This is a consultation process from Malcolm Bishop of Nottingham on the future shape of the diocese. It is a good opportunity to think deeply about structures and processes, authority and responsibilities in the church. Perhaps we can move on from sheep metaphors to more adult models of understanding our relations with each other?
Before we rush to the structures it is important to consider basic values.
How is the local church reflecting the catholicity, diversity if you will, of the area in which it sits? Ethnicity? Gender? Sexualities? How do the outcasts, the lepers, feel about our church? Are they welcome? Are we reaching out to the poor, the sick, the pissed off with us? If not why not? What is the point of change if we just become another version of what we are now? How do we welcome back those who have left because they felt unwanted? We have a massive job with those who walked away. Messages from those who have left to become members of other faith groups report that a major reason was the unfriendliness of Catholic churches. If you think our or your church isntt like that fine. Have you tried asking for people's opinions. Especially black people's experiences.
A number of questions or possibilities come to mind.
What is the optimum size for a parish? Do we need buildings owned or leased by ecclesial units?
Should we move to a parish model where there is an elected committee that run the practical side of things, especially money, plant, employment issues leaving the priest for sacramental work, teaching, counselling and the spiritual development of the parish?
This requires a major shift in lay and clergy mind sets (and Canon Law), training and good will.
Liturgy matters:
I prefer one mass per Sunday, and an end to two evening masses at weekends (both Saturday and Sunday), for most parishes. Surely we can devise a liturgy where all can feel welcomed. Do we really have to provide masses for half empty churches? Once Sunday morning is over surely our priests deserve some time off. Sunday second vespers is a fine parish service but does not need a priest. Is it possible to have early morning celebrations of mass during the week sometimes rather than at 10am?
More training for church musicians to animate Sunday masses and Triduum liturgies.
A total rethink of school policy Is needed with much thought being given to shifting resources to adult Christian education and training. Catholic schools are not necessarily the best way of educating Catholic children. I would like to see the evidence that they 'work'.
Greater use of Internet for adult Catholic education. See www.ktotv.com for French examples available 24/7, much use of liturgy from Notre Dame de Paris and Community of Jerusalem. A UK version of it could make more of the liturgy from Westminster Cathedral, Blackfriars Oxford, the great Benedictine monastic schools and links from the liturgies in Rome.
Need for lay ministers for baptisms funerals and marriages. If no mass is required then no priest required. Laity need training for these roles but well tried models are available in Methodist local preachers and Anglican lay readers. The wheel is already invented. If we are going to have first class expensive musical liturgies at e.g. Westminster why are they not streamed to the TV and internet? In terms of spreading the good news we have much to learn. We also need to balance this 'high' liturgy with liturgy that is much more popular (if hated by the musical snobs amongst us) and represents streams such as the Charismatics. We remember from where the word 'liturgy' comes.
There is a need to think plan and act now.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Friday, 13 April 2012
Is there a cure for homosexuality?
This is a very interesting question. it implies that homosexuality is an illness. You think it is you will want a cure, I presume. I have read much of the literature claiming treatment for homosexuality and my judgement is that it is deeply flawed and dangerous. If you want a flavour read Nicolosi's works. Some of it is embarrassingly shallow.
Do you get out much?
I find myself answering this question from friends, well acquaintances really, who do mean to be helpful. The answer is that I do get out but it is always a struggle. Just walking with crutches from the front of the house to the car or taxi is an effort. But yes I do get out. In fact, I probably get out more than my questioner. Its all to do with planning and logistics well it is also know what to do and who to go with.
Often, when I lay awake at night, I let my imagination run free and see where it takes me, Often, at this time of year I am in New York City. I used to go every year for the religion but now I cannot go so go in the imagination. Having the music sung at the easter triduum helps greatly in that it reaches parts others cannot.
Trying to be coherent about the night, having not slept, now fully wide awake at 3am. I console myself that the monks at MSB are just rising. I bet they grumble under their cowls. I wish they streamed the night office so that those of us on night duty can hear it." Voice la nuit" the monks who were later to be killed in the film Of Gods and Men.
