collective conscience was animated when the victims of phone hacking were a murdered child and her family. Public moral indignation may still prove to be enough to reshape our culture, especially when it is in defence of the weak.”
The Bishop said that the lack of repentance on behalf of newspaper editors as a whole for practices and wrongdoing highlighted in the Leveson report should lead to a wariness of accepting that self-regulation by newspapers would be sufficient.
“Some elements of our national press have made the terrible suffering of such families almost unendurable. In another age there might have been calls for public acts of penitence. The sad thing is that there has been surprisingly little public repentance and a great deal of self-justification and lapses of memory. This alone should make us wary of the claims of editors that they can clean up their act without the independence of their regulator being guaranteed by statute or in some other way.”
Bishop Graham said that one of the consequences of the Leveson report was the need to improve the way newspapers were regulated: “our newspapers have been very good at defending themselves from independent statutory regulation while calling for it in almost every other walk of life. We need a fully independent body able to investigate the practices of the press without the trigger of a complaint bringing it into action.”
The Bishop of Norwich concluded his speech with a recognition of the contribution made by local and regional papers to community life and how these papers had been praised by the Leveson report in contrast to national newspapers: “Regional and local newspapers are part of the communities they serve, strengthening our sense of belonging, providing information and exchange of ideas, celebrating what is good and reporting on what is disturbing. Occasionally people say newspapers only report bad news. That’s not true of our local and regional press.”
Promising effective social care is a moral duty, says lead healthcare bishop
The forthcoming Draft Care and Support Bill is an opportunity for the Government to promise to provide effective social care to those who live in ill health, frailty or disability, writes the Bishop of Carlisle, the lead bishop on healthcare issues, in this week’s edition of the Church of England Newspaper.
Declaring social care to be in “deep crisis”, Bishop James Newcome goes on to say: “Around 800,000 people who need social care do not receive any formal help… While families and friends do their best, there is a moral duty for the state to put in place appropriately funded care and support services which are affordable and fit for purpose.”
Bishop James continues: “The Government has admitted that the current system of social care is broken and has set out a programme of reform. However, to date it has not addressed the crucial issue of paying for social care. A renewed system of social care cannot function properly if the current funding crisis continues.”
He concludes: “We urge the Government to rise to this moment and promise a social care system of which we can all be proud.”
Civil partnerships: ‘We should have shown workings’
Ed Thornton, Church Times – The Bishop of Sodor & Man, the Rt Revd Robert Paterson, expressed his disappointment this week with the way in which the news emerged of the opening of the episcopate to priests in civil partnerships as bishops ( News, 4 January).
Bishop Paterson was appointed to chair a group looking into whether clergy in civil partnerships should be eligible for nomination to the episcopate ( News, 2 December 2011). The House of Bishops had recommended a moratorium on such appointments until the group reported ( News, 8 July 2011).
Speaking on Monday, Bishop Paterson said that the group – whose other members were the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Christopher Foster, and the Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Revd Colin Fletcher – had produced a 20-page report for the House of Bishops in May last year.
The group’s report examined three questions: should the moratorium be maintained or not? If not, should there be any additional requirements made of candidates for the episcopate that would not be made of those seeking a parish appointment? If so, what should those additional requirements be?
Bishop Paterson said that although the group “did make a proposal”, he could not say what it was. In addition, it had assumed that it would be asked to produce a final report. In May, however, the House of Bishops standing committee took over responsibility for the review.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2013/11-january/news/uk/civil-partnerships-%E2%80%98we-should-have-shown-workings%E2%80%99
C of E statement on food waste
David Shreeve, the Church of England’s national environmental adviser, said:
“The news* that half of the world’s food ends up being thrown away is a wake up call for us all. The Church of England, through its Shrinking the Footprint campaign, is committed to working on issues of food waste. The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, chair of Shrinking the Footprint, has taken a lead, working closely with the Feeding the 5000 campaign in highlighting the importance of cutting food waste.
“Churches across the country are rising to the challenge with food waste awareness campaigns. Next week Oxford Diocese is launching Food Matters, a national campaign on food and hunger encouraging comments and views on food issues online: posted at www.foodmatters.org.uk or tweet them to @foodmatters_UK. The Oxford bishops are already leading the way.”
