I love the ‘not-yet’ seasons of the year, Advent and Lent, when we look forward (sometimes patiently) to the celebrations of Christmas and Easter. Many of us can sympathise with the child who prayed “Lord, please give me patience and give it to me right now!” Waiting is unpopular. We desperately try to guess which […]
The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, has welcomed guidance from the Government permitting outdoor singing for places of worship in all tiers in England from 2nd December, and indoor singing by choirs. Guidance published by the Government on Sunday confirmed that indoor singing by both amateur and professional choirs will be permitted, and that congregations […]
Morgan Overton was sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday 10th November after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. He was sentenced to a three-year community order with 20 days of therapy in order to stop him re-offending. He was also given 120 hours of unpaid work and will be […]
Peterborough Cathedral Choir has made a series of live recordings for parishes to use for their online Advent and Christmas services. The recordings – which are all (except one) in video format – will be available from Monday 23rd November, so that they can be used from Advent Sunday onwards. Feel free to add these live […]
The Church of St James in the Northamptonshire village of Hollowell will be part of Christmas for millions of people this year, as one of their stained-glass windows is featuring as part of Royal Mail’s Christmas stamp collection for 2020. Six stained-glass Nativity scenes from churches around England have been chosen for the special collection, […]
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York and a number of senior church leaders are inviting Christians across the nation to participate in a month of prayer – launching today (Thursday 5th November) – as a second lockdown in England comes into force. Throughout the month, Christians will be encouraged to pray daily for a specific […]
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have invited the nation to join them in prayer, in a message encouraging ‘calm, courageous and compassionate’ responses to the difficulties of the second national lockdown in England. Dear Friends, These are deeply challenging and difficult times for us all. When we are surrounded by fear and suffering, it can […]
November – 1st: All Saints, 2nd: All Souls, 5th: Guy Fawkes, 8th: Remembrance, 11th: Armistice… 22nd: Christ the King (and 29th is Advent Sunday this year). Lots of church, community, and civic highlights. This year still very real, and very important – but subdued and maybe overshadowed by the virus. Remembering still matters though. Not […]
Sarah Howes is one of our new Mission Enablers for the Gen2 Project. Sarah is based at St Mary’s Wollaston and Bozeat, and shares her experience of lockdown with us. When lockdown hit, all our usual youth ministry had to stop and suddenly we were faced with the challenge of trying to reach out, support […]
Peter French, Deputy Diocesan Director of Education, brings us up-to-date with how our Church schools have coped (and continue to cope) with the effects of COVID-19. Within the Diocese of Peterborough there are 103 Church of England schools. All of these have been open for all or part of the time since the lockdown occurred in […]
Michael Moore, Vicar of St Mary’s Church, Peterborough, got on his exercise bike in August for a fundraising challenge. Here is his story of just how hard it was… Each year St Mary’s Church chooses a specific local charity to support, and this year it chose Peterborough Foodbank. As a result, a fundraising garden party […]
Nat Stiles is one of two new Mission Enablers (along with Sarah Howes) who joined the Gen2 project in September. She caught up with us to talk about her experiences of the last few months. I am very lucky to be based in two different churches in our Diocese (St Peter and St Paul, Uppingham […]
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.” Psalm 133:1 The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt communities throughout the world. Many communities are not equipped with even the most basic of hygiene and sanitation facilities, and lockdown measures have increased economic hardship in the poorest communities, with people unable to work. […]
We find ourselves living through extraordinary and demanding times, where many things that might previously have been relied upon to be reasonably stable and secure have suddenly become quite provisional and uncertain – whether that be income and employment, education and future prospects, health and wellbeing, or even what will be able to happen in […]
A message from Bishop Donald Dear friends The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has today published its full report on the Church of England. The response from the Church of England to the report can be found here. Below are extracts from an open letter from our Archbishops and national safeguarding leads. For survivors, this will […]
From the Bishop of Huddersfield, Jonathan Gibbs – the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop – and Melissa Caslake – the Church’s national director of safeguarding. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, IICSA, has today published its overarching investigation report into the Anglican Church in England and Wales. It focuses on common themes and […]
Saturday 26th September saw the ordination of ten new deacons into the Diocese of Peterborough. Under current social distancing guidelines, Simon Aley, Keir Dow, Nicholas Edwards, Michelle Frost, Angela Hammett, Kevin Montgomery, Kris Seward, Debbie Smith-Wilds, Joshua Thorne and Alison Wagner were ordained by Bishop John to formally begin their ministry journey. You can watch […]
A new service from the Church of England providing vital support for survivors of church-related abuse has become operational today. Safe Spaces, commissioned by the Anglican and Catholic Churches in England and Wales, will be run by Victim Support, a national charity with a track record of providing survivor support. Safe Spaces is a free and […]
Under our processes, the Bishop is not directly involved in such matters. I am not a member of the Glebe and Trust Committee (GTC), appointed by the Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF), which “directs and manages the glebe properties on behalf of the Board and acts for the DBF in its corporate capacity as custodian […]
As we begin our unique socially distanced autumn, let’s go back in time to last winter when Jill Cannings visited Antigua as part of her work as the Diocesan Mothers’ Union President. Imagine being able to travel to the West Indies! Anyway, Jill takes up the story of her trip… My visit to Antigua came […]