Halloween special

Halloween can be a difficult time for some churches. They feel a need to condemn the way people flirt with evil demonic forces at this time of year, whilst seeking not to come across as turning a fun holiday for children into a condemnatory melodrama.

The Vatican has come out squarely against the holiday, describing it as 'anti-Christian'. The Holy See has warned parents not to allow their children to dress up as part of a 'pagan festival of terror fear and death'.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, it is advice that is likely to go down like a lead balloon amongst those who see Halloween as a bit of fun.

Bishop Nick Baines gives some sage advice in his blog today. He reminds us that Halloween is "Halloween is a Christian festival that forces escapists to take seriously human mortality and questions of the meaning of death and beyond." Halloween has its roots in a number of festivals including the Christian festivals of All Souls and All Saints.

Many churches will be running alternative Halloween events so that Christian kids don't feel left out from all the fun. Mouse's advice is simply that whatever you do at this time of year - make it fun.

Tina Turner, Wall Mart and Facebook - perspectives on death

Death has been in the news rather a lot this week. Three particular stories caught the Mouse's eye. First up was Fr Ed Tomlinson who moaned about being dragged to the crematorium where the deceased were 'popped in the oven with no hope of redemption'. Whilst he wasn't entirely happy with the coverage that his comments had received by the media, he was making a sensible point about people's attitude to death.

Fr Tomlinson wrote, 'I have then stood at the Crem like a lemon, wondering why on earth I am present at the funeral of somebody led in by the tunes of Tina Turner, summed up in pithy platitudes of sentimental and secular poets and sent into the furnace with ‘I did it my way’ blaring out across the speakers!'

The second story was summed up nicely by top blogging bishop Alan Wilson in the Guardian's Comment is Free. Facebook are to offer their users the opportunity to have their page turned into a memorial to them after their death. The idea is that the Facebook page has updates frozen and annoying games turned off, but that friends and family can continue to post updates on the deceased user's wall.

Facebook have probably come up with this idea off the back of many instances of this happening without their planning. Internet savvy mourners found a way of sharing their grief in a poignant way through the internet, and Facebook are catching up.

Story number three is that Wall Mart have started selling coffins in the US. The budget retailer is offering coffins starting at around £540. They can be purchased online and will be dispatched within 24 hours.

Adding these things up we get a rather frightening picture of death in the future. It is often commented that the Church doesn't really talk about death any more. Perhaps we should.

Mouse to repay £136 expenses

Some time ago, Mouse became the first church mouse to publish his expenses in full. Since that time, an independent auditor was appointed to review all church mice expenses. It has been determined that the £715 spent on grooming was considered excessive, and Mouse has been asked to repay £136. Mouse had claimed for claw clipping, brushing and cleaning throughout the year, however, the independent auditor now considers brushing to be 'excessive' and not wholly necessary for the purpose of blogging.

Whilst Mouse is absolutely confident that his claims were within the rules, and were approved by the Church Mouse Fees Office at the time, he would like to apologise to his readers for his administrative error in this instance, and will repay the sum requested. In addition, Mouse has reconsidered his living arrangements and has decided that he will no longer be claiming the second holes allowance for his hole behind the skirting board in the Lady Chapel.

Friday round up

Here's my round up from the blogosphere. Ten of the best from the web this week:

1. Riazat Butt on the court case involving the Jewish Free School

2. Andrew Brown celebrates the first anniversary of Comment is Free

3. Thinking Anglicans pull together an awful lot of comment on the Roman flirtation with Anglo Catholics

4. Bartholomew on the Irish clairvoyant predicting an announcement from Mary

5. Damian Thompson on Richard Dawkins' "vicious and crazy" attack on the Catholic Church

6. Heresy Corner on Damian Thompson's "vicious and crazy" attack on Richard Dawkins

7. Phil Ritchie on Down's Syndrome

8. David Keen on Rowan's Rottweiler

9. Catherine Beyer on advertising religion

10. Jonathan Wynne-Jones reckons disaffected Anglicans don't know if they're coming or going

French Scientologists convicted of fraud

Some time ago Mouse promised to keep readers updated on this story. By way of re-cap, the French Church of Scientology was being prosecuted for allegedly manipulating two women into handing over quite a lot of money. They claimed that they were sold expensive life-improvement courses, vitamins and other products after taking a free personality test. Needless to say, the Scientologists denied the claims.