Often, when I lay awake at night, I let my imagination run free and see where it takes me, Often, at this time of year I am in New York City. I used to go every year for the religion but now I cannot go so go in the imagination. Having the music sung at the easter triduum helps greatly in that it reaches parts others cannot.
LE2 well Leicester South Labour Party goes out to dinner
So the great and good of Leicester South constituency gathered in the University last night for a first gala dinner and fund raiser. What a night? The starter musically was a music group from a church, ethnomusicologists to the front, to unravel the layers of influence: traditional african singing and drumming, black christian songs, hip hop, rap well not quite. Smart group.
The do was dress up in an LE2 sort of way. Jon Ashworth MP (Johnny Sparkles as was revealed by the guest speaker), Rachel Reeve MP shadow bean counter and clearly on the way up, our mayor Peter Soulsby, the movers and shakers PLUS the chamber of commerce. WHo would have thought they would turn out for such an event.
It was so much like a church do. Great fun, Utterly Leicester.
The do was dress up in an LE2 sort of way. Jon Ashworth MP (Johnny Sparkles as was revealed by the guest speaker), Rachel Reeve MP shadow bean counter and clearly on the way up, our mayor Peter Soulsby, the movers and shakers PLUS the chamber of commerce. WHo would have thought they would turn out for such an event.
It was so much like a church do. Great fun, Utterly Leicester.
Culture wars heat up the Guardian
Anti-gay adverts pulled from bus campaign after protests
Christian groups under fire for posters backing homosexuality ‘cure’
Labour MP Chris Bryant said the advert was cruel, particularly for teenagers
written by
Robert Booth, Hélène Mulholland, and Patrick Strudwick
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, intervened last night to prevent a Christian advertising campaign from promoting the idea that gay people can be converted to heterosexuality.
Just days before the posters were due to appear on buses in the capital, Johnson ordered his transport chiefs to pull the adverts booked by two conservative Anglican groups following outrage among gay campaigners and politicians saying that they were homophobic. The adverts were booked on behalf of the Core Issues Trust whose leader, Mike Davidson, believes “homoerotic behaviour is sinful”.
His charity funds “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, which it claims can “develop their heterosexual potential”. The campaign was also backed by Anglican Mainstream, a worldwide orthodox Anglican group whose supporters have equated homosexuality with alcoholism. The advert was due to say: “Not gay! Post-gay, ex-gay and proud. Get over it!”
Johnson, who contacted the Guardian to announce he was stopping the adverts within two hours of their contents becoming public, said: “London is one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance. It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses.”
His main rival in next month’s mayoral election, Ken Livingstone, said Johnson should never have allowed the adverts to be booked. “London is going backwards under a Tory leadership that should have made these advertisements impossible.”
The Christian groups insisted the advert had been cleared with Transport for London, which is chaired by the mayor. Davidson said: “I didn’t realise censorship was in place. We went through the correct channels and we were encouraged by the bus company to go through their procedures. They okayed it and now it has been pulled.”
CBS Outdoor, the media company that sells the bus advertising sites, said the ad had been passed for display by the Committee of Advertising Practice and it complied with Advertising Standards Authority guidelines. It is understood TfL was due to make around £10,000 for allowing the adverts to run on about two dozen buses across five routes.
The campaign was an explicit attempt to hit back at the gay rights group Stonewall, which as part of its lobbying for the extension of marriage to gay couples is running its own bus adverts saying: “Some people are gay. Get over it.” The Christian groups used the same black, red and white colour scheme as Stonewall and in a statement announcing the campaign accused it of promoting the “false idea that there is indisputable scientific evidence that people are born gay”.
The gay ex-vicar, Labour MP and former minister Chris Bryant, said the advert was cruel for promoting the idea that you could become “ex-gay” and he said it would particularly hurt teenagers struggling to come to terms with their sexuality.
