Queue of vacant English sees; Justin Welby interview; Village church scores a hit with its silent CD; Conservative party ripped apart by gay marriage vote; No concessions for Tory right in David Cameron’s push for gay marriage; Gay marriage could cost Conservatives power, poll suggests; Two-thirds of Tory MPs could refuse to back gay marriage
Queue of vacant English sees
As well as the Bishop of Liverpool, another diocesan bishop has announced his retirement tast month. This is Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Exeter, whose announcement came on 6 January.
Peter Owen who keeps a blog on these episcopal things states – Exeter and Liverpool therefore join the queue of dioceses (behind Blackburn, Manchester, Durham, and Bath & Wells) awaiting consideration by the Crown Nominations Commission. In addition, if and when reorganisation of the three West Yorkshire dioceses is finally agreed, the new diocese will also have to join the queue. There is only one unallocated slot in the CNC’s programme for 2013, so at least one out of Exeter and Liverpool will have to wait twelve months or more for their new bishop to be chosen, and then probably several more months before he actually takes up his post.
Comments on the news above included – Plenty of scope and time scale for appointing the first women bishops for the C of E. The days of festina lente are over.; I see that a bishop is so crucial to the life of a diocese that one can manage quite happily without one for over a year! But how will they cope without a ‘focus for unity’?; We could expect another suffragan retirement i.e. +Edmonton. He turns 65 this year and has been thinking about it…
Justin Welby interview
Justin Welby and his wife were interviewed at the Trent Vineyard Church in Nottingham on Sunday. The church website has this description
John Mumford talks to Archbishop of Canterbury Elect, Justin Welby, and his wife Caroline. They discuss their faith, the ‘journey to Canterbury’, and their hope for the Church.
and there are links to audio and video of the hour-long interview here – http://trentvineyard.co.uk/media
Ed Thornton reports on the interview for the Church Times as Welby told CNC: ‘appointing me would be absurd’.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2013/25-january/news/uk/welby-told-cnc-%E2%80%98appointing-me-would-be-absurd%E2%80%99
Village church scores a hit with its silent CD
A little parish in East Sussex, England, has produced a hit with its recording of silence inside the church. From the Daily Mail:
A CD of the sounds of silence from inside a village church has sold out after becoming an unlikely hit.
The 30-minute recording was originally created to help raise some extra funds for repairs to St Peter’s Church in Seaford, East Sussex.
Church members believed the atmosphere in their small 12th century church was so unique that its peacefulness would appeal to a wider audience.
So they left some recording equipment on inside the building for half-an-hour.
The only sounds that can be heard on the CD are the odd squeaking of the wooden pews, some footsteps and the distant hum of passing traffic.
After selling out of the CD during a recent open day the church has now taken orders for it from as far afield as Germany, Austria and Ghana.
Conservative party ripped apart by gay marriage vote
Robert Watts, Telegraph – The full scale of this week’s revolt by Conservative MPs against David Cameron’s plans to introduce same-sex marriage became clear on Saturday.
The Sunday Telegraph has established that around 180 Conservative MPs, most notably including six whips and up to four members of the Cabinet, are ready to defy the Prime Minister’s plan to legalise gay weddings.
Meanwhile, 25 chairmen or former chairmen of Conservative party associations across the country have signed a letter to Mr Cameron warning that the policy will cause “significant damage” to the Tories’ 2015 general election campaign.
One chairman, who has quit over the issue, said “this is a policy dreamt up in Notting Hill”, while a serving chairman said it had angered the grassroots more than Europe.
The vote on Tuesday is the first parliamentary vote on the gay marriage legislation and a test for the Prime Minister. However Downing Street now expects that only around 120 of Mr Cameron’s MPs will vote in favour of legalising homosexual unions. This leaves around 180 Conservative members likely to abstain or vote against.
No concessions for Tory right in David Cameron’s push for gay marriage
By Patrick Wintour, Guardian – David Cameron has slapped down traditionalists in the cabinet opposed to proposed gay marriage laws by saying he would not introduce tax breaks for married couples in the March budget.