However, they lost. The Church's Celebrity Centre and a bookshop were ordered to pay a £600,000 fine, and several of the Scientology leaders were fined, with the group's head in France, Alain Rosenberg, also given a two year suspended sentence.

Tommy Davis, a Scientology spokesman made famous by the BBC Panorama documentary 'Scientology and Me' in which BBC reporter John Sweeney 'lost it' with Tommy, did not seem too bothered.

The fines will get thrown out on appeal. We've had similar cases before and in other countries. If it has to go to the court of human rights we're confident we will win there.

He added rather inexplicably, "Scientology will continue to grow in France."

France classifies Scientology as a sect rather than a religion, and prosecutors had initially been seeking to have Scientology closed down in France entirely. A legal loophole was created just before the trail which prevented that. That legal amendment has now been changed, and so it is still possible a ban could be pronounced if any future prosecutions are brought.

Mouse in Guardian's Comment is Free (again)

Mouse was asked to put something in the Guardian's Comment is Free section about the Vatican's offer to take in disaffected Anglicans. Mouse found this one terribly hard to say what he wanted, and does hope this piece is taken in the spirit in which it was meant (i.e. a positive one). On re-reading it, there is a danger that it could be read in the wrong way. Lets see whether there's a reaction.

Top 20 twittering CofE bishops and clergy

Mouse has updated the ratings and can reveal the top 20 (actually 22 due to a tie). As usual rankings were provided by Grader.

Not much change at the top this time. David Keen is the largest faller (focusing on his excellent blog at the expense of tweeting?). Arun Arora drops a few spots too. Peter Ould is the biggest climber, up five spots.

For those interested, new twittering Bishop Mike Hill is languishing at the moment with a grade of 85 (why not give him a tweet to encourage him a little), and Mouse is at 98.8.

Rank	Name	Twitter account	Grade
1 (1)	Rt Rev Alan Wilson	alantlwilson	99.8
2 (2)	Mst Rev John Sentamu	johnsentamu	99
3 (3)	Rev Maggi Dawn	maggidawn	97.7
4 (4)	Rt Rev Pete Broadbent	pete173	96
5 (6)	Rev Frances Wookey	countryvicar	95.7
6 (7)	Rt Rev Nick Baines	nickbaines	95.7
7 (5)	Rev Alastair McCollum	revdal	95.3
8 (10)	Rev David Meldrum	vicardave	95
9 (11)	Rev James Ogley	riggwelter	95
10 (15)	Rev Peter Ould	pould	95
11 (8)	Rev Arun Arora	revarun	94
12 (17)	Rev David Alexander	stopsleyvicar	94
13 (9)	Rev David Keen	davidmkeen	94
14 (12)	Rev Kathryn Fleming	goodinparts	94
15 (14)	Rev Paul Walker	paulwalker71	94
16 (18)	Rev Phillip Ritchie	philritchie	94
17 (16)	Rev Simon Rundell	frsimon	94

Richard Dawkins on the Vatican's offer to disaffected Anglicans

Well, blow me down. That Dawkins would even bother to enter the debate is rather surprising. That he has taken the opportunity for a full on rant about the Catholic Church, in some pretty nasty language, is not. But the knock-out blow for Mouse is the fact that he would have good things to say about the Anglican Church, and Rowan Williams.

Not surprisingly Richard Dawkins sees the Catholic Church as an evil institution, particularly around the issues of its attitude to women, homosexuals and condom use. His attitude to the Anglican Church is rather more surprising.

The Anglican church has at least a few shreds of decency, traces of kindness and humanity with which Jesus himself might have connected, however tenuously: a generosity of spirit, of respect for women, and of Christ-like compassion for the less fortunate. The Anglican church does not cleave to the dotty idea that a priest, by blessing bread and wine, can transform it literally into a cannibal feast; nor to the nastier idea that possession of testicles is an essential qualification to perform the rite. It does not send its missionaries out to tell deliberate lies to AIDS-weakened Africans, about the alleged ineffectiveness of condoms in protecting against HIV. Whether one agrees with him or not, there is a saintly quality in the Archbishop of Canterbury, a benignity of countenance, a well-meaning sincerity. How does Pope Ratzinger measure up? The comparison is almost embarrassing.