Shrinking the Footprint the Church of England’s national environment campaign www.shrinkingthefootprint.org
* Full report can be read at http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/themes/environment/global-food?WT.mc_id=HP_130007
More information on Food Matters at www.foodmatters.org.uk
Feeding the 5000 campaign http://www.feeding5k.org/
House of Laity meeting
Madeleine Davies in the Church Times looks ahead to next week’s meeting of the General Synod’s House of Laity with Lay rebel explains his Giddings challenge. The mover of a motion of no confidence in the chairman of the House of Laity ( News, 7 December) has outlined his reasons in a note circulated to all members in advance of the vote next Friday.
The note concentrates on the speech given by the chairman, Dr Philip Giddings, during the debate on women bishops at the November Synod meeting , in which he opposed the Measure as “unwise”, given that a “significant minority of our Church [are] unable to accept its provisions”.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2013/11-january/news/uk/lay-rebel-explains-his-giddings-challenge
MEDIA REVIEW
Archbishop Designate had called the UBS bank “a corrupted organisation”
Reports that the Archbishop Designate had called the UBS bank “a corrupted organisation” at a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/09/top-ubs-banker-attacks-city-culture
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/libor-scandal/9790771/UBS-fires-eighteen-over-Libor-rigging-scandal.html
York on healthcare
Reports that Archbishop Sentamu has said that the NHS must be allowed to put “a culture of care over a culture of competition” during a visit to Leeds general Infirmary.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-20952054
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/9791150/NHS-should-not-adopt-culture-of-competition-over-culture-of-care-warns-Archbishop-of-York.html
Royal succession concerns
Report that members of the Lords constitutional committee have raised concerns over changes to royal succession laws which would allow heirs to the throne to marry Catholics.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/monarch-could-veto-childrens-marriages-under-succession-bill-8444512.html
Former Conservative minister – same-sex marriage risks undermining religious freedoms
Robert Winnett, Telegraph – Exclusive: David Cameron’s plan to introduce gay marriage is “divisive, ill thought through and constitutionally wrong” and risks undermining the “freedom to worship” in Britain, a former Conservative Cabinet minister has warned.
Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, said that the European courts will “drive a coach and horses through the legislation” and over-ride legal protections which are designed to stop the Church of England conducting the ceremonies.
In a letter to his constituents seen by The Daily Telegraph, Dr Fox describes the legislation as being “made on the hoof” and says it risks undermining religious freedoms.
The decision by the former Cabinet minister, who previously challenged Mr Cameron for the Conservative leadership, to intervene in the growing row over gay marriage marks a significant challenge to the Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron is already facing a backlash from Tory MPs with more than 100 threatening to vote against the proposal when it is introduced to Parliament in the coming weeks.
In his letter sent earlier this week, Dr Fox says: “The principle of altering the accepted legal status of the majority of the population in order to satisfy what appears to be a very small, if vocal, minority is not a good basis on which to build a tolerant and stable society and should be enough reason in itself to think twice about changing the law.”
He adds: “What makes the position worse is the way that the legislation looks as though it was made on the hoof to deal with the political problem du jour. Banning the Church of England from what would be an otherwise legal activity is anomalous and absurd. If the ‘exemption’ is, as stated, because the Church had made clear their objection to same-sex marriage then why not exempt the Catholic Church which has been even clearer in its opposition.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/former-minister-liam-fox-says-gay-marriage-plans-are-divisive-8447188.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20977765
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/10/gay-marriage-plan-criticised-liam-fox
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3653845.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9793935/Gay-marriage-Camerons-plans-are-divisive-and-ill-thought-through-says-Liam-Fox.html
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/370018/Liam-Fox-no-to-gay-weddings
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2260488/Ill-vote-absurd-plan-legalise-gay-marriage-says-Fox-dismisses-plans-form-social-engineering.html
Illegal abortions in immigrant communities
Reports that illegal abortions on the grounds of gender may be taking place in the UK within immigrant communities.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2260530/Immigrant-mothers-Britain-aborting-unwanted-girls-boys-considered-preferable-cultures.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9794577/The-abortion-of-unwanted-girls-taking-place-in-the-UK.html
Obit – The Very Revd Michael Till, Dean of Winchester.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article3653741.ece