Archbishop of Canterbury Warns of Forced Jobs 'Despair'
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Government plans to force the long-term unemployed to do unpaid manual labour could drive vulnerable people into a ''downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair'', the Archbishop of Canterbury warned.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will lead the closing session at Davos. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will this week unveil plans for four-week programmes of compulsory community work doing jobs like litter-picking or gardening for jobless people deemed to have lost the work ethic.

His Cabinet colleague Danny Alexander today said the Work Activity placements would be used as a ''sanction'' against benefit claimants who fail to take advantage of available support to find employment.

But the proposal came under fire from Labour and the unions, with the TUC warning that it would harm jobless people's prospects of finding paid work and would undercut the employment of existing manual labourers.

Asked about the proposed scheme, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, told BBC WM Radio: ''People who are struggling to find work and struggling to find a secure future are, I think, driven further into a sort of downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair, when the pressure is on in this way.''

Under Mr Duncan Smith's plans, job advisers will be able to direct jobseekers who they believe would ''benefit from experiencing the habits and routines of working life'' to undertake a 30-hour-a-week work placement.

Postings are likely to be provided by charities or councils and will be designed to offer the jobseeker the opportunity to gain work discipline and skills while benefiting their local community. They will be required to continue seeking permanent work while on a placement.

Anyone refusing to take part or failing to turn up on time could have their £65-a-week Jobseekers Allowance stopped for at least three months. >>> | Sunday, November 07, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Work-shy will be 'pushed' into working for free by welfare revolution: People who do not try hard enough to find a job will be forced to work for free or lose their benefits, the Government will announce this week. >>> Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor | Saturday, November 06, 2010

Pope to Call for 'Full Communion' Between Anglicans and Catholics
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope is to make a dramatic offer to disaffected Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Dr Rowan Williams and Pope Benedict XVI embrace on Friday. Dr Williams has admitted that the papal offer last year put him in 'an awkward position' and it is unlikely that he would welcome Anglicans being encouraged to defect to Rome. Photo: The Telegraph
In a move which the pontiff views as a positive step for Christianity, he will on Sunday make a personal plea for the Churches to come together.

Pope Benedict XVI sees this as the best way to challenge the rise of "aggressive secularism" and heal centuries of division.

He will use the final speech of his historic state visit to urge for a "restoration of full ecclesial communion" between the Churches, which separated nearly 500 years ago.

Addressing the Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland, he will argue that his offer to disaffected Anglicans should not be viewed negatively, but as "a prophetic gesture".

However, the speech could undermine his efforts to build bridges with Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who confronted the Pope over the issue last year.

The plea will come at the end of his four day state visit to England and Scotland which has seen tens of thousands of members of the public attend religious ceremonies and thousands more lining the streets to see him. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, September 18, 2010

Cardinal Newman's Beatification 'Miracle'
BBC: The Pope is to perform the first beatification ceremony ever to take place in the UK, paving the way for the Victorian Cardinal John Henry Newman to become a saint.

Thousands are expected to attend the ceremony in Cofton Park in Birmingham, but some have questioned the validity of the miracle attributed to Cardinal Newman.

Robert Pigott reports. Watch BBC video >>> | Sunday, September 19, 2010

Hundreds of Traditionalist Clergy Poised to Leave Church of England
THE TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of traditionalist clergy are set to leave the Church of England over plans to introduce women bishops.

Leading Anglo-Catholic clergy warned that the failure to provide concessions to opponents of the historic reform would force many of them to defect to Rome.

In a highly-charged debate at the General Synod, the Church’s parliament, members rejected a compromise deal put forward by the archbishops of Canterbury and York which would have averted a schism.

The archbishops’ plans would have seen the creation of a new class of male-only bishops to look after conservative evangelical and Anglo-Catholic parishes opposed to female leadership in the Church.

Canon David Houlding, a prebendary at St Paul’s cathedral, estimated that as many as 200 traditionalist clergy could leave the Church, taking thousands of worshippers with them.

“People’s patience is running out and many will now be asking whether they should try and practice their Catholic faith in the Church of England,” he said.

