Church Commissioners The right hon. Member for Meriden,
representing the Church Commissioners was asked— Religious Dress
and Symbols: Workplace Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)
2. What assessment the Church of England has made of the
implications of the European Court of Justice ruling of March 2017
on wearing religious dress and symbols in the workplace. [909693]
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Church Commissioners
The right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church
Commissioners was asked—
Religious Dress and Symbols: Workplace
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
The Church of England was very concerned by the judgment of
the European Court of Justice that stated that blanket bans
on the wearing of political, philosophical or religious signs
do not amount to cases of direct discrimination, because that
conflicts with the pre-existing rulings of the European Court
of Human Rights. By leaving the European Union, we presumably
stand some chance of resolving such inconsistencies.
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Sir
Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is yet another
reason to be pleased that last year the British people took
the decision to leave the European Union? The ruling was
deeply offensive to people of all faiths and totally
unnecessary.
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Dame
Yes, and it was completely at odds with the statutory purpose
of the Church of England, which was put far better than I
possibly could by the head of the Church, Her Majesty the
Queen, when in 2012 she made it clear that the Church of
England
“has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in
this country.”
That is what we should be able to do if we can resolve this
inconsistency.
Marriage: Preparation and Aftercare
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(South West
Bedfordshire) (Con)
4. What steps the Church of England takes to monitor
the number of marriages recorded and the extent and
quality of marriage preparation and marriage aftercare
provision within each parish. [909696]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
I must pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his
long-standing support of the institution of marriage. I
am very pleased to tell the House that, since he last
asked this question in 2011, the Church of England has
launched the successful new initiative, “Your Church
Wedding”, which is designed to increase the profile of
church weddings, highlight the possibility for those
seeking to be married, and offer more consistent
marriage preparation and aftercare.
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I am very grateful for that answer, but the fact is
that marriage rates have unfortunately declined in
recent years. I know that my right hon. Friend will
agree with me that there is nothing inevitable about
that, given that for a decade, between 1962 and 1972,
they rose. As this is a real social justice issue, with
the decline in marriage rates having a particularly
significant impact on lower-income families, will the
Church appoint a bishop to promote healthy marriage,
with the aim of spreading best practice in every single
parish across the country?
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Dame
I genuinely believe that this new initiative will
spread best practice. I am sure that all bishops regard
themselves as a bishop for marriage. However, there is
no doubt that there has been a decline in church
weddings, and that is in part due to the fact that
there has been liberalisation of the legislation around
where couples can get married. None the less, we should
celebrate the fact that they want to get married. I
will finish with one good new trend: women over 65 are
getting married in increasing numbers.
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Mr Speaker
It is always useful to have additional information. We
are most grateful to the right hon. Lady.
Number of Vocations
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Sir (New Forest West)
(Con)
5. What assessment the Church of England has made of
recent trends in the number of vocations. [909698]
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Dame
The number of people selected for training for ordained
ministry within the Church of England has been stable
for some time. However, the age profile of serving
clergy means that larger numbers are retiring, leading
to an overall decrease in the number of active clergy.
The Church seeks to address that by increasing by 50%
the numbers training for ordained ministry: an increase
from about 500 to 750 by 2020.
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Sir
That is an A* answer, but how can we do even better?
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Dame
Quite simply, we need to make it easier for people who
feel the call to enter ministry to do so more flexibly.
The Church offers not only a three-year residential
course to become an ordained minister, but part-time
peripatetic provision. As a result of the
apprenticeship levy, resources will be available to the
Church for people to learn on the job. That should make
it a whole lot easier for people to enter ministry.
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Mrs
(Berwick-upon-Tweed) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend believe that the number of
vocations would be improved if the Church of England
did more to protect its churches in Northumberland from
metal theft, which leaves young ordinands with a lot of
logistics to deal with when they should be focusing on
their parishioners?
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Dame
I must congratulate my hon. Friend on her ingenuity in
raising the very important and serious matter of metal
theft—an ordained minister cannot practise without a
roof on their church. This is a serious problem. The
Church of England offers guidance, and I refer hon.
Members to the ChurchCare website. There is a range of
metal substitute products that can be used even on
listed buildings. Currently, there is a pilot system
for marking lead, which is designed to help scrap metal
dealers so that they can identify when stolen goods are
being presented to them. This is a serious matter, and
we are working closely with Government Departments to
try to make it harder for the criminals to impede the
desire of those who wish to minister in the Church and
to make sure that the roof stays on.
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(Yeovil) (Con)
I welcome that news, and the initiatives on raising the
number of clergy vocations. Stealing metal from church
roofs is indeed an unfortunate vocation. What are we
doing in the Yeovil area specifically to stop such
theft?
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Dame
I do not have information on Yeovil specifically, but
advice is available on the Church’s website for every
diocese—unfortunately, every diocese is affected by
this serious crime. In addition to the deterrents I
outlined in my previous answer, there is a system for
fixing or locking lead—perhaps I should not give it
away in the House, because then the criminals will know
about it. It is pertinent to my constituency, where
that system was used after the second theft of lead
from a church roof. The deterrence means that even in
the dead of night it is possible to catch evidence of
the crime taking place. I recommend the Church’s
website.
Christian Communities: Africa
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Dame
As this is likely to be the last question today, Mr
Speaker, please allow me to congratulate the
parliamentary unit of Church House on the splendid way in
which they have briefed me throughout my two years as
Church Estates Commissioner, for none of us can be
complacent about returning to our existing posts after
the general election.
This is a serious question. The Church of England and the
offices of the two archbishops are in regular contact
with the Church in Egypt, South Sudan and Nigeria
directly through the Anglican Communion Office. They are
most concerned about the recent attacks in Egypt, where
on Palm Sunday 44 people died at St George’s church in
Tanta.
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The 2017 World Watch report by Open Doors states that
persecution increased for the fourth year in a row during
2015-16, with murders of Christians in places such as
Nigeria and Egypt, as the right hon. Lady mentioned. What
practical measures can the Church offer to communities in
such countries?
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Dame
I attended that Open Doors event here in Parliament,
where a Nigerian pastor spoke movingly about the violent
persecution of himself and his congregation in northern
Nigeria. With regard to Egypt, I am pleased to say that
Bishop Mouneer has secured intensive security measures
for the Christian Church in Egypt, including emptying the
streets around churches and cathedrals of cars, and
putting extra police on duty to protect worshipers before
services begin.
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