by Reformer THE SUMMER OF 96 will remain long in the memory for the day in June when Professor Donald McLeod ~ he of the brilliant theological brain and the keening bagpipe-like preaching voice - was publicly vindicated in court [...]

Too Small a Calling THE SECOND NATIONAL Coalition for the Blessing of Same-Sex Unions met in mid-July at the National Cathedral in Washington. They continued working on a rite for homosexual 'marriages' (for that is what their Celebration of Commitment [...]

BISHOP PAUL RICHARDSON More Important than Life and Death THREE AND A HALF billion people - a third of the human race - are estimated to have watched the Olympic Games on television. In Australia millions tuned in to cheer [...]

Gerry O'Brien Entering a Virtuous Spiral SUMMER IS NEARLY OVER and memories of debates in York are fading away. The first PCC meetings of the Autumn draw nearer and I hope that each parish will have on its PCC agenda [...]

You're all Booked! THERE ARE MANY MYSTERIES about the contemporary Church of England. Why, for example, for the last twenty-five years, has the number of suffragan bishops and archdeacons been inversely proportional to the decline in communicant figures? And, more [...]

CATHEDRAL FABRICATIONS A group of traditionalists was recently refused the use of a northern cathedral for an act of worship. This, in itself, is not in the least surprising and, nowadays scarcely worth reporting. What lifts it from the drearily [...]

THE OPENING MOMENTS of the great paschal liturgy of Holy Saturday declare, by word and sign the Church's commitment to the sanctification of time. Marking the paschal candle with the sign of the cross and with the first and last [...]

FOUR TYPES OF FAITH David Holloway THE ISRAELITES have left Sinai and are camping in the Desert of Paran. Spies were sent out into Canaan. On their return the majority showed a complete lack of faith. There were four marks [...]

Ecumenism in Chester The Summer gathering of Chester Forward in Faith was attended by some 150 people on Friday, 5th July in Chester Cathedral. After a welcoming cup of coffee and an introduction from Canon Richard Price and Canon Owen [...]

'ONCE A PROVINCE has expressed its mind in favour of the ordination of women to the priesthood and proceeded so to ordain women it would be anomalous to appoint a bishop who was actively opposed to the mind of the [...]