“The vote was a severe blow to the archbishop [of Canterbury] and it has pushed us closer to the door.” >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Monday, July 12, 2010

A Divided Church Faces Its Darkest Hour
THE TELEGRAPH: By rejecting a compromise over women bishops, the General Synod has plunged the Anglican Church into crisis. Jonathan Wynne-Jones reports.

Humiliated: the authority of Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been wounded by his defeat in the Synod Photo: The Telegraph
On Saturday night, the Archbishop of Canterbury suffered the most humiliating defeat of his time in office when the Church rejected his compromise deal over women bishops. It followed a week in which Rowan Williams had found himself at the centre of a storm over the blocked appointment of Jeffrey John, the homosexual Dean of St Albans, to be Bishop of Southwark.

Castigated by liberals who accused him of betraying his old friend by not securing his promotion, the Archbishop arrived at the General Synod in York also facing a mutiny over his plans to avert an exodus of traditionalists opposed to women's ordination.

On the eve of one of the most pivotal debates in the Church's recent history, liberal bishops had met to discuss how they would derail proposals put forward by Dr Williams and Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.

They were well aware of the impact that their rebellion would have on Dr Williams's authority. But they were still prepared to take drastic action because of their despair at his suggestion that a new tier of male-only bishops should be created to minister to traditionalists. This would undermine the role of women bishops, they believed. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Monday, July 12, 2010

Split Looms for Church Over Women Bishops
THE TELEGRAPH: The embattled Archbishop of Canterbury has suffered a devastating blow to his hopes of averting a split in the Church of England over the introduction of women bishops.

Plans put forward by Dr Rowan Williams urging a compromise over the issue were rejected last night by members of the General Synod, including some of his most senior bishops.

The last-ditch proposal was designed to prevent an exodus of traditionalist priests, who are now likely to defect to the Roman Catholic Church.

It represented a significant gamble by Dr Williams, who was heavily criticised by liberals last week after Dr Jeffrey John, the homosexual cleric, was blocked from becoming Bishop of Southwark. Dr John's nomination to the post was revealed by The Sunday Telegraph last week.

The failure by the archbishop to gain sufficient support for his plan is likely to be viewed as a further dent to his authority.

Groups within the church have been campaigning for female clerics to be treated equally and to be allowed to become bishops, without any concessions that would undermine their ministry.

But their proposals have been opposed by traditionalists and evangelicals who do not believe making women bishops is in accordance with biblical teaching. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, July 10, 2010

Archbishop of Canterbury Accused of Second 'Betrayal' of Gay Cleric
THE TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury has been accused of “betraying” an openly homosexual cleric for the second time over his bid to become a bishop.

Dr Rowan Williams was said by some in the Anglican Communion of abandoning his former liberal credentials by failing to vote for Dr Jeffrey John as the next Bishop of Southwark.

It comes exactly seven years after the Archbishop forced Dr John, an old friend of his, to refuse his appointment as Bishop of Reading following an outcry from conservatives.

Liberals said that by not supporting the current Dean of St Albans at a secret meeting this week, Dr Williams has missed an importance chance to make the Church of England more progressive as well as humiliating his friend again. >>> Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Friday, July 09, 2010

First Lesbian Bishop to Be Consecrated by Anglican Church in America
THE TELEGRAPH: The first openly lesbian bishop in the Anglican church will be consecrated this weekend, deepening divisions over homosexuality.

The Rev Mary Glasspool will become Assistant Bishop of Los Angeles in a “grand event” taking place at a 13,500-seat arena on the Californian coast.

Her appointment is being made despite warnings from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, about the “serious questions” it will raise for the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion.

It is being viewed by traditionalists as another “provocative” move by the ultra-liberal Episcopal Church of the USA in “defiance” of pleas not to go against tradition and Scripture by ordaining homosexual bishops.

The Communion was first driven to the brink of schism over sexuality in 2003 when the Episcopal Church, the official Anglican province of the USA, consecrated the first openly homosexual bishop, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson.

