Interesting Guardian article explores approaches to meaning of life....

Religion may once have been the opium of the people, but in large swaths of the world the masses have kicked the habit. In countries once dominated by churches characterised by patriarchy, ritual and hierarchy, the pews have emptied and people have found other sources of solace, spirituality and morality.

https://www.theguardian.com/gl...

hree years ago, the General Synod of the Church of England set up yet another process of consultation and debate about sex and relationships under the title of ‘Living in Love and Faith’, with the stated intention ‘that the resources make connections with the questions, faith stories, views and experiences of people who span a range of ages, ethnicities, theological convictions, sexualities and genders’. Now the report, which is actually a book running to 468 pages, plus digital resources and a course book, has been published and commended to the parishes of the Church of England for study, reflection and a way forward. So what do we make of this latest resource and the reactions to it?

‘Living in Love and Faith’ should be seen as the Church of England addressing its own people – churchgoers across the parishes of England. The book chronicles the many Church reports on sex, marriage and relationships over the years and the archbishops once again see their vision as keeping the church in graceful union despite and cutting through the disagreements. Those of us who hold a more progressive faith can at least be heartened by the way in which Living in Love and Faith tries openly and honestly to outline in some detail the contexts of societal, scientific and cultural influences. Part Two asks us to pay attention to ‘what is going on’. For churchgoers seeking to make sense of these matters in the context of faith, Part Four seeks to look at different ways in which we handle biblical texts and how we assess the Bible’s authority. Similarly how do we evaluate the church, the surrounding culture, our experiences and conscience?

Living in Love and Faith asks 585 questions, more than one a page. In the sections entitled ‘Encounters’, true life stories are told without comment. Different perspectives on all these sensitive issues are handled with clarity and respect. There are many pages of useful factual information , gleaned from secular sources such as British Attitude Surveys, government departments, alongside numerous church reports and commissions. All in all, the book is clear about the disagreements over matters of sex and relationships, both from a very conservative viewpoint right through to progressive folk like myself and many PCN members. The book inevitably reflects the broadness of the Church of England and its range of views over these matters.

Details here for planned activities:

https://mailchi.mp/903f43dce00...

Are you looking for an alternative, counter cultural and spiritually challenging way to live and work? The Iona Community is recruiting now for its residential staff teams on the islands of Iona and Mull to re-open our island centres in 2021 and, through our Unlocked programme, find ways to support those particularly who have been affected most by lockdown.

IONA: – Administrator, Deputy Housekeeper, Programme Manager, Musician, Sacristan

CAMAS: – Camas Activities Worker

Around the world, growing numbers of people are rejecting traditional faiths and choosing their own spiritual path. Eight atheists and agnostics open up...

https://www.theguardian.com/gl...

A Church of Ireland priest blogs on religion in Ireland today

https://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/...

News of Conservative Polish Church in crisis

https://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/...

We have a political and economic system that continues to put profit before people and 2020 exposed this reality again

Justice around the world:… | Progressive Christianity Network Britain (pcnbritain.org.uk)

Christian Aid highlights effects of Covid on already vulnerable communities

Christmas Appeal - Christian Aid

Wondering about the future pf parishes churches after Covid - a view from Simon Jenkins

If the Church of England… | Progressive Christianity Network Britain (pcnbritain.org.uk)

Fascinating item on the contribution of agnostic composers to Church life

O come, all ye faithless:… | Progressive Christianity Network Britain (pcnbritain.org.uk)

As poverty climbs exponentially in the UK the Bishop of Durham calls for permanent benefit boost

https://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/...

Clifford Longley in The Tablet considers the conflict between the E.U.'s basis in Catholic Social Teaching and the UK's Anglo Saxon free market philosophy

Why Britain can only blame… | Progressive Christianity Network Britain (pcnbritain.org.uk)

Church leaders across the denominations ‘gravely concerned’ about household debt

Church leaders ‘gravely… | Progressive Christianity Network Britain (pcnbritain.org.uk)

Responses are called for to the revised clergy disciplinary measure CDM of the Church of England

Replacing the Clergy… | Progressive Christianity Network Britain (pcnbritain.org.uk)

"I say it's a dark night for the church," said Zbigniew Nosowski, one of Poland’s prominent intellectuals. "It is a difficult time of crisis."

Nosowski, a sociologist and journalist, is editor-in-chief of Wiez (Bond), a scholarly quarterly. Speaking in a phone interview, he said that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the hierarchy of the church and its unwavering embrace of the right-wing authoritarian ruling party, Law and Justice, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

A liberal Catholic

The election to the White House of Joe Biden, a Democrat who is also a practising Catholic, is the best news liberal Christians have had for a long time. In a book published last month, the conservative Australian cardinal George Pell said Mr Trump was “a bit of a barbarian, but in some important ways he’s ‘our’ (Christian) barbarian”. The end of that cynically transactional relationship between Mr Trump’s White House and the religious right signals new possibilities. In his victory speech, Mr Biden quoted from Ecclesiastes, saying that for a divided America, “it was a time to heal”. When he has discussed his faith, the president-elect has tended to talk about altruism, decency and personal integrity, steering clear of provocative dividing lines.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops in Kent have called on the Government to “intervene decisively” to resolve the situation in Dover, where more than 2800 lorries are queuing to enter the port and the Channel Tunnel.

Lorries have been stranded in Dover since Sunday, when France closed its border with the UK to try to prevent the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus to mainland Europe.

Dear friends, on behalf of the Open Table Network trustees and patrons, I wish you peace and rest, comfort and joy this Christmas.