Now this isn't exactly a positive endorsement in the round. He does qualify most of his positive comments. Nevertheless its hard to read that and not think it is a positive view of the Anglican Church.

Dawkins' conclusion is that:

Archbishop Rowan Williams is too nice for his own good. Instead of meekly sharing that ignominious platform with the poachers, he should have issued a counter-challenge: "Send us your women, yearning to be priests, who could make a strong case for being the better-qualified fifty percent of humanity; send us your decent priests, sick of trying to defend the indefensible; send them all, in exchange for our woman-haters and gay-bashers." Sounds like a good trade to me.

Now he may have hit on something here. What this move has indicated is that there is a fine line between the liberal wing of the Catholic Church and the conservative wing of the Anglican Church. Perhaps Rowan really should announce a new mechanism for accepting liberal Catholics into the Anglican Church. Or would that simply be trouble-making.

H/T David Keen

What do Mother Theresa and Simon Cowell have in common?

They both feature in the list of greatest leaders, as voted for by teenagers. A survey of over 1,000 teenagers by The Youth of Today, has put Mother Theresa and Simon Cowell in the list of 'all time greatest leaders'.

Its a pretty eclectic list, which includes Martin Luther King, Moses, John Terry, Joanna Lumley, Bill Gates and Sir Alan Sugar. Interesting, eh.

Amongst other findings 67% thought that there are more celebrities setting a bad example than a good example, whilst 70% said they are more likely to be inspired by someone they know rather than a celebrity.

This really should be a big wake up call for those of us who lazily lament the celebrity culture. The reality is that youth work works. There has never been a time when positive role models are needed for our nations youth, and they themselves recognise that celebrities are not the place to find them.

If you're involved in youth work, its well worth checking out The Youth of Today. It is a campaign led by the Princes Trust, which has brought together the British Youth Council, Changemakers, Citizenship Foundation, National Youth Agency, Young Foundation and the UK Youth Parliament. What a good idea.

St George's Anglican Church in Baghdad damaged by bomb blasts

Mouse is distressed. Canon Andrew White's ministry in Iraq is an inspiration. The news he sends out regularly by email is often wonderful and encouraging. But too often it is terribly sad news. Please forgive Mouse for posting his update in its entirety, but he simply could not say it any more concisely or any better.

Please pray for Canon White, and if you are able, please consider becoming a financial supporter of his work.

St George's church damaged in bomb attack:

Dear Friends,

I am very sorry to tell you that the two major bomb explosions in Baghdad this morning have done serious damage to the church compound, the clinic, thebookshop, the school rooms and the mothers' union buildings.

The windows were replaced after the bombings on 19 August, but they have been destroyed again, and this blast hit the church much more powerfully. Even the window frames and the doors were blown out. All of the cars in the compound and the Danish Memorial were destroyed.

And the clinic? The St George's clinic provides free medical and dental treatment to people in Iraq, regardless of their religious or ethnic background. It is staffed by a team of medics representing each of the Abramic faiths: Muslim, Christian and Jew. It contained high quality medical equipment provided by charitable donations to the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East. In a moment, much of this equipment has been destroyed, placing it permanently out of reach of the Iraqi people who need it so desperately.

Outside the church, at least 132 people were killed and over 600 injured. Destroyed fragments of their bodies have been thrown through windows of the church, making the clean-up operation yet more unpleasant. Many of our staff and church members remain unaccounted for. Lay Pastor Faiz and I have been trying in vain to reach them by telephone.

Today was a terrible day for us. But even in the blood and trauma and turmoil, there are things for which we can, and indeed must, praise our G-d. The carnage was terrible, but it could have been even worse.

- At 10.30am this morning, when the bombs exploded, there was no-one in the church. If the bomb had been just a few hours later, the glass from the windows would have ripped through the congregation causing terrible human damage.