Since then hundreds of orthodox American clergy and congregations have joined other provinces or formed breakaway movements, triggering bitter legal battles over the ownership of church property. >>> Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, May 15, 2010

Bishops' Defection: A Major New Blow to the Anglican Church
THE TELEGRAPH: When hundreds of Church of England clergy defected to the Roman Catholic Church nearly 20 years ago, it dealt a damaging blow to Anglican unity and strained relations between the two Churches.

These relations will now be stretched to breaking point with the revelation that the Vatican is secretly plotting with English bishops over plans for a new wave of converts.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has already expressed his dismay at the way Pope Benedict XVI last year made his offer to disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church[.]

He would have been encouraged by the lack of clergy who have so far responded to the invitation, but The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that schemes to allow for an exodus of Anglican priests are being discussed at the highest levels of the Vatican.

This is likely to prove highly embarrassing for the Pope and deepen suspicions that he is preparing to poach clergy from England only months before he visits Britain. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Sunday, May 02, 2010

Cristina Odone: Finally, Even Archbishop Rowan Williams Admits Christians Are Under Attack
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: It’s Easter and Christians have come out of hiding. In fact, they are very much in the limelight: the Archbishop of Canterbury was on Start the Week, Richard Harries is in The Times, Nicky Campbell presented a BBC documentary on the persecution of Christians in this country. In what is a startling departure, the claim by Christians that they are discriminated against, and often attacked, by virtue of their religion, has been investigated – and legitimised.

No one has been killed or tortured, Rowan Williams and Richard Harries remind us; no one could seriously claim that their lot compares with that of Christians in Iran or Nigeria. But finally even the clergy and the BBC acknowledge that Christians are a target of abuse from a relativist culture that thinks to distinguish between wicked and good is to be judgemental, and to believe in the One True Faith is to be smugly superior. Unless, that is, you are a Muslim and maybe a Jew. Read on and comment >>> Cristina Odone | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Peter Hitchens: Our Nice, Furry Archbishop... Lost in a Barbarous World
MAIL ONLINE: Do we have to wait until the hate-filled mobs storm into Canterbury Cathedral and drag him from the pulpit before the Archbishop of Canterbury grasps that Christianity is in danger in this country? Nice, furry, mild and useless, Dr Rowan Williams chose this Easter week not to protect his Church, but to rebuke several bishops who had rightly warned of the swelling rage against the Church.

No doubt he is right to point out that Christians elsewhere suffer more. I would like to hear more protests from 'human rights' campaigners against the nasty treatment of Christians in the Muslim world, not least under the rule of the Palestinian Authority which many leftist Christians idiotically admire.

But so what? In those rough neighbourhoods, under the grudging scowl of Muslim so-called 'tolerance', this has been the case for centuries. Here, things are and ought to be different. Dr Williams is the head of the Established Church in England. The laws of this country, the shape of its cities and countryside, its language, morals, literature, architecture, family structure and politics are all based upon Christianity.

Take it away and it will be like removing the mortar from a great building, leaving its bricks and stones loose and trembling in the storm to come. And yet there are many people who want to do this. In this Century of Selfishness, Christianity is an annoying obstacle, with its infuriating insistence on active unselfishness and its unalterable rules which say that there are some things you just cannot do, like for instance murder unborn babies and walk out on your marriage.

Last week, there was yet another case of someone being in trouble for being a Christian, in an officially Christian country. I collect these incidents: preachers arrested and fined; nurses disciplined for offering to pray for patients; registrars disciplined for declining to officiate at homosexual civil partnerships; adoption societies forced to close because they will not place children with same-sex couples. Just 30 years ago, they would have been unthinkable. Another few decades and Christianity will be against the law. >>> Peter Hitchens | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Hallelujah! Archbishop Speaks Up For Christians: This Bias Against Us Must Stop, Says Dr Rowan Williams
MAIL ONLINE: The Archbishop of Canterbury used his Easter sermon to launch an extraordinary pre-election attack on a 'sustained effort' to discriminate against Christians.

