Thursday 24 February 2022

The Society's Council of Bishops met recently and were greatly encouraged by work underway on their behalf in the areas of mission and of vocations. More on these excellent initiatives will become available over the course of the coming months.

The clergy and people of the Sees of Beverley and of Ebbsfleet are very much at the forefront of the bishops' minds and prayer cycles at present, given the episcopal vacancy in each See. The bishops are in close touch with those responsible for the appointments in the Church of England to ensure that the appointment processes run as smoothly as possible.

Given that we are about to enter the holy season of Lent, the bishops offer their blessing to all supporters of The Society, and indeed all Christians, as they prepare to mark this most sacred time in deep and humble preparation for our joyful celebration of the risen Lord at Easter. It seems particularly poignant to reflect this year on the suffering the pandemic has wrought and to set out our well-founded hopes for life to return to normality before long.

The meeting ended with a Mass being offered for peace in Ukraine.

The Archbishop of York has written to set you the farewell arrangements for Bishop Glyn Webster. The letter includes details of how to make a donation towards a farewell gift for Bishop Glyn. Please note that tickets for the farewell service at 12pm on Saturday 8 January 2022 in York Minster are available via this web link. 

The Archbishop's letter also sets out the cover arrangements which will be in place while an appointment is being made of a new Bishop of Beverley. 

Our prayers are with Bishop Glyn as he prepares for retirement, with Bishops Tony and Philip in the episcopal cover which they will provide and with the Archbishop of York and those supporting him in making the appointment.

28 September 2021

The Society's Council of Bishops is grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for acting swiftly to put arrangements in place for the See of Ebbsfleet for episcopal cover during the period in which a permanent appointment will be made. 

Cover will come from serving Society bishops in the southern province and also from the Chairman of the Council. It is envisaged that, in general terms, the Bishop of Lewes and the Bishop of Chichester will cover the South West area of the See of Ebbsfleet, the Bishop of Richborough and the Bishop of Fulham will cover the South Midlands area of the See and the Bishop of Wakefield will cover the West Midlands.

The Society bishops are grateful to Catherine Williamson for agreeing to act as a first point of contact for Ebbsfleet parishes when a need for episcopal cover arises. Catherine can be contacted via office@ebbsfleet.org.uk

We suggest that Society priests celebrating Mass in the See of Ebbsfleet should pray for "Bishop Tony and the Council of Bishops" during the Canon of the Mass, should it be their custom to include such prayers. This will reflect the nature of the episcopal cover being provided by a number of Society bishops. 

Our prayers remain with the Ebbsfleet parishes in their mission and witness at this challenging time.

We offer The Society prayer for all Ebbsfleet priests and people:

Heavenly Father,

bless the bishops, clergy and people of The Society.

Bind us together in love and faith.

Renew us in service and witness.

And by your Holy Spirit

Guide our future and make plain your purposes.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Wilfrid, pray for us.

Saint Hilda, pray for us.

Responding to the announcement that the Rt Revd Jonathan Goodall, the current Bishop of Ebbsfleet, is to be received into the Roman Catholic Church next week, the Rt Revd Tony Robinson, Chairman of The Society's Council of Bishops commented: "I am sure our entire movement joins with me in wishing Bishop Jonathan well. He has served with distinction as the Bishop of Ebbsfleet for the last eight years, which has been the culmination of many years of devoted service to the Church of England. We also pray for the parishes in the See of Ebbsfleet that their clergy and laity will continue to flourish and that a suitable appointment to succeed Bishop Jonathan can be made at the earliest opportunity."

The Society encourages all of its parishes, and indeed all Christians, to participate in the Thy Kingdom Come initiative which this year runs from Thursday 13 May, Ascension Day, to Sunday 23 May, the feast of Pentecost.

The Ascension of the Lord marks a new moment in the life of the community of Christ’s followers. Jesus returns to the Father in order to send upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so, from earliest days, Christians have used the days following Ascension Day to wait in prayer for the renewing, reviving gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

This time of expectant waiting echoes the experience of the Apostles who gathered with the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer before the Spirit came upon them.

This period of prayer is often referred to as a ‘novena’, which is an ancient practice of the Church to spend a series of consecutive days or weeks in prayer for a particular theme or intention.  In praying this novena, we are uniting ourselves with the ancient tradition of the Church.

In recent years, this period has been given a particular focus through the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative; a global ecumenical movement that invites us to pray for strength in conviction as we live out our faith in our daily lives and as we strive to draw others into a lively relationship with God in Christ and in the fellowship of his Church.

It is very welcome that, unlike this time last year, we are now able to attend church services in person. If you feel able to do so safely, we ask that you pray in church during this special period of Christian witness.

In doing this, we seek to join our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church in looking to place attendance at the Sunday Mass at the heart of our lives in what we hope will soon be a post-pandemic period.

There are also lots of resources on the Thy Kingdom Come website as well as our own resources from previous years.

Parishes of The Society running events as part of this initiative are encouraged to use the hashtags #TheSociety and #ThyKingdomCome when promoting them on social media.

+TONY WAKEFIELD

The Rt Revd Tony Robinson

Chairman of the Council of Bishops