We were unable to correct ourselves. . . A Church who supposes that she can say some things infallibly can make infallible mistakes, and cannot correct them

Hans Küng, who died on Tuesday, Church Times interview, 26 October 2012

God’s door is always open. The kettle is always on. The beers are in the fridge. The champagne on ice. And someone has been sent out with a very large order for curry. God is scanning the horizon for our return

Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, Easter sermon, 4 April

Balancing the books during a pandemic on the backs of the world’s poorest is not acceptable, when Britain should be setting an example and proving our standing as a world leader

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, on restoring the cut in the UK aid budget, Evening Standard, 6 April

The Church goes further now than society does in maintaining exemptions from discrimination against women and gay people, and we justify it in the name of what is acceptable to God — which makes the Church and its God appear inhuman to many. . . Discrimination, violence, misogyny, racism, and slavery come from dehumanising those who are “different”, excluding them from being our fully human neighbour, treating them as “other” or as evil or to be eradicated like germs from the social body, acting as we do so out of the evil that has not been eradicated in us

David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s, Via Media blog post, 4 April

Imagine someone on a pilgrimage, stopping at churches, martyr-related tourist spots and sacred wells, while dressed in a medieval jester outfit. The intention is serious and completely devout, but the pilgrim just feels more at home in the motley than in sackcloth and ashes

Frank Skinner, from A Comedian’s Prayer Book, quoted in The Independent, 31 March

Lord Greenhalgh says that the Government has yet to rule out Covid certificates for churches. Will sidesmen be retrained as bouncers so that only those with the right papers will be allowed entry?

Penelope Upton, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, 3 April

Adult to group of children: “What do you think Jesus was doing while he was in hell for three days?” Child, after long pause: “I think he was looking everywhere for his friend Judas”

John Inge, Bishop of Worcester, 3 April 

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