Bishop of Guilford elected president of CEC: The Church of England Newspaper, August 11, 2013 August 16, 2013
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, EU.Tags: Christopher Hill, Conference of European Churches
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The 14th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) has elected the Bishop of Guilford, the Rt. Rev. Christopher Hill, to serve as president of the pan-European ecumenical group.
Comprising 115 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches and 40 associated organizations from across Europe, delegates to last month’s meeting of the CEC Assembly also approved a new constitution “to help the European Churches to share their spiritual life, to strengthen their common witness and service, and to promote the unity of the Church and peace in the world.”
The social and economic plight of immigrants in Europe was one of the primary issues debated by the Assembly. Delegates learned the Social Charter of the Council of Europe, the EU’s human rights watchdog, will take up a complaint filed by the CEC against the Netherlands for systematic ill-treatment of illegal aliens.
Delegates also voted to move the organization’s headquarters from Geneva to Brussels in order to be closer to the European Union and related institutions. Home to the organization since 1959, the Geneva office will be closed, but a subsidiary office in Strasburg while remain open for the present.
Anti-Semitism complaint filed against Surrey vicar: The Church of England Newspaper, November 25, 2012 p 6. November 29, 2012
Posted by geoconger in British Jewry, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Free Speech.Tags: anti-Semitism, Board of Deputies of British Jews, Christopher Hill, Diocese of Guilford, Stephen Sizer
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The Board of Deputies of British Jews has lodged a complaint with the Diocese of Guilford accused the Vicar of Christ Church Virginia Water,with anti-Semitism.
The Rev. Stephen Sizer has been accused under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 for misconduct consisting of “conduct unbecoming or inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders”.
The Chief Executive of the Board, Mr. Jon Benjamin told the Church of England Newspaper they had met “with the Bishop of Guildford who noted the formal mechanism for complaints that we have followed.”
On 31 Oct 2012 the Diocese of Guilford released a statement saying “the Bishop of Guildford is considering a complaint under the Clergy Discipline Measure against Dr Stephen Sizer and will be following the statutory procedures provided in the Measure.”
“Nothing else can be said at present, since the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 ensures that legitimate complaints against members of Anglican clergy are dealt with appropriately.”
Mr. Sizer has not responded to requests for comments on the allegations.
In its complaint, the Board said Mr. Sizer “spends time trawling dark and extreme corners of the internet for material to add to his website. Rev Sizer re-publishes such items to support the target of his polemical writing, while at the same introducing his readers to the racist and anti-Semitic websites from where he draws his material.”
Mr. Sizer had kept some “strange company” for a “Church of England vicar,” the Board said in a statement released on its website denouncing his association with “Holocaust deniers”, Iranian government agencies and anti-Israel groups. However, its complaint lay not in politics or “his supersessionist theology. While we view all of these with concern and distaste, Rev Sizer is entitled to his views and may travel where he wants.”
“But we draw the line at making statements that we regard as anti-Semitic and advertising the content of racist and anti-Semitic websites. It is a matter of great regret that we are driven to make this complaint, but the Jewish community should not have to stomach material that we see as crossing the line into anti-Semitism,” the Board statement said.
“We are not seeking to have him stopped from his ministry or dismissed from his job. We only ask one thing, which is that effective measures are taken to prevent him from publishing or re-publishing material that we find to be not merely offensive but anti-Semitic. We don’t think that’s too much to ask,” the Board said.
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church of England will not break with South Carolina: Anglican Ink, November 19, 2012 November 20, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Anglican Ink, Church of England, South Carolina.Tags: Christopher Hill, General Synod, Mark Lawrence
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The Church of England has declined to accept Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori’s assertion the Diocese of South Carolina may not withdraw from the Episcopal Church. Nor will Saturday’s vote by the South Carolina Special Convention affect the standing of its clergy with the Church of England at this time, General Synod learned today.
Speaking for the church’s Council for Christian Unity (CCU), Bishop Christopher Hill said the Church of England sought to maintain good relations with all sides in the Episcopal Church’s civil war and would take no “hasty” actions at this time.
Read it all in Anglican Ink.
Conger 