Tag: Church Times

And Mr Ashrafi told the Church Times on Wednesday that he had been subject to “propaganda” and that comments about his wife’s wearing of the niqab had caused her to be “in grief”.

UK: Muslim Scholar “Awards Débâcle” Deserves Apology from Lambeth Palace – Moderator of Church of Pakistan! (24.9.2026)

Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi was given the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation on 11 September for his “outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan” (News online, 18 September). A week later, Lambeth Palace announced that it had been withdrawn, after previous comments made by Mr Ashrafi came to light, including a decision to honour Osama bin Laden as a “Sword of God” in response to Salman Rushdie’s being given a knighthood.

In an interview with Canon Chris Sugden on the Anglican Mainstream website on Saturday, Dr Marshall said that the Church of Pakistan had been “deeply humiliated” by the withdrawal of the award to Mr Ashrafi. “He trusted Canterbury as a Church office and took his wife and daughter there. This is a highest offence against him and us.”

And Mr Ashrafi told the Church Times on Wednesday that he had been subject to “propaganda” and that comments about his wife’s wearing of the niqab had caused her to be “in grief”.

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Priests call for leadership and clear decisions on same-sex blessings and clergy same-sex civil marriage

UK: House of Bishops – Men in Dresses Dither Over Same-Sex Blessings in “Living in Love and Faith” Tussle! (23.12.2025)

On Friday, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, Dr Joanne Grenfell, said that she “approached Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Bishops with the voices of LGBTQI+ colleagues and friends on my heart.

“So many have written to me to ask that the House of Bishops does not forget that our work is not just part of a church process, but fundamentally affects their lives and those of their loved ones,” she said.

The Bishop quoted a recent sermon by the Dean of St Edmundsbury, the Very Revd Joe Hawes, in which he called on the Bishops to act (News, 15 December).

Decisions “cannot be paused or stalled”, Dr Grenfell said: “There are matters of justice that need attention now, particularly around ordinands and clergy in same-sex marriages.”

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UK: Bleak Poverty Statistics "Wearily Familiar" - Joseph Rowntree Foundation! (6.2.2025)

UK: Bleak Poverty Statistics “Wearily Familiar” – Joseph Rowntree Foundation! (6.2.2025)

Larger families with three or more children have consistently faced a higher rate of poverty, it says: 45 per cent of children in large families were in poverty in 2022/23. Disabled people, carers, renters, people claiming benefits, and people in workless households were also at a disproportionately higher risk of poverty.

More recent figures were equally bleak, owing to the continued affects of the cost-of-living crisis. In October 2024, about 2.6 million of the poorest fifth of households (44 per cent) were in arrears with their household bills or behind on scheduled lending repayments; 4.1 million households (69 per cent) were going without essentials; and 3.2 million households (54 per cent) cut back on food or went hungry.

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