Content about London

The funeral of The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG OM PC FRS will take place on Wednesday 17 at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The Bishop of London, The Rt. Hon. & Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, will preside at the memorial service for the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.

The leader of the Anglican Church of Canada has lobbied the Archbishop of Canterbury-designate not to extend formal recognition to the Anglican Church in North America. However, the decision who is an Anglican does not rest with the Archbishop of Canterbury.  The communion’s formal statement as to who is an Anglican looks to fellowship with the Archbishop of Canterbury and fidelity to the doctrines and disciplines set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.

Yousef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor jailed sentenced to death for apostasy from Islam but released after an international protest campaign was in London this month to thank Christian Solidarity Worldwide for its advocacy on his behalf.

On 10 Nov 2012 Pastor Nadarkhani spoke to the For Such a Time as This conference through an interpreter thanking Christians in the West for their prayers and petitions on his behalf.  The following Sunday he preached at Holy Trinity Brompton in London, speaking to the plight of Christians in Iran.

The student union at the former Archbishop of Canterbury’s alma mater has begun a petition campaign calling for Kings College London to remove George Carey's portrait from a gallery of famous alumni.

On 26 Oct 2012 the Kings College London Student Union released a statement saying it was offended by Lord Carey’s remarks on marriage in a talk given at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference. Lord Carey told the meeting at Birmingham Town Hall that re-defining marriage would “strike at the very fabric of society”.

Justin Welby appointed 105th Archbishop of Canterbury

The Queen has nominated the Right Reverend Justin Welby, MA, Hon FCT, the Lord Bishop of Durham, for election by the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury in the place of the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Douglas Williams, MA DPhil DD FBA, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan.

The Crown Nominations Committee starts a three day meeting today to finalize its selection of two names to present to the Primate Minister for appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury.

The location of the 26-28 September 2012 meeting has been kept secret as has its deliberations. Rumors as to the names under consideration have circulated freely over the past few months, with some candidates rising and falling in popularity among punters.  

The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has rejected a motion to endorse the Anglican Covenant.

On the second day of the 7-9 June 2012 meeting of the General Synod at Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh, delegates took up a motion for the church to endorse the pan-Anglican agreement, continuing a discussion began at the 2001 session of synod.  

While in London, we had the opportunity to talk at length together about the continuing turbulence from the separation of the Anglican Mission in America from its founding church, the Anglican Church of Rwanda. The House of Bishops of Rwanda has recently declared the establishment of a Missionary District in North America (PEARUSA) as its only continuing work on this continent and has offered a deadline of August 31 for clergy and churches to determine their future jurisdiction. There are three options available: remain with Rwanda through PEARUSA, transfer to another Anglican jurisdiction through letters dimissory, or follow the Anglican Mission into its new venture. Provision and procedure for each of these options is available or is being developed as rapidly as possible. 

Announcements in the Church Times, Church of England Newspaper and The Times have started the consultation process ahead of consideration by the Crown Nominations Commission as to who will follow Dr Rowan Williams as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury.

This is the first time the process for nominating a new Archbishop of Canterbury has begun with such an announcement, following changes to introduce more transparency in the appointment of bishops.

The President of the Palestinian Authority has met with leaders of the Christian Churches of Britain in London following his talks with the British government over the stalled Middle East peace process.

The meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Dr. Rowan Williams comes at a nadir in Anglo-Israeli relations and on the same day the Israeli Foreign Ministry chided Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as being grossly “ill informed” about the conflict in the Middle East.

Speaking in his annual BBC New Year message, the Archbishop of Canterbury reflects on the importance that Christianity bestows on young people and challenges us to actively support our local youth facilities and opportunities which, he argues, play a crucial part in a healthy society. 

In reflecting on the events of the summer which showed us "a face of our society we don't like to think about - angry, destructive, lawless", Dr Williams urges us to recognise that this destruction was the work of a minority and that most of the young people of their generation  "strongly shared the general feeling of dismay at this behaviour".

The Archbishop of Canterbury is going to resign next year. At least that’s the story making the rounds of newspapers in London, and the interesting part is not that the 61-year-old Rowan Williams should be willing to give up another decade in the job. Or even, if the Telegraph is right, that the clergy and his fellow bishops are working to push him out.