Dr Rowan Williams, who has faced criticism for his reluctance to defend traditional values, blamed ' wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness' for Christians being barred from wearing religious symbols at work.

He said there was now a 'strange mixture of contempt and fear' towards Christianity in Britain.

The Anglican leader's remarks came as senior churchmen mount a campaign to put Christian values at the heart of the election campaign.

Thirty-five religious leaders have unveiled a U.S.-style 'declaration of conscience' setting out policies that unite British churches, including opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

They also appear to back Conservative proposals to support marriage in the tax system, which David Cameron is expected to give further details of this week.

While colleagues have been increasingly vocal in their protests, Dr Williams has up to now said little about discrimination against Christians.

But yesterday he highlighted the case of nurse Shirley Chaplin, who took the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust to an employment tribunal claiming discrimination.

She refused to remove a necklace bearing a crucifix, saying it would undermine her faith. The trust claimed there were health and safety issues and a ruling is expected this week.

Addressing a congregation at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Williams referred to 'yet another legal wrangle over the right to wear a cross in public while engaged in professional duties'.

He said: '[This is] one more small but significant mark of what many Christians feel is a sustained effort to discriminate against them and render their faith invisible and impotent in the public sphere.

'One more mark of the curious contemporary belief that Christians are both too unimportant for their convictions to be worth bothering with and too dangerous for them to be allowed to manifest those convictions. >>> James Chapman | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Rowan Williams Apologises for Claiming Catholic Church Has Lost 'All Credibility'
THE TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has been forced into a humiliating apology after claiming the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland had lost all credibility over the child abuse scandal.

Following a torrent of criticism, Dr Williams admitted his "deep sorrow and regret" over his earlier comments in a telephone conversation with the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

A statement issued last night by the Dublin Archdioces said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, this afternoon telephoned Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to express his deep sorrow and regret for difficulties which may have been created by remarks in a BBC interview concerning the credibility of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

"Archbishop Williams affirmed that nothing could have been farther from his intention than to offend or criticise the Irish Church." >>> Robert Mendick | Saturday, April 03, 2010

Archbishop of Canterbury: Irish Catholic Church Has Lost All Credibility
THE GUARDIAN: Rowan Williams's comments on Vatican handling of sex abuse scandal likely to further cloud pope's upcoming UK trip

Dr Rowan Williams at a press conference in Lambeth Palace last month. Photograph: The Guardian
The archbishop of Canterbury has said the Catholic church in Ireland has lost "all credibility" because of its poor handling of the scandal of paedophile priests.

Dr Rowan Williams said the scandal had been a "colossal trauma" for Ireland in particular.

In an interview to be broadcast on Monday, he said: "I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it's quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now.

"And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility – that's not just a problem for the church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland."

The archbishop's remarks are likely to fuel the controversy surrounding the pope's visit to Britain in September, when he is expected to talk about moral standards and renew his attack on Britain's equality laws.

A Protest the Pope petition on the Downing Street website against the £15m cost of the visit, which will be shared by the government and the Catholic church, has already attracted more than 10,000 signatories.

In his interview for BBC Radio 4's Start the Week, to be broadcast on Monday, Williams sounded less than enthused about the pope's visit.

"The pope will be coming here to Lambeth Palace. We'll have the bishops together to meet him. I'm concerned that he has the chance to say what he wants to say in and to British society, that we welcome him as a valued partner and, you know, that's ... that's about it."

He also predicted that few Anglicans would take up the pope's offer of conversion to Catholicism.

The reputation of the Catholic church in Ireland has been severley damaged by revelations that its leaders covered up widespread child sexual abuse by dozens of paedophile priests.

Its leader, the primate of All-Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, came under pressure to stand down after he admitted being at a meeting where children abused by the convicted paedophile Father Brendan Smyth were forced to take a vow of silence.

The scandal has also damaged the pope, who has faced accusations that he failed to properly investigate a serial abuser in a children's home for the deaf in Wisconsin, US, in the late 1990s.

