THE Bishop of Aston, the Rt Revd Esther Prior, told traditionalists on Saturday that she “couldn’t be more committed to the 2014 settlement” that enshrined “an honoured place” for Anglo-Catholics within the Church of England.
Speaking in a recorded interview for the Forward in Faith Festival at St Alban’s, Holborn, she expressed support for traditionalists, though “obviously” she disagreed with their position. “If you ever need me to face with you — literally, physically — I’ll,” she said.
“I need to bring a word of encouragement. . . I’m passionately for the Five Guiding Principles and that’s the reason I’m here. I believe the 2014 settlement worked really hard at acknowledging our differences and creating space for Catholic expression of ministry, I hope, to flourish throughout the structures of the Church of England.”
Bishop Prior was consecrated in February in Canterbury Cathedral and is the Church of England’s youngest female bishop. Born in Malawi in 1973, she got here to the UK in 1999. “I don’t think I need the C of E without you: we can be the poorer for it,” she said. “Be known on your love.”
“You bring visibility. When individuals are searching, in the event that they see something visible that points them to the invisible, that may be really helpful. As Catholics, that may be the space you occupy with greater confidence.”
Earlier this 12 months, Women and the Church (WATCH) launched a campaign to abolish the Five Guiding Principles (News, 4 April), which were described as contributing to the “unequal and iniquitous gendered culture of the present Church of England”.
Also on the meeting on Saturday, the Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas, in his capability because the chairman of Forward in Faith (FiF), told attendees that FiF had adopted the Nolan Principles of Public Life and called on all other Anglo-Catholic charities to do the identical. Governance concerns were recently raised concerning the Additional Curates Society (News, 9 May), which was founded in 1837 and holds £6.2 million in funds. The seven Nolan Principles are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership.
The festival was a day of celebration attended by several hundred people from across the country, including ordinands from St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and representatives of Fidelium, a network of Anglo-Catholic young adults based in London. The day began with a concelebrated mass — at which the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, preached — and concluded with Benediction.
