Letters to the Editor

War conduct of Russia and Israel

From Canon Paul Oestreicher

Madam, — Paul Vallely (Comment, 17 April) goes some way in defining the similarity of the war crimes of Russia and Israel. They differ greatly, however. Russia is, with little success, trying to reconquer Ukraine, but not to wipe out its people. Israel has, over 75 years, successfully conquered the whole of what was Palestine and embarked on a mass killing spree in Gaza and the planned expulsion of all Palestinians. This has become a racist war of annihilation. Palestine no longer exists on any Israeli map.

What Pastor Isaac Munther’s book (Holy Week and Easter, 17 April) makes clear is that while Russia is rightly condemned by the Western world, Israel is given unconditional support and limitless military aid by the US, Germany, the UK, and the EU. It is treated as though it were immune from — or above — international law.

While a courageous and compassionate Jewish minority are speaking out in protest, the virtual complicity of the Western Churches, their cowardly silence, condemns us. Whereas we celebrate the Ukrainians as heroes, the Palestinians, Muslim and Christian, have been abandoned.

PAUL OESTREICHER
42/8 Leeds Street
Te Aro, Wellington 6011
Aotearoa New Zealand

From the Revd Dr Ian K. Duffield

Madam, — Notwithstanding the heartfelt letters (17 April) about the war in Gaza and the eloquent piece by the Dean of Salisbury (Comment, 11 April) on the plight of the Palestinians, it is astonishing that anyone can write about these troubling matters with no reference to the two political entities that have dominated Palestinian society for decades: the PLO and Hamas. Both organisations betray an anti-Semitic and terrorist outlook, of either a Soviet-Marxist or Islamist kind, which almost inevitably issues in a history written in blood.

Although it is common to talk of “apartheid” and “genocide” with regard to what is Israel is doing, this can be done only by abandoning the proper use of the terms, especially as Hamas is committed to genocide by its foundational charter.

Of course, what is happening today is awful, but your correspondents don’t appear to recognise that a war is going on; and war is terrible and tragic: that’s the nature of war. Of course, we would rather war was not taking place, but how can we expect a democratic nation to fold its hands when suffering the malicious pogrom perpetrated on 7 October and constant rocket attacks? Would any Western liberal democracy be content to live next door to such a terrorist organisation committed to its destruction?

It is not feasible in a dangerous world. So, however much we wish it wasn’t happening and wish that Israel would do things differently, war demands horrible choices, mistakes get made, brutality seems unending, and peace is often hard, if not impossible, to find in the short term.

In such circumstances, it is vital that sympathy and compassion for victims does not divert our eyes from the political and military realities.

IAN K. DUFFIELD
Director of Research
Urban Theology Union
Victoria Hall Methodist Church
Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JB

The ‘no-platforming’ of the Metropolitan in the diocese of Newcastle

From Canon Nicholas Sagovsky

Madam, — Canon Jonathan Lawson has drawn attention to the withdrawal of an invitation by the Dean and Chapter of Newcastle Cathedral to the Archbishop of York (Letters, 11 April). The Archbishop was to visit the cathedral and speak about the Lord’s Prayer. This decision, the Dean said, “was made independently by the Cathedral’s governing body and applies specifically to this event” (News, 2 April). It has been followed up by the Bishop, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, in an interview published in The Northumbrian (May/June 2025).

Dr Hartley was asked about working with the Archbishop: “How’s that going?” She answered: “It’s very difficult. I have to think about how I position myself and interact with him. I think of the victims and survivors. What would they say if, for example, I invited him to the diocese? I know I couldn’t do that.” It appears that “no-platforming’ the Metropolitan has become a matter of policy in Newcastle diocese.

When I applied recently to renew my permission to officiate, I had to declare that, in accordance with Canon C1, I owed canonical obedience to the diocesan bishop “in all things lawful and honest”. I looked up Canon C1 in full — and was reminded of the corollary, that “the bishop of each diocese owes due allegiance to the archbishop of the province as his [sic] metropolitan.”

This led me to wonder what “due allegiance” to the Metropolitan means for the Bishop of Newcastle. It seems not to preclude calls for resignation, dismissing his preaching of the gospel at Christmas as “empty words”, and making public (presumably, private) correspondence from the Metropolitan about a third party. It now seems to allow for denying the diocese of Newcastle the teaching ministry of the Metropolitan — even when he comes to speak about the Lord’s Prayer.

Obedience to canon law cuts both ways. If priests and deacons have to observe canons such as C1, so do bishops. If the Bishop of Newcastle cannot in conscience obey canon C1, how can she serve as a diocesan bishop?

NICHOLAS SAGOVSKY
Address supplied

From the Revd Mark Edwards

Madam, — I write as a member of the Church of England, deeply moved and immensely grateful for the clarity, courage, and compassion shown by the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley.

