Part of our inherent arrogance comes with our status as the established Church. . . I personally would favour the Church of England being disestablished
Julie Conalty, Bishop of Birkenhead, quoted in article by Cathy Newman in The Sunday Times, 16 February
The Anglican Communion feels like a post-colonial arrangement that’s run its course. . . That the head of the English church is head of the Anglican Communion just feels wrong
Ibid
We call it the grace of God. I don’t even think about him, and when I’m talking to you now, I have no emotional connection. It’s as though he doesn’t exist. And that is a gift, because I am a typical mother bear: everything in me would want to do him a damage, and I don’t need that in my head space. That would be too much
Mina Smallman, former Archdeacon of Southend, talking about the killer of two of her daughters, Desert Island Discs, Radio 4, 21 February
While it will be essential to involve multidisciplinary teams if the law is changed [to allow assisted dying], this need not have come at the expense of judicial oversight. While we do not yet know who will be appointed to the proposed expert panels, concerns have already been raised that there will inevitably be a self-selection bias to the voluntary assisted dying commission
Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, letter in The Guardian, 18 February
It is simply unrealistic for these glorious buildings to rely on tiny groups of mostly elderly people to look after and pay for them. Local churches and especially unused ones must be somehow transferred to their local communities, as happens across Europe, or they will go the way of medieval castles. Sooner or later they will collapse and die
Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, 15 February
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