There has been a concerted cabinet and backbench campaign to extract a commitment from Cameron that he would soon offer tax breaks for married couples as a way of appeasing Tory MPs threatening to vote against the legislation next week.
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, and the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, have all been lobbying for inclusion of tax breaks in the budget that would offer incentives to marry. Fifteen Tory MPs, including two former ministers, Tim Loughton and Gerald Howarth, and the secretary of the backbench 1922 committee, Nick de Bois, had also pressed the case for immediate action.
Duncan Smith, Grayling and Paterson are also among the cabinet members who are considering whether to abstain, or in Paterson’s case possibly even vote against Cameron’s plans for equal marriage when it is voted on for the first time in the Commons on Tuesday.
A senior government source said that George Osborne had ruled out such tax breaks in the budget, which would focus on growth and jobs. “It won’t be in this budget, but it will be in this parliament,” the source said. “The chancellor and the prime minister have discussed it and it will be put forward – it is right to recognise marriage and recognise commitment. It’s in the coalition agreement and I can confirm it will be going ahead.”
Downing Street expects that at least 130 of the Tory party’s 303 MPs will vote against the prime minister on Tuesday, but Cameron does not describe those voting against the measure as rebelling since they have been given a free vote.
Many Tories are under pressure in their constituencies where the gay marriage vote is proving to be one of the most unpopular. The Tory split will not prevent the measure passing its second reading, since it will have near-unanimous support from Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Gay marriage could cost Conservatives power, poll suggests
By John Bingham, Telegraph – Divisions over gay marriage could cost the Conservatives enough votes to force them out of power at the next election, a new poll suggests.
One in five of voters who supported the party in 2010 would “definitely not” do so again if the Coalition presses ahead with the change, it found.
Even though a majority of Conservative voters polled insisted they would stay with the party, the loss of a fifth of its support would be enough to force it out of power.
On Friday night some Conservative MPs described the findings as a “wake up call” to David Cameron, just a few days before the Commons votes for the first time on legalsing gay marriage.
But Tory supporters of the change dismissed the poll, which was commissioned by the Coalition for Marriage, which campaigns against same-sex unions, as “skewed”.
They argued that a bigger long term danger to the party would be to fail to recognize a shift in attitudes in society on issues such as homosexuality.
The pollster ComRes asked just over 2,000 voters whether or not they agreed with the statement that they “would have considered voting Conservative at the next election but will definitely not if the Coalition Government legalises same-sex marriage”.
Twenty per cent of those who said they voted Conservative in 2010 agreed that they would not do so again in light of gay marriage.
Two-thirds of Tory MPs could refuse to back gay marriage
By Tim Ross, Telegraph – As few as one in three Conservative MPs will support David Cameron’s plan to legalise gay marriage next week, (Tomorrow Tuesday 5) according to senior Tory critics of the reform.
David Burrowes, the Conservative MP, said he had surveyed his colleagues’ views and believed that up to 200 of the 303 Tory MPs could refuse to vote for the Bill.
Campaigners against the reform have calculated that some 139 Conservatives will either vote against the Bill or abstain when it is debated in the Commons for the first time on Tuesday.
Mr Burrowes suggested that the final number of opponents could be significantly higher without further concessions.
He made his prediction as the Conservative equalities minister, Helen Grant, claimed that gay marriage was “absolutely consistent” with Tory values and her Church of England beliefs.
The Prime Minister is allowing his backbenchers a free vote on moves to redefine marriage and allow religious groups to conduct same-sex weddings for the first time.
However, he has personally tied his party’s reputation to changing the law and has declared that he supports gay marriage “because I am a Conservative”.
Mr Burrowes, a committed Christian, is a member of the government in his role an aide to the Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, who is also known to oppose the reforms.
He said many Tory MPs were “not satisfied” by the safeguards that have been offered to prevent religious groups being forced to marry gay and lesbian couples against their will.