Peace and unity of the CofE Every evening since November 1992, when I say Night Prayer, I have prayed for the peace and unity of the Church of England. I thought the reports I have read of the Ordination of [...]

An account of a week-long exploration of churches and art in Venice   Tuesday: A three-hour delay from Gatwick meant that we arrived in Venice after dark. But a vaporetto from the Railway Station to Santa Maria della Salute and [...]

Operas with morals   Tom Sutcliffe reviews Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and Sweeney Todd   When the Royal Opera presented Brecht’s and Weill’s opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny a few weeks back, [...]

Art   INVENTING IMPRESSIONISM Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market National Gallery 4 March–31 May 2015 Admission £18, concessions available   This is an unusual show, one of a new genre of art exhibitions. In the past shows were [...]

Christopher Smith contrasts our comfortable Easter with that of our persecuted brothers and sisters   Periodically, some daft clergyman will eat a daffodil in the pulpit at Easter, to demonstrate that sometimes apparently incredible things do happen. A Baptist minister [...]

The Bishop of Chichester’s  Chrism Mass homily on the consecrated oils as cosmetics of holiness   ‘Do you use a moisturiser?’ That was a question put to me and a group of clergy, male and female, not so long ago. [...]

Food and drink   Over the years I have discerned that one quirky question to help people engage with the essential elements of their life is to ask ‘What is your food and drink?’ In other words, what are the [...]

Restlessness of spirit   Gerald Vann   So many people today are addicted to the mobile telephone. Whether in a surgery, on a bus or train, in a shop or even in the street, they are continually chattering or texting. [...]

Arthur Middleton on Augustine of Canterbury   On 27 May we commemorate St Augiustine of Canterbury, the apostle of England. In 590 AD, Gregory the Great became Bishop of Rome, Gregory, that early English Christians spoke of as ‘Gregory our [...]

Resolutions Parishes are beginning to pass resolutions under the House of Bishops’ Declaration. In most cases of which we have been informed the PCC has passed the resolution by an overwhelming majority – usually, unanimously. In parishes which are divided [...]