“The emotional damage that is done to the individuals who try to suppress their sexuality, the women they marry and the children they might have is immeasurable,” he said. “Most sane Christians believe that homosexuality is not a lifestyle or a choice but is a fact to be discovered or not. The pretence that homosexuality is something you can be weaned off in some way is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of creation.”
Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, said the adverts were “clearly homophobic” and added: “The only reason some gay people might want to stop being gay is because of the prejudice of the people who are publishing the ad.”
Both men said the advert should not be banned, however, because they believed in freedom of speech.
Attempts to “treat” or alter sexual orientation have been strongly condemned by leading medical organisations. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned that “so-called treatments of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish” and concluded in 2010: “There is no sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.”
The British Medical Association has also attacked “conversion therapy”, a related field to reparation therapy, passing a motion asserting that it is “discredited and harmful to those ‘treated’ ”.
The Rev Lynda Rose, a spokesperson for the UK branch of Anglican Mainstream, said her group adhered to scripture that all fornication outside marriage is prohibited and believed that homosexuals were “not being fully the people God intended us to be”. She said therapies endorsed by Anglican Mainstream and Core Issues were not coercive and were appropriate for people who wanted to change their sexual attractions, for example if they were married and worried about the impact of a “gay lifestyle” on their children.
The decision to pull the adverts is being seen as a potential boost for conservative Christian organisations attempting to become more politically active in the UK. “Banning this is usually a fairly good way to encourage a sense that people are being marginalised and persecuted,” said Simon Barrow, co-founder of the Ekklesia thinktank which has tracked the progress of what it calls aggressive conservative Christianity. “It could be part of a developing tactic to draw attention to themselves and a way of using victimhood to galvanise sympathy and support.”
Christian groups under fire for posters backing homosexuality ‘cure’
Labour MP Chris Bryant said the advert was cruel, particularly for teenagers
written by
Robert Booth, Hélène Mulholland, and Patrick Strudwick
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, intervened last night to prevent a Christian advertising campaign from promoting the idea that gay people can be converted to heterosexuality.
Just days before the posters were due to appear on buses in the capital, Johnson ordered his transport chiefs to pull the adverts booked by two conservative Anglican groups following outrage among gay campaigners and politicians saying that they were homophobic. The adverts were booked on behalf of the Core Issues Trust whose leader, Mike Davidson, believes “homoerotic behaviour is sinful”.
His charity funds “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, which it claims can “develop their heterosexual potential”. The campaign was also backed by Anglican Mainstream, a worldwide orthodox Anglican group whose supporters have equated homosexuality with alcoholism. The advert was due to say: “Not gay! Post-gay, ex-gay and proud. Get over it!”
Johnson, who contacted the Guardian to announce he was stopping the adverts within two hours of their contents becoming public, said: “London is one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance. It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses.”
His main rival in next month’s mayoral election, Ken Livingstone, said Johnson should never have allowed the adverts to be booked. “London is going backwards under a Tory leadership that should have made these advertisements impossible.”
The Christian groups insisted the advert had been cleared with Transport for London, which is chaired by the mayor. Davidson said: “I didn’t realise censorship was in place. We went through the correct channels and we were encouraged by the bus company to go through their procedures. They okayed it and now it has been pulled.”
CBS Outdoor, the media company that sells the bus advertising sites, said the ad had been passed for display by the Committee of Advertising Practice and it complied with Advertising Standards Authority guidelines. It is understood TfL was due to make around £10,000 for allowing the adverts to run on about two dozen buses across five routes.
The campaign was an explicit attempt to hit back at the gay rights group Stonewall, which as part of its lobbying for the extension of marriage to gay couples is running its own bus adverts saying: “Some people are gay. Get over it.” The Christian groups used the same black, red and white colour scheme as Stonewall and in a statement announcing the campaign accused it of promoting the “false idea that there is indisputable scientific evidence that people are born gay”.
The gay ex-vicar, Labour MP and former minister Chris Bryant, said the advert was cruel for promoting the idea that you could become “ex-gay” and he said it would particularly hurt teenagers struggling to come to terms with their sexuality.