- Yesterday an enormous tree fell down outside the church, which prevented the suicide bomber from detonating his explosives where they would have caused maximum damage.

Some people ask us whether days like today make us want to give up. We have seen much of what we have worked for destroyed. We have seen people we love bereaved. But the truth is, it is days like today that remind us why our work in Iraq is absolutely essential.

We must continue to provide a place of worship for Iraqi Christians. We must continue to treat the medical needs of Iraqi civilians. And we must continue to engage with the senior religious leaders from across the sectarian divides, working with them to challenge the belief systems that lie behind this terrible slaughter.

We will not stop because of this. Will you stand with us and help us to restore what was destroyed?

Blessings,

Andrew


P.S. To donate, either by standing order or with a one-off payment, please see the donations page of our website:
http://www.frrme.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=3

Bishop Nasir-Ali rejects Pope's offer. How many will take it up?

Mouse is not remotely surprised, and doesn't really think this is news. However, some of his readers may want to know that Bishop Nasir-Ali has issued the statement copied below.

The number of people who will convert from the Church of England to the Catholic Church is the key factor in determining the impact it will have. So far, commentators seem to be quoting three numbers, none of which have any basis in reality.

The first number is 400,000. This originated from the stated worldwide membership of the Traditional Anglican Communion. However, this organisation is already outside the Anglican Communion (since 1991), so has no real bearing.

The second number is 1,000 Church of England priests. This derives from the stated membership of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith. However, it is highly unlikely that anything like all of them will convert. At their conference, coincidentally timed for this weekend past, warm applause was received by those who advocated staying put and arguing their case.

The third number is 440. This is the number of Church of England priests who left the church, with a handsome 'compensation' offer, in 1992 on the issue of ordination of women priests. The compensation was given for 'loss of earnings'. It amounted to around £24m to around 440 priests, which works out at around £55,000 per head. Mouse cannot see anything like this offer being made this time around.

So 440 is likely to be much closer to the mark. Mouse wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a lower number this time round in the absence of a generous payout. In fact, Catholic priests earn significantly less than their Anglican counterparts, leading some to speculate that this will be a consideration, and that it is likely to be mostly retired or non-stipendiary clergy who will take up the offer. Mouse will wait and see.

Bishop Michael is not becoming a Roman Catholic. He intends to continue as a bishop in the Church of England and to encourage orthodox people, evangelical and catholic, in the world-wide Anglican Communion. As a long standing member of both ARCIC (Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission) and IARCCUM (International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission), he prays for principled unity based on the Bible and theological agreement between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. He believes that such unity may be achieved through continuing dialogue.

26.10.09

Distributed by Andrew Boyd
Press Secretary to Bishop Michael

Anti-slavery laws put before the Lords

The House of Lords are debating new laws on modern slavery. It has been argued for some time that current laws do not adequately deal with the issues involved in holding people in a state of near-slavery through bonded labour and similar practices.

Current laws rely on offences such as false imprisonment, which don't really get to the point of the real crime, so campaigners have long argued for specific new offences to be created.

Anti-Slavery International put a compelling case.

Mouse notes that this continues the legacy of William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect, a group of evangelical Christians who campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and eventually slavery itself in 1833.

Meanwhile in the real world

As those of us who spend a lot of time commenting on Church of England affairs settle in for a week of guessing who might convert to Catholicism, the real world continues. One piece of news that struck the mouse for its significance is the start of the trail of the former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The charges relate, amongst other things, to the shelling of Sarajevo over 44 months which resulted in the deaths of 12,000 civilians.

It remains a deep scar on Europe's collective conscience that a genocide could be perpetrated on the continent as recently as the 1990s. The international community must still be ashamed of the way UN soldiers were forced to stand by and allow the killing to continue, as international politics prevented them from having a clear mandate to intervene.

Lets not forget. These things really can happen right on our doorstep.

Karadzic is playing games with the trial, refusing to co-operate on the basis that he has not had sufficient time to prepare his defence. For the sake of the victims of his crimes, this trail must continue at the swiftest pace the judicial system will allow.