Yesterday, the Vatican provoked further controversy after the pope's personal preacher compared criticism of the Catholic hierarchy over cleric sex abuse with persecution of Jews. >>> David Batty | Saturday, April 03, 2010

Douglas Murray vs Tariq Ramadan

General Synod: Church of England Exodus Feared Unless Women Bishops Plans Changed
THE TELEGRAPH: Conservative clergy have warned of a mass exodus from the Church of England and a sharp drop in its income unless divisive plans for the introduction of women bishops are changed.

On the first day of the gathering of the Church’s governing body, the General Synod, Anglo-Catholics claimed that “large numbers” would leave for Rome if their demands for concessions are not met.

Meanwhile 50 serving priests belonging to Reform, the evangelical group, signed an open letter saying that the situation could force them to cut off funding for dioceses and spend their money on training new vicars outside the Church instead.

The established church, which introduced women to the priesthood in 1994, is committed to ordaining female bishops as well but the process has been held up by the entrenched positions of both supporters and opponents of the historic move.

Liberals argue that women should be introduced to the episcopate on the same basis and with the same powers as men, otherwise an unfair two-tier system will develop.

However conservatives claim they were assured back when women priests were introduced that provisions would be made for them, similar to the “flying bishops” that currently cater for parishes that cannot accept the oversight of female vicars, when the next step was taken.

They want either an entirely new “men-only” province that could cover the whole of England, or extra junior bishops in dioceses who had not ordained women bishops and who would be answerable only to an Archbishop. >>> Martin Beckford | Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Rowan Williams Issues 'Profound Apology' to Gay Christians
TIMES ONLINE: The Archbishop of Canterbury issued a “profound apology” to the lesbian and gay Christian community today.
In a powerful address to the General Synod, Dr Rowan Williams warned that any schism within the Church would represent a betrayal of God’s mission.

But he made clear that he regretted recent rhetoric in which he has sought to mollify the fears of the traditionalist wing of the church.

The Archbishop is from the Church’s liberal wing and a man who once espoused equal rights for gays within the Church. More recently he has adopted a conservative line for the sake of Church unity.

Today he said: “There are ways of speaking about the question that seem to ignore these human realities or to undervalue them.

“I have been criticised for doing just this and I am profoundly sorry for the carelessness that could give such an impression.”
Addressing the even more contentious debate over gay ordinations — something which threatens to split the Church farther [sic] with the expected consecration in May of Canon Mary Glasspool, a lesbian, as a bishop in Los Angeles — Dr Williams said it had not been helped by those who ignored the fact that many worshippers were gay, as well as many “sacrificial and exemplary priests”.

He made it clear that there was blame on all sides of the argument that has brought the Church to the brink of splitting. He pleaded for Anglicans angry over gays and women bishops to cease fighting, admitting that he and other bishops might have to settle for a two-tier communion. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Prize Comment of the Day:

Why is 'God' so concerned with what men do with their willies? There must be hundreds of issues more deserving of attention in the world today than this. Too many men in dresses getting hot under the collar.

Surely a religion where you are encouraged to worship a naked man (and his dad) should be a haven for the gay community. I can't believe the church doesn't need the bodies on a Sunday either.

I think I might get burnt at the stake now. – Gaberdine Dog, [Source: TimesOnline/Page 3 of comments]

Rowan Williams Goes to Wall Street to Tell the Money Men to Repent
TIMES ONLINE: The whole world, and not just Britain, is broken, with continents such as Africa feeling forgotten and uncared for, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in the heart of New York’s financial district yesterday.

Any money men who might have happened in to Trinity Wall Street to shelter from the snow would have found a different sort of chill as Dr Rowan Williams delivered his lesson.

Standing at the lectern of the famously wealthy US Episcopal church, which lies at the head of Wall Street, the leader of the Anglican Communion condemned the “straw man” of self-interest.

His theme was that financiers, wordsmiths — in fact anyone in the Western world connected in any way with economic reality — should look at themselves in the mirror and repent.

Economic life had become independent of intelligent thought and “wildly irrational”, the Archbishop said. He condemned the “uncritical” way in which bankers and traders pursued wealth regardless of the consequences, selling expensive mortgages to the poor and repackaging them into complex products that few understood.

