Religious Life

  • Is the new Archbishop Dame Sarah Mullally?

    The Church of England has a leadership crisis. It occurs at every level. The ‘local’ Parishes are starved of real guidance. The centralised structures are gimmicky. It’s believed many clergy are unsupportive of the membership.

    This is a story I’ve found everywhere in the UK that I’ve stopped to talk to people about it. They aren’t unhappy with God. Their only problem is with his Church.

    The appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally will reassure some, and satisfy others. The express wishes of her leadership will no doubt embolden many to see faith in a new light. Her technical knowhow of people in groups is also a bonus for the club.

    However, the spread of a message is what’s needed now. The Bible is everywhere, in our times, but the spoken doctrine and pastoral care is in short supply. This may be something she can bring to the table, but will it get any further?

  • The characters that shape us

    The religious life of the country is more shaped by people than we often like to say. The refrain in evangelical circles that only Jesus matters is only true in ecstasy. The reality is people shape our modes and opinions. We use them to help our context.

    Fmr. Archbishop Rowan Williams

    Former Archbishop Rowan Williams is responsible in part for popularising the notable characters that make English religious practice stronger. He draws on them for our own time because similar virtues are needed as the same vices are around.

    The standout characters that shaped early Anglicanism still ring true today, as do a growing number of ‘modern’ saints who writ large our sense of injustice, and exhaustion in the world. They frame our tumultuous times completely.

  • Pres. Biden awards Pope honour

    In a last meaningful act, President Biden awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction yesterday.

    It followed 19 recipients receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, including George Soros, Bono, and Denzel Washington.

  • Life at Westminster Cathedral

  • Is the Pope losing ground?

    The visit of the Pope to Luxembourg and then Belgium in recent days suggests a symbolic outreach by the Catholic Church to a part of Europe that is said to be in the throws of a religious decline.

    The import of it is without question, since any visit by a Pope is a serious gesture to a local religious community, and a region at large.

    Yet the question is whether the strength of an evangelical sort of Catholicism alive in many parts of the world but suffering a din in parts that says no regularly is still strong enough to survive it.

  • The strange place of religion

    Religion doesn’t get a good rap these days. In fact, it’s public reputation is so bad that to some respondents, it just doesn’t have a place in “public life” at all.

    This is odd, considering its place in public life.

    Take for example the public services that are necessary to our way of life (christenings, confirmations, funerals, etc.), and you’ll get my point. The largesse of statecraft, and royalty, is also only brought down to our level by its religious aspect, otherwise it wouldn’t be understood at all.

    This is a fact of life right now, otherwise we would be atheists, indeed.

    Take for example St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, pictured below. It’s a genial old fellow of a building, and protrudes boldly out from its towering height. Or at least, in times past it might have seemed more fantastic than it does today, in its quaint abode.

    The Entrance (Side View)
    The Entrance (Front View)

    The point is that these have existed before and exist today to be servants of a purpose. Mostly, we now view those purposes to be our own, as before but with a lot less enthusiasm about it.

    By it, I mean the religious aspect of saying the vows – secular and sacred – and meaning all of it (this is important too, in religion).

    Yes, the use of these buildings is low, but meaningfully they capture the spirit of the age, still.

    It’s not necessarily a top hat and religious dress type of set up, but it makes sense to find meaning and belonging if you want to. We all do this at some point in our lives, unless we’re atheists, or we’ve found a better place to do it.