Queen and Carey on the BNP

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has once again spoken out against the BNP. He has been appalled by the attempt to link their policies with Christianity. He writes what all Christians must have felt when they heard Nick Griffin talk about his vision of a 'Christian Country' on BBC's Question Time.

All of us who believe in tolerance and decency must stand shoulder-to-shoulder in rejection of Griffin's notion that "Christianity" has any place in his bigotry. I tend to agree that the BBC was mistaken to give the BNP such prominence. To use Margaret Thatcher's phrase, it was the "oxygen of publicity" that propelled the insignificant and undeserving party into the Big Time. The BBC's Director General errs in arguing that in a democracy all views should be heard. The views of the BNP are not simply false, they are dangerous, indeed irredeemably evil.

However, his piece in the News of the World was rather overshadowed by their claims that the Queen was equally outraged by the BNP's laughable claim that Winston Churchill would have joined the BNP. Mouse is always rather suspicious of claims of what the Queen has or hasn't said in private, as there is no way of verifying the claims. It is also notable that no other newspaper is carrying the story. Still, it is quite believable that the Queen would be annoyed by this, as Churchill was the Prime Minister at the time of her coronation.

An interesting aside is this piece by Clay Boy, who had pro-BNP comments posted on his blog within minutes of him blogging on the issue. Mouse has had this before as well.

Darwin and God

Mouse is a listener to the excellent 'Godpod' podcast from St Paul's Theological Centre. He has been moved to blog by Godpod 47, featuring special guest Nick Spencer, author of 'Darwin and God' and Director of Studies at Theos think tank.

Theos have done a lot of work looking at Darwin's legacy this year, and it is illuminating to hear Nick talk about some of the driving forces behind this. Essentially, they anticipated that the atheists would make a big deal out of it, and wanted to bring another perspective. Mouse was already aware of much of what was said on the podcast, but the clarity of the argument was excellent, and bringing all the points together, there is a compelling argument that the Dawkins army have systematically used Darwin's name in vain.

Here's a very brief summary of a couple of the key arguments:

Myth No. 1 Darwin was a Christian who lost his faith when the implications of his theory of evolution by natural selection set in.

Darwin's faith was complex, having come from a position as a Unitarian with a weak faith, he did lose it as he went through his life. However, it was not evolution that caused this. It was the tragic death of his favourite daughter and seeing the brutality of nature that did it. His version of Christianity was one that saw the natural world as one which was ordered for the benefit of well-to-do Victorian gentlemen, and it is quite right that this brand of Christianity was lost. He never believed in the divinity of Jesus.

Myth No.2 When The Origin of Species was published there was a backlash from the Church establishment who saw it as a threat.

The reaction was very mixed, with many prominent churchmen welcoming the book. Some clergy opposed it, but these were primarily coming from a scientific perspective as the theory at that time lacked much of the evidence we have today, and they were generally asking legitimate questions about whether the available evidence fitted the theory. In fact, creationism is a modern phenomena, and the vast majority of Christians see no conflict between Genesis and evolution.

Mouse will be checking our Nick Spencer's book.

Ofsted report on independent faith schools

After Ed Ball's recent endorsement for Faith Schools, Ofsted have finally published their report into independent faith schools.

This report had been long anticipated, and it had been expected to be critical. However, the report was commissioned mainly to look at the effectiveness of the regulations over faith schools, rather than to look at the way the schools are operating. The question the report seeks to answer is "Is the standard relating to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, together with the five regulations underpinning it, fir for purpose?".

51 schools were visited, and by and large it seems that they got a clean bill of health. The one area where concerns were raised was around the extent to which some schools were willing to teach about other faiths in detail. The finding reads:

Of the five regulations, 'respect for their own and other cultures' (regulation 2e) caused most concern. All the schools emphasised the need for their pupils to respect other people and recognise their freedom of worship, but it was strongly felt that this should remain distinct from any requirement to teach about other faiths in detail.

However, a footnote in the report also says, " The requirement to teach about different faiths is not referred to explicitly in the regulations. Schools are required to assist pupils to appreciate and respect other cultures to promote tolerance and harmony between cultural traditions."