The “invention of more and more recondite metaphysical, unreal forms of wealth generation” existed, he said, simply to “produce noughts on the end of the balance sheet”.

Dr Williams, conscious that he was speaking close to a general election, echoed the social thought of the Roman Catholic Church when he added that society was founded on love, and there would be no sustainable model until this was recognised. >>> Ruth Gledhill and Alexandra Frean | Friday, January 29, 2010

Archbishop of Canterbury: 'Labour Treats Us Like Oddballs’
THE TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury has accused the Government of treating all religious believers as “oddities” and “eccentric”.


Dr Rowan Williams said ministers were wrong to think that Christian beliefs were no longer relevant in modern Britain and he criticised Labour for looking at religious faith as a “problem” rather than valuing the contribution it made to society.

The Archbishop also suggested that the “political class” was too remote from the concerns of most people, who still had God in their “bloodstream”. In his only interview in the run-up to Christmas, he called on ministers to be more willing to talk about their own beliefs.

Dr Williams told The Daily Telegraph: “The trouble with a lot of Government initiatives about faith is that they assume it is a problem, it’s an eccentricity, it’s practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities.

“The effect is to de-normalise faith, to intensify the perception that faith is not part of our bloodstream. And, you know, in great swaths of the country that’s how it is.”

His comments risked reigniting the public row between the Church of England and Labour over the state’s treatment of faith groups. A Cabinet member was recently forced to deny there was a “secular conspiracy” to silence them.

The Archbishop’s claims that religion was seen only as something for minorities echoed those of a Church-backed report, which accused the Government of paying “lip service” to Christianity while “focusing intently” on Muslims. >>> Martin Beckford and George Pitcher | Friday, December 11, 2009

Archbishop Tells Pope: There Will Be No Turning Back on Women Priests
TIMES ONLINE: The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday made his most outspoken challenge to the Roman Catholic Church since the Pope invited disaffected Anglicans to switch to Rome.

Speaking before he meets Benedict XVI tomorrow, Dr Rowan Williams told a conference in Rome that the Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women was a bar to Christian unity.

“For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women,” he said.

The Anglican provinces that ordain women had retained rather than lost their Catholic holiness and sacramentalism, he said. >>> Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen in Rome | Friday, November 20, 2009

Vatican's Lack of Warning on Anglican Priests 'Inexcusable' Say [sic] Carey
THE INDEPENDENT: The former Archbishop of Canterbury today branded as "inexcusable" the Catholic Church's failure to warn his successor of their plans to admit disaffected Anglican priests.

Lord Carey of Clifton told The Times that he was "appalled" that Dr Rowan Williams only learned of Rome's intention to publish a new Apostolic Constitution to allow the move two weeks ago.

"I think in this day and age, this was inexcusable that Rome decided to do this without consultation.

"He should express his unhappiness with the process."

He said that he was taken by surprise by the development although he admitted that he had been aware of "a number of bishops going to Rome and having conversations".

But he told the newspaper that the move was "worth considering."

"There are a number of deeply worried, anxious Anglo-Catholics who do not believe they have a constructive future with the Church of England with the ordination of women as bishops.

He added: "This could go a long way to helping."

Hundreds of Church of England priests who oppose the ordination of women have been meeting yesterday and today and are expected to discuss the issue.

Forward in Faith will hear from a number of Bishops as part of their annual conference including a keynote address from Rt Rev John Hind, the Bishop of Chichester who has staunchly resisted the move.

The Vatican said earlier this week it would allow groups of Anglican clergy and faithful who wished to enter into full communion to do so while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical life.

Traditionalists within the Church of England have previously warned they might leave over issues such as the consecration of women bishops and gay priests. >>> Laura May, Press Association | Saturday, October 24, 2009

New Era Begins as Benedict Throws Open Gates of Rome to Disaffected Anglicans
Pope Benedict XVI. Photo: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: This is astonishing news. Pope Benedict XVI has created an entirely new Church structure for disaffected Anglicans that will allow them to worship together – using elements of Anglican liturgy – under the pastoral supervision of their own specially appointed bishop or senior priest.