“The emotional damage that is done to the individuals who try to suppress their sexuality, the women they marry and the children they might have is immeasurable,” he said. “Most sane Christians believe that homosexuality is not a lifestyle or a choice but is a fact to be discovered or not. The pretence that homosexuality is something you can be weaned off in some way is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of creation.”
Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, said the adverts were “clearly homophobic” and added: “The only reason some gay people might want to stop being gay is because of the prejudice of the people who are publishing the ad.”
Both men said the advert should not be banned, however, because they believed in freedom of speech.
Attempts to “treat” or alter sexual orientation have been strongly condemned by leading medical organisations. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned that “so-called treatments of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish” and concluded in 2010: “There is no sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.”
The British Medical Association has also attacked “conversion therapy”, a related field to reparation therapy, passing a motion asserting that it is “discredited and harmful to those ‘treated’ ”.
The Rev Lynda Rose, a spokesperson for the UK branch of Anglican Mainstream, said her group adhered to scripture that all fornication outside marriage is prohibited and believed that homosexuals were “not being fully the people God intended us to be”. She said therapies endorsed by Anglican Mainstream and Core Issues were not coercive and were appropriate for people who wanted to change their sexual attractions, for example if they were married and worried about the impact of a “gay lifestyle” on their children.
The decision to pull the adverts is being seen as a potential boost for conservative Christian organisations attempting to become more politically active in the UK. “Banning this is usually a fairly good way to encourage a sense that people are being marginalised and persecuted,” said Simon Barrow, co-founder of the Ekklesia thinktank which has tracked the progress of what it calls aggressive conservative Christianity. “It could be part of a developing tactic to draw attention to themselves and a way of using victimhood to galvanise sympathy and support.”
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Leicester Pride or Leicester Gay Pride or Leicester Lesbian and Gay Pride
What is the best way forward? There seems to be tendency over time for Gay Pride Events to drop the word gay from their titles. It is a little unclear why. Some say it is to make the whole event more a community one and others say that it is because some people feel uncomfortable with the word gay being used. Now I have heard lesbians object to gay men muscling in on the activities and edging every one else out. Maybe. I have met many men who only have sex with men telling me they do not like the political edge at gay pride events. This usually leads to a stand off when they do not do politics. I find this odd because the very people who want politics kept out of our leadership's agenda are willing to accept the benefits of the political struggles (and some of them are real struggles) made by other lesbian and gay people.
Same sex sex would still be illegal but for the work of activists- lesbian gay and otherwise - over many years. We would not have civil partnerships even less same sex marriage nor the gender recognition act nor equalities protection. The price of our freedoms has required much effort and continues to need constant vigilance. There are many sinister forces, well funded, often behind the front of nicely nicely wholesome religious names - The XXXXX Institute, The campaign for xxxxxx, The XXXXXlegal centre. I could go on. Many of them have no doubt a gay pride event is not a good idea and they would be banned if the holders of these views had power. Remember Geneva in the 16th century. Or Iran now. Or Jamaica now.
Being gay or lesbian or transgender is being political. Those who deny this are living in cloud cuckoo land and resting on the laurels of the hard work of gay and lesbian so-called activists.
Same sex sex would still be illegal but for the work of activists- lesbian gay and otherwise - over many years. We would not have civil partnerships even less same sex marriage nor the gender recognition act nor equalities protection. The price of our freedoms has required much effort and continues to need constant vigilance. There are many sinister forces, well funded, often behind the front of nicely nicely wholesome religious names - The XXXXX Institute, The campaign for xxxxxx, The XXXXXlegal centre. I could go on. Many of them have no doubt a gay pride event is not a good idea and they would be banned if the holders of these views had power. Remember Geneva in the 16th century. Or Iran now. Or Jamaica now.
Being gay or lesbian or transgender is being political. Those who deny this are living in cloud cuckoo land and resting on the laurels of the hard work of gay and lesbian so-called activists.
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