So the only area where there were issues with the standards was in an area where the standards didn't actually have the requirement in question. Nice bit of logic that.

The other really interesting thing in the report is the comment that in some schools up to 15% of pupils come from other faith communities. Parents chose to send their children to a faith school even if they couldn't get a place at a school of their particular faith.

Whilst the BHA may well be 'shocked' by this report, the reality is that there is nothing in here at all that should worry anyone about them. In fact, quite the reverse is true. This conclusion, from the 'key findings' of the report says it all.

In all the schools visited, the pupils gained a strong sense of personal worth and of belonging to their faith community. This was nurtured through their school's ethos, the taught curriculum and in regular individual and communal prayers and thanksgiving.

Friday round up

Here's my round up from the blogosphere. Ten of the best from the blogs this week:

1. Lovely follow up from Dave Walker on Fr Edward Tomlinson's comments on funerals

2. Bess Twiston-Davies on religious illiteracy

3. The Benedictine Nuns on Christmas Cards

4. The Beaker Folk of Hudson Crawley on the offer from the Guinea Pig people to accept Moon Gibbon Folk on their own terms

5. Lots of Bishops on the Pope's offer: Nick Baines, Alan Wilson, David Thomson and Tim Ellis.

6. FaithWorld on the monk-less Trappist beer

7. Maggi Dawn on illustrated Bibles

8. Cranmer's Curate reckons that Anglican Mainstream actually is mainstream. Mouse thought this was rather amusing.

9. Bartholomew has an amusing Biblical fail

10. Matt Wardman on courting controversy (the crucified gorilla exhibition and the cartoon Genesis book)

Irony in Catholic news

A great spot from Matt Wardman. As Matt says, are any words needed?

The BNP on question time

Tonight the BBC will, for the first time, allow the British National Party to join a mainstream political debate. The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, will be on the panel for the BBC's Question Time program.

There has been much huffing and puffing about this. Some have argued that they should be denied the 'oxygen of publicity', whilst others have argued that they should be tackled head on and exposed. Mouse has been in the latter category for some time.

In the run up to the European Elections Mouse encouraged his readers to check out the 'Nothing British' campaign. This set about exposing the BNP and telling the truth that there really is nothing British about their racist agenda.

The Nothing British campaign has gained further ground recently with British war veterans joining in, exposing their bogus claims to be supported by the armed forces.

Mouse will be watching Question Time tonight with a sense of anxiety. Mouse dearly hopes that the other panelists will dismantle Griffin's hate filled policies sufficiently.

Some light relief - un-Islamic bras

After a heavy couple of days digesting the impact of the Vatican's offer of a new home for Anglo-Catholics, Mouse thought some light relief was in order.

Faith Central duly oblige, with a story about a group in Somalia who believe that the bra is un-Islamic, as it is deceptive. In order to prevent this, they seem to be going round, feeling up women who they suspect of wearing these garments, then publicly stripping them.

In actual fact, this is no joke, as it seems this hard line group is publicly whipping women who fail the test, and in fact men who shave their beards and anyone who contravenes their hard line view of Sharia Law.

However, since the source seems to be the Daily Mail, there's a decent chance it is fictional.

Eid and Diwali school holidays

Two London boroughs have instructed their schools to introduce holidays for Eid, Diwali and Guru Nanak's Birthday. Waltham Forest and Newham in London's East End certainly have higher proportions of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu children than in many other places in the country, so is this policy correct?

Mouse is not convinced. Most religious people in Britain who are not Christian are perfectly happy with the fact that Christian is the overwhelming majority religion, and that Britain's culture is based on a number of religious festivals. Whilst it is great to celebrate other religious festivals, directives from Councils are rarely the best way to ensure mutual respect.

The Telegraph analyses the census statistics:

Whereas one in six Waltham Forest residents is Muslim, according to the last census, Hindus make up only 1.8 per cent of the borough’s population, and Sikhs only 0.6 per cent. Jews outnumber Sikhs in the borough, according to the census, yet schools have not been told to close for any Jewish holidays.

Whilst faith schools are exempt from this order, Mouse suspects a better way to go would have been to offer schools the option of introducing holidays for other religious holy days where they are appropriate for individual schools, rather than enforcing them across the board.