'The church, the body of Christ, is always birthed and re-birthed at the margins. Open Table is one of those new births, where the spirit of God breathes a new community into life and watches it as it starts to grow.'

These are the words of the Rector of the parish where the first Open Table began in Liverpool in 2008.

Following the publication of polling conducted by the Health Foundation showing support for making the £20 increase in Universal Credit permanent, the Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler said: "The findings of the Health Foundation poll on the £20 uplift in Universal Credit are very encouraging.

Devastated head teachers, teachers and other education experts have spoken of their anger regarding the Catholic Church’s handling of the case of Fr Joseph Quigley, an authority and adviser to bishops on Catholic education, who has been convicted of child sex abuse.

Quigley, 56, was found guilty on December 3 at Warwick Crown Court of physical and sexual abuse – but 12 years after Birmingham archdiocese, when it was led by Archbishop Vincent Nichols, first learned of his abuse and did not immediately report Quigley to the police.

ALMOST 500 church leaders in Britain have written a joint letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to say they are “gravely concerned” about the growing crisis of household debt that millions of families are facing this Christmas, writes Ellen Teague.

“We have heard countless stories from people who have faced awful choices, such as between affording food or falling behind on rent,” says the letter of 3 December. “Many of our churches have been on the front line of providing food and essentials, and hundreds of churches provide debt advice for those at risk.”

WORKING for Christian unity, the late cardinal and committed ecumenist Cormac Murphy-O’Connor often said, is like embarking on a “road with no exit”.

Lambeth working group - urgent consultations

The Lambeth Working Group led by Bishop Tim Thornton published its proposals on Friday for replacing the CDM. The Zoom consultation meetings start this Wednesday and the deadline for responses is 20th December. This is clearly not ideal timing for clergy.

If you cannot reasonably digest and comment on the material in this timescale and/or take part in the Zoom consultations we recommend that you indicate the need for more time by

1. Posting in this thread on the Hub and/or

2. emailing Adam Hobson direct at adam.hobson@lambethpalace.org.uk

All of the work that we did together on #5WeeksTooLong led to some really important changes. However, there are still many things that we can do to improve not only UC but other benefits and legislations that are pushing people into destitution.

We are working towards ending the causes of destitution so that we can end the need the for food banks. It is a man-made problem, so it can be fixed.

In the tumultuous final days before World War II, Quakers were among many who rescued almost 10,000 children from German-controlled Europe. Quakers' pivotal role was acknowledged this week when the Kindertransport was commemorated.

Is God calling you to be part of the re-imagination and transformation of the church in Manchester?

The Bishop of Manchester is looking for seven (yes seven!) new full time Area Deans. They will be collaborative and creative priests with a genuine passion for mission. Come and join us to play a significant part in our exciting transformation in the Diocese of Manchester, following the decision to create seven new deaneries out of the 20 current deaneries.

For every person and every family the coronavirus pandemic has brought different challenges, heartaches, sorrows, frustrations and worries. So many people have lost loved ones or suffered long term health problems. Millions will soon be unemployed and the gross inequalities in our society have been more exposed than ever.

How long must this go on for? When will it all end? We wait anxiously for the vaccines to be rolled out. We will wait for some signs of economic recovery in the years ahead. We wait for better times. We look back to life as it was back in February, when we shopped, went out with friends, enjoyed a holiday, felt secure in our job. ‘By the waters of Babylon, we wept when we remembered Zion’, cried the people of Israel in exile.

The fact that the more frequently you attend church, the more likely you were to support a president who energizes white supremacists and hate groups.

The dividing line of race is old as our democracy, and as enduring as evidence from the presidential election. After four years of watching President Donald Trump demonize Muslims, enact cruel policies that target migrants, refuse to clearly condemn white supremacists, and disparage the Black Lives Matter movement, white Christians stuck with Trump in large numbers.

Race and ethnicity continue to eclipse religion as a driver of voting patterns. According to preliminary data from AP Votecast, more than half of white Catholics (57%) voted for Trump, compared to 67% of Latino Catholics who supported Biden.

There is some positive emerging news. Trump's national support among white Catholics declined from the 60% who supported him in 2016. Biden's ability to cut into Trump's appeal with white Catholics in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin played an important role in flipping those battlegrounds back to blue after Hillary Clinton lost all three states in 2016.

And there is data that points to white Catholics grappling with systemic racism more than in the past. While seven in 10 white evangelicals say that the police killing of African American men are isolated incidents rather than part of a pattern, the proportion of white Catholics who agree with that dropped 13 percentage points — from 71% in 2015 to 56% in 2020, according to Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI.

SOME Evangelicals in the Church of England are contemplating “alternative solutions”, including new provincial arrangements, if the outcome of the Living in Love and Faith process (News, 13 November) leads to changes in doctrine or practice on sexuality.

In a video, The Beautiful Story, produced by the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) and posted on Sunday, the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Julian Henderson, who is the CEEC’s President, says: “I’m not sure there are many of us in the Church of England who want to leave the Church of England. Staying in is, I’m sure, the hope and the aspiration of most of us. But, as and when the Church gets to the point where it changes its teaching and its liturgy and its practice in these areas, is going to be a moment for people to have to reconsider their allegiance to the Church.

“At the moment, I want to be in the Church of England, I want to fight for the traditional teaching of the Church on these matters. But the time may come when it’s going to be essential for those who hold to scriptural teaching on marriage and same-sex relationships to say ‘We cannot operate under this particular system and support this kind of doctrine and practice within the life of our Church.’ And that may then lead to having to look for alternative solutions.”