They call it the Francis effect: the impact of Pope Francis in galvanizing the Catholic faithful. Since he arrived at the Vatican, church attendance has surged across the world, while in his homeland of Argentina, the number of people defining themselves as believers has risen by a reported 12 percent.
Not just Catholics but those of other faiths, and of no faith, have fallen under Francis’ spell. “Even atheists should be praying for Pope Francis,” as the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland put it recently.
Yet how much has really changed? Francis may be transforming the perception of the church and its mission, but not its core doctrines.… Seguir leyendo »
Se advierte una cierta confusión en torno al viaje de Benedicto XVI al Reino Unido que mañana comienza. Mientras que para los ingenuos entusiastas éste es un plácido viaje comparado con los realizados por el Papa a Turquía o Israel, los maestros de la agresión defensiva han querido retratar esta visita prácticamente como una provocación del Vaticano, como un viaje a territorio hostil al estilo de Gaddafi en Roma, proclamando «que el islam ha de ser la religión de Europa». O como una moderna embestida de la Armada Invencible -477 años después del divorcio de Enrique VIII de la española Catalina de Aragón-, dispuesta a remover las raíces católicas de Inglaterra y Escocia.… Seguir leyendo »
Those eager for small talk with Gordon Brown should try Scots Presbyterian schismatism, on which he is remarkably well informed. British rulers since the days of Trollope have found the politics of religion an absorbing relief from the trials of office. It usually means someone in even bigger trouble.
But the show has always stayed on the road through the remarkable tolerance of the Anglican community, "broad of church and broad of mind, broad before and broad behind". From Anglo-Catholics to happy-clappies, old codgers to gays and lesbians, the ever benign Church of England embraced them all, no questions asked.
Now those versed in these things tell us that the elastic has stretched too far.… Seguir leyendo »
In an age when women have broken through the glass ceiling in most professions in Britain, it is strange that they still face discrimination in a church that believes there is "no male or female" in Christ. Women can become judges, surgeons, chief executives and heads of state, but in the Church in Wales - which waited until 1997 to ordain women as priests - they are as yet unable to become bishops.
I do not see how, having agreed to ordaining women to both the diaconate and priesthood, the church can logically exclude women from the episcopate. That is why I and my fellow bishops will be asking members of the church's legislative body today to vote in favour of a bill to allow women clerics to become bishops.… Seguir leyendo »
You have, if you are an Anglican, probably just attended your first church service of the year. You go to the dentist as often. But that’s all right: this is the Church of England. You don’t have to wear God on your sleeve in this country. We enjoy a subtle, restrained, understated form of religiosity that is compatible with staying at home on Sunday mornings and quietly cringing at dinner parties when cruder souls raise the subject of God.
Does this sketch still ring true? Only partly. The English way of religion is on the way out. Our traditional religious culture is being radically reshaped, and it’s happening surprisingly fast.… Seguir leyendo »
Tomorrow I speak at the launch of the Canterbury Cathedral Restoration Appeal. A more superstitious man would fear that, before the performance was finished, he would be struck down by a thunderbolt - punishment for the presumption that emboldens an atheist to answer the call to rescue a place of worship. But it is the rejection of superstition that stands between me and belief. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to join my father one day, on a big white cloud. But I cannot accept the idea of the resurrection, or any of the other mysteries and miracles of faith.… Seguir leyendo »
By Andrew Brown, secretary to the Church Commissioners (THE GUARDIAN, 10/05/06):
In her article on the Church Commissioners' annual report, Catherine Boyle suggests that the major challenge facing the Church of England is to get the thousands of Sunday shoppers who visit Gateshead's MetroCentre, in which the commissioners hold a 10% interest, into church (How much land does the Church of England own?, April 28). This is an admirable goal, but we also see our task as taking the church to where people are to be found.
In the thriving environment of the MetroCentre itself, for instance, the Church of England has created the post of chaplain to serve staff and visitors.… Seguir leyendo »
There have been the official 80th photographs, the 80 facts for an 80-year-old monarch issued by Buckingham Palace, a respectful television programme on her extraordinary life and long reign. There will be plenty more celebrations come the official birthday in June, but as the Queen finally celebrates her landmark day, there's a thought that, however inappropriate, can't but rear its head: what happens to a monarchy that has become so profoundly associated with one particular person? Is the institution robust enough to survive its passage to a new incumbent?
So much of our understanding of the monarchy has been bound up with the character of Elizabeth Windsor; her combination of reserve, sense of duty and that quintessential English upper-class lifestyle of frugal and rural.… Seguir leyendo »
By Dr Giles Fraser, the vicar of Putney and a lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford (THE GUARDIAN, 13/04/06):
There was a time when the country vicar was a staple of the English dramatis personae. This tea-drinking, gentle eccentric, with his polished shoes and kindly manners, represented a type of religion that didn't make nonreligious people uncomfortable. He wouldn't break into an existential sweat or press you against a wall to ask if you were saved, still less launch crusades from the pulpit or plant roadside bombs in the name of some higher power.
Safe though he was, the nice country vicar in effect inoculated vast swaths of the English against Christianity.… Seguir leyendo »
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