The Pope is now offering Anglicans worldwide “corporate reunion” on terms that will delight Anglo-Catholics. In theory, they can have their own married priests, parishes and bishops – and they will be free of liturgical interference by liberal Catholic bishops who are unsympathetic to their conservative stance.

There is even the possibility that married Anglican laymen could be accepted for ordination on a case-by-case basis – a remarkable concession.

Both Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Rowan Williams are surprised by this dramatic move. Cardinal Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was in Lambeth Palace only yesterday to spell out to Dr Williams what it means. This decision has, in effect, been taken over their heads – though there is no suggestion that Archbishop Nichols does not fully support this historic move. >>> Damian Thompson | Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Vatican Opens Door to Anglicans
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI introduced a fast track for Anglicans seeking to join Roman Catholicism, a move paving the way for conservative Anglicans frustrated by their church's blessing of homosexuality in the priesthood and same-sex unions to enter the Catholic fold.

The Vatican on Tuesday announced plans to create a special set of canon laws, known as an "Apostolic Constitution," to allow Anglican faithful, priests and bishops to enter into full communion with the Vatican without having to give up a large part of their liturgical and spiritual traditions.

With the measures, Pope Benedict is attempting to reclaim ground lost by the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century when King Henry VIII defied papal authority to found the Church of England. The move clears the way for entire congregations of Anglicans to join the Catholic Church and makes it easier for married Anglican priests to convert without embracing Catholicism's traditional code of priestly celibacy. >>> Stacy Meichtry and Amy Merrick | Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Blair Listens as Archbishop Condemns Iraq War Decisions
THE INDEPENDENT: The Archbishop of Canterbury today criticised "policy makers" for failing to consider the cost of the Iraq war at a memorial service for the 179 British personnel who died in the conflict.

Dr Rowan Williams, who has previously described the decisions which led to the war as "flawed", praised the "patient and consistent" efforts of troops on the ground.

But he used his address at the national service of remembrance in St Paul's Cathedral to remind his audience that the conflict remained highly controversial.

Among those in the congregation listening to his words was former prime minister Tony Blair, who led the country into war.

Dr Williams said: "Many people of my generation and younger grew up doubting whether we should ever see another straightforward international conflict, fought by a standing army with conventional weapons.

"We had begun to forget the realities of cost. And when such conflict appeared on the horizon, there were those among both policy makers and commentators who were able to talk about it without really measuring the price, the cost of justice."

The Archbishop alluded to the controversial nature of the campaign, known as Operation Telic, which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets in protest in the run up to the war.

He said: "The conflict in Iraq will, for a long time yet, exercise the historians, the moralists, the international experts.

"In a world as complicated as ours has become, it would be a very rash person who would feel able to say without hesitation, this was absolutely the right or the wrong thing to do, the right or the wrong place to be."

Iraq veterans and bereaved families joined the Queen, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and senior military leaders for the poignant service. >>> Tony Jones and Sam Marsden, Press Association | Friday, October 09, 2009

You Have Blood on Your Hands, Blair Told
THE INDEPENDENT: The former Prime Minister Tony Blair was told today he had "blood on his hands" by a bereaved father at a reception following a memorial service for those killed in Iraq.

Peter Brierley, whose son Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, 28, was killed in March 2003, refused to shake Mr Blair's proffered hand and said: "I'm not shaking your hand, you've got blood on it."

The former prime minister was ushered away and afterwards Mr Brierley, from Batley, West Yorkshire, said: "I understand soldiers go to war and die but they have to go to war for a good reason and be properly equipped to fight."

He added: "I believe Tony Blair is a war criminal. I can't bear to be in the same room as him. I can't believe he's been allowed to come to this reception.

"I believe he's got the blood of my son and all of the other men and women who died out there on his hands.

"It comes back to me every day, every time I see a coffin come off a plane; it reminds me of what happened to Shaun." >>> Laura Harding, Press Association | Friday, October 09, 2009