The Church of England has promoted another woman to one of its most important jobs, the Bishop of Gloucester.
Rachel Treweek was just an Archdeacon in Hackney, when she got the go-ahead from the CofE's Top Brass to become the first ever woman Bishop of Gloucester. She takes over from bishop Michael Pelham, who was accused of sexual misconduct and resigned from his post.
According to the BBC, Treweek is a "natural leader" and has "a voice that speaks up for those who are marginalised; and a compassionate voice that speaks into lives and places which are hurting."
I think that's beautiful.
Maybe Treweek will reverse the church of England's implosion into risible irrelevancy.
LSP
She looks...dignified, like a real leader, in the image of Peter and Paul, the apostles, doesn't she?
ReplyDeleteThe phrase "Apostolic Succession" springs to mind.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Sunday attendance like in the C of E in England?
ReplyDeleteI don't have the standing to pass judgement on anybody's church leaders. However bureaucracies tend to become moribund and self-sustaining for the mere purpose of being self-sustaining.
ReplyDeleteEven a tarnished mirror can shine like a jewel if it is polished. I think that the entire C of E needs a healthy dose of polish. And it all needs to be done with eyes riveted on the cross of Christ rather than on the benefits of interpretive dance by lesbians and pagans, and by opening churches to Muslims and covering all of the emblems of Christianity to pander to heathens.
Worse. Hackney has been engaging in what is dubbed Social Cleansing for the past twenty year. Hackney was traditionally a poor working class Borough, notorious for its corrupt politicians, but with a multi-cultural population of Hassidic Jews, left-wing Turks and Kurds and a large West Indian population, who all got on reasonably well. Today it is full of young white hipsters and banksters. Badly built new Tower Blocks that will degenerate into slums within twenty or thirty years dominate the sky line. Four years ago it was the scene of a major riot. Its economic revival is simply a property boom funded by speculators who are taking advantage of a property prices increasing by a £1000 a month by buying up new-build properties as investments, that are then left unoccupied as that makes the frequently off-shore Landlords more money. Real local businesses are being displaced by hand-craft breweries, ridiculously priced organic food shops and coffee bars. It that is social inclusion then what does social exclusion look like? Until she was made + Gloucester, no-one had ever heard of her.
ReplyDeleteSunday attendance comes in at around 800,000 people, spread over 16,000 churches. So, appx. 50 people per church. I'm not sure what the average age is, but probably somewhere in the 60s.
ReplyDeleteLSP, what is the projection for attendance 15 years from now when those currently attending are dead?
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I recall a Church of Scotland service one Sunday a zillion years ago when I lived there. I convinced a few of my wicked co-workers to go to church. I thought that it would do us all some good. It was my first and only time in a C of S.
The priest looked so happy that we showed up, because we were the ONLY people who showed up. I think that it was in Aberdeen. He had somebody to preach to.
After the sermon, I asked him about his attendance. He said that it was difficult getting anyone over the age of 50 into church. I opined that they must be studying for their "final exams". I was 20 at the time, and the youngest of the guys that I dragged in. (and we were a motley crew - I'd just had my nose broken in training and it was taped up, both eyes were black, etc.).
There were no ugly dancing lesbians. Just the one preacher who seemed so happy to see somebody show up.
LL- Scotland is a bit different to England in some respects. The C of S is explicitly Prebyterian and not part of the Anglican community. Attendance will depend to some extent on what part of Scotland you might be in. But in one overall respect Scotland and England are similar. Attendance at the national church is low and falling. The Roman Catholics hold up reasonably well, and apart from that you're really in Mosques and Sikh Gudwaras for devoted religious onservance....
ReplyDeleteThey say, Anonymous, that the Diocese of Gloucester is cursed.Perhaps we should be sorry for Rachel?
ReplyDeleteAs for hackney, I understand it's reached "peak facial hair"...
Good of you to take those ruffians to church, LL, and give the pastor a congregation.
ReplyDeleteThe tarnished mirror point is good too. But the question is, how much glass is left behind the grime?
I think you're right, Lukeya. Though I don't have any stats for the non-conformists.
ReplyDeleteOf course the RCs have been helped by immigrants from E Europe and elsewhere.
And the CofE keeps losing membership, despite getting more inclusive by the day. Well, you know the adage, "I don't want a God that looks like me"...
Maybe there is only tarnish, no mirror? A 'whited sepulcher' in all of its majesty.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of sounding like the heathen that I am, what is the difference between Anglican (C of E) and Presbyterian (C of S)? I've been to services in both churches and found them to be practically identical -- except that one priest spoke in brogue and the other in the Queen's English.
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