Waltham Forest are already reviewing the policy, so Mouse expects to see a reversal there.

The cartoon book of Genesis

Mouse is rather intrigued by Robert Crumb's cartoon illustrated version of Genesis. In 224 pages, he faithfully renders the Biblical account of creation and the early days of man.

It is intriguing for several reasons. Firstly because Robert Crumb conceived this plan from the position as an avowed non-believer. In fact, his previous works in the 1960s included sex and drug-addled characters. The publisher trailed the launch of the book by calling it a 'scandalous satire', giving us reason to think the book would be an excuse to poke fun at Christians, or worse.

Crumb has not changed his religious views through the four years of the project, but has stuck as faithfully as he could to the text. "If people of faith say what I've done is blasphemous or profane, I'd shrug my shoulders and say, 'I just illustrated what is there,' " Crumb says. "I'm not ridiculing it, just illustrating the exact words that are there. I restrained myself. I really didn't want to make visual jokes about it. I hope people see it for what it is."

However you look at the Bible, this illustrated version will demand the reader reconsider their own ideas of what the text is saying. The book has impressed the likes of Bishop Nick Baines, and Mouse will be putting it on his Christmas list.

Forward in Faith reaction to vatican welcome to Anglicans

So, Forward in Faith have made their views public. They 'rejoice' about the announcement from the Vatican. Interesting that this is rather different in tone from that of the 'flying Bishops' (those who currently provide episcopal oversight to parishes which will not accept women priests). Ruth Gledhill has their rather more muted response on her blog (and Mouse reproduces below).

Nevertheless, it seems we can expect some FiF members to head off to the Catholic Church under this new provision.

Official FiF response

It has been the frequently expressed hope and fervent desire of Anglican Catholics to be enabled by some means to enter into full communion with the See of Peter whilst retaining in its integrity every aspect of their Anglican inheritance which is not at variance with the teaching of the Catholic Church.

We rejoice that the Holy Father intends now to set up structures within the Church which respond to this heartfelt longing. Forward in Faith has always been committed to seeking unity in truth and so warmly welcomes these initiatives as a decisive moment in the history of the Catholic Movement in the Church of England. Ut unum sint!

+John Fulham
Geoffrey Kirk

Flying Bishops Response

WE WARMLY WELCOME news on Tuesday 20^th October of the forthcoming publication of a Apostolic Constitution outlining a fresh initiative in the search for Unity with the Holy See which many Anglicans in the Catholic tradition have prayed for and pursued.

This is not a time for sudden decisions or general public discussion. We call for a time of quiet prayer and discernment. The coming season of Advent and the celebration of the mystery of the Incarnation at Christmas, seem to us to provide a good opportunity for this quiet prayer and discernment to take place, as well as some pastoral discussions. Some Anglicans in the Catholic tradition understandably will want to stay within the Anglican Communion. Others will wish to make individual arrangements as their conscience directs. A further group of Anglicans, we think, will begin to form a caravan, rather like the People of Israel crossing the desert in search of the Promised Land. As bishops we would want to reassure people that, whatever decisions people, priests and parishes make, they will find peace and blessing in following what they discern to be God’s will for them. We have chosen 22^nd February, The Feast of The Chair of Peter, to be an appropriate day for priests and people to make an initial decision as to whether they wish to respond positively to and explore further the initiative of the Apostolic Constitution. Many, understandably, will need a much longer period of discernment and we would counsel against over-hasty reactions of whatever kind.

The Bishops of Ebbsfleet and Richborough visited Rome in Eastertide 2008 and, graciously, were given a hearing in the Vatican. We were becoming increasingly concerned that the various agendas of the Anglican Communion were driving Anglicans and Roman Catholics further apart. It was our task, we thought, to take the opportunity of quietly discussing these matters in Rome. We were neither the first nor the last Anglicans to do this in recent years. Following the decision of General Synod of the Church of England in July 2008 to proceed with the ordination of women to the episcopate, we appealed to the Holy Father for help and have patiently awaited a reply. This Apostolic Constitution, addressed worldwide, feels to us to be a reply to concerns raised by others and by us and an attempt to allow all those who seek unity with the Holy See to be gathered in without loss of their distinctive patrimony.

+ Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet

+ Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough

Reform statement on Vatican overtures to disaffected Anglicans

It seems Reform are not impressed. They suggest that no-one need leave the Anglican Communion, as we now have the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans set up.

MEDIA STATEMENT
20th October 2009
REFORM INITIAL RESPONSE TO 'APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION' ANNOUNCEMENT

Revd Rod Thomas, chairman of Reform, makes four points as an initial
response to today's announcement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and
Westminster:

“Anglicans concerned about protecting the basic Christian faith need
not go to Rome, because we now have the Fellowship of Confessing
Anglicans (FCA (UK)) which holds together those who want to stop the
orthodox faith being eroded. We can remain Anglican. Furthermore, the
FCA Primates have recognised that problems with episcopal oversight are
arising here in the UK. They have expressed the hope that these will be
solved locally, but if not, they are willing to step in.”

“This development highlights the need for robust legislative provision
to cater for those who cannot agree to women bishops, such as that
recently suggested by the Revision Committee.”

“If priests really are out of sympathy with the C of E's doctrine (as
opposed to the battles we are having over women's ministry and
sexuality), then perhaps it is better they make a clean break and go to
Rome. However, when they do, they will have to accommodate themselves
to Rome's top-down approach to church life, whereas the C of E has
always stressed the importance of decision making at the level of the
local church.”

“It is illusory to pretend that this development is an outcome of
ecumenical dialogue. It illustrates the difficulties the C of E faces
and the need for stronger leadership, rather than the 'softly softly'
approach so far taken to those holding liberal views who are splitting
the church.”

TAC statement on unity with Rome

Mouse just got this via email from Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Community. This is the group of Anglo-Catholics who departed from the Anglican Communion in 1991. It have long sought union with Rome, whilst wanting to retain their Anglican identity. This now looks certain to happen.

20^th October 2009

I have spent this evening speaking to bishops, priests and lay people of the Traditional Anglican Communion in England, Africa, Australia, India, Canada, the United States and South America.

We are profoundly moved by the generosity of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. He offers in this Apostolic Constitution the means for “former Anglicans to enter into the fullness of communion with the Catholic Church”. He hopes that we can “find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to us and consistent with the Catholic faith”. He then warmly states “we are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular contributions to our common life of faith”.

May I firstly state that this is an act of great goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of unity. It more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers dared to ask even more than ours.

While we await the full text of the Apostolic Constitution, we are also moved by the pastoral nature of the Notes issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. My fellow bishops have indeed signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church and made a statement about the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, reflecting the words of Pope John Paul II in his letter “Ut Unum Sint”.

Other Anglican groups have indicated to the Holy See a similar desire and a similar acceptance of Catholic faith. As Cardinal Levada has indicated, this response to Anglican petitions is to be of a global character. It will now be for these groups to forge a close cooperation, even where they transcend the existing boundaries of the Anglican Communion.

Fortunately, the Statement issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury reflects the understanding that we have gained from him that he does not stand in our way, and understands the decisions that we have reached. Both his reaction and our petition are fruits of a century of prayer for Christian unity, a cause that many times must have seemed forlorn. We now express our gratitude to Archbishop Williams, and have regularly assured him of our prayers. The See of Augustine remains a focus of our pilgrim way, as it was in ages of faith in the past.

I have made a commitment to the Traditional Anglican Communion that the response of the Holy See will be taken to each of our National Synods. They have already endorsed our pathway. Now the Holy See challenges us to seek in the specific structures that are now available the “full, visible unity, especially Eucharistic communion”, for which we have long prayed and about which we have long dreamed. That process will begin at once.

In the Anglican Office of Morning Prayer, the great Hymn of Thanksgiving, the Te Deum, is part of the daily Order. It is with heartfelt thanks to Almighty God, the Lord and Source of all peace and unity, that the hymn is on our lips today. This is a moment of grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because the past is undone, but because the past is transformed.

Archbishop John Hepworth

Primate