In a moment when the Church is once again confronted with the raw pain of institutional failure and the harrowing stories of survivors, Dr Hartley has done what too few have had the moral clarity or the courage to do: speak plainly. Her insistence that forgiveness, especially in cases as grievous as the abuse committed by John Smyth, belongs first and foremost to victims, not to public figures seeking to rehabilitate their own image, is both theologically sound and pastorally sensitive.

That she was the lone episcopal voice calling for accountability after the Makin report was published is not a mark against her: it is a mark against the silence of her colleagues. Her willingness to speak up — knowing the isolation that would follow —is what true leadership looks like.

Dr Hartley’s words resonate because they are not performative. They come from a place of integrity, informed by her lived faith, her global experience, and her evident love for the Church not as a hierarchical institution, but as the body of Christ meant to be a place of safety, healing, and truth.

Some may choose to accuse her of ambition or divisiveness. I see in her a bishop who dares to believe that transformation is not only possible, but essential. The Church needs voices like hers: unflinching, wise, and deeply grounded in both justice and grace.

In a time when many feel disillusioned by the Church’s structures, Dr Hartley reminds us that faith can still be prophetic, and leadership can still be accountable. She has my full support and, I suspect, the quiet admiration of many who long to see the Church live up to its highest calling.

MARK EDWARDS
The Vicarage, 2 East Acres
Dinnington
Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 7NA

Transforming Wigan: the project leader expounds his vision and challenges

From the Revd Tim Montgomery

Madam, — I am grateful to Madeleine Davies for her article highlighting the successes of the Transforming Wigan project (News, 4 April) as compared with her first article (News, 25 September 2023). So much better to have the Easter Sunday vibe than the Good Friday one!

I own up to being the infamous project leader who took up the challenge of helping the deanery of Wigan tackle the very difficult “turn around” project begun in 2015. It was a tough gig on so many fronts, especially the entrenched religious ones. The playwright Maurice Maeterlinck said that “at every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past,” and he is spot on particularly when it comes to trying to lead any sort of necessary change in the very Established Church of England.

I tried to help the clergy and their churches celebrate their past, look carefully and honestly at their present, and begin to imagine what a transformed future might look like if Wigan itself was to be spiritually transformed. All sorts of people stepped up to the challenge in the churches, schools, businesses, organisations, and especially in the Borough Council, which is also committed to pursuing transformational change for the region.

A vision of a flourishing future led to a strategic journey of change. And courageous people began to walk on that difficult path. Today, the praise goes to those brave people who have walked that path and are now enjoying some of its first fruits. Ten years on, they and more beside them walk together, still pursuing growth and seeing even more fruit as they prune, tend, and plant accordingly.

Three important bits of learning stand out for me from the many more I could reference.

The first is that this transformation was established on a foundation of dedicated prayer. The Wigan Order of Prayer is still the most important and necessary engine of the Wigan transformation movement.

Second, the best things in life are never things, but people. It’s the ordinary everyday disciples of Jesus who make the big difference. All change and growth happens on the ground, where the disciples go in the power of the Spirit to live and work to the praise of God’s glory.

Third, all these funded projects of the National Church expect to grow a mature oak tree in a very short period of time. Most dioceses collude with this inorganic idea and write funding bids accordingly. Big grants sound good and help a bit, but the growth takes time and requires so much more than money.

I am privileged to still coach leaders and teams trying to engage in significant change journeys. Most of them are both hemmed in by and given opportunity by the Established Church. but, thank God, the Church with all its traditions still has many courageous people trying to apply themselves as best they can to enable many more people to follow Jesus and find their place in his magnificent growing Church.

So, I thank God for Church Wigan and the humble faithful people who worship, love, and serve there. And I thank God for the people with significant responsibility for resourcing the future of the flourishing, changing, and growing Church in every large or small parish in the land. Soli Deo gloria.

TIM MONTGOMERY
10 Gowan Crescent
Staveley LA8 9NF

Loveliest of trees; but a word for the camellia

From the Revd Andrew Body

Madam, — I am sorry that the Revd Peter Paine didn’t have A. E. Housman’s “loveliest of trees” to brighten Easter in Southport (Letter, 17 April). I have to record that further south in Ludlow, the cherry blossom was still in evidence on Easter morning. Perhaps we are specially favoured because we have Housman’s ashes buried in our churchyard.

ANDREW BODY
17 Temeside Estate
Ludlow SY8 1PA

From Canon Brian Stevenson

Madam, — Unlike the Revd Peter Paine’s cherry tree, which has flowered too early for Easter, ours flowered on Palm Sunday and is at its fullness today, Holy Saturday.

But don’t let’s overlook the Camellia japonica: ours is triggered by the Church’s year. No matter when Ash Wednesday falls, it always has a few blooms on that day. It gathers strength through Lent and is well covered in flowers by Mothering Sunday every year, when its pink blossoms are to be found in the posies made by the flower arrangers to be given to mothers by their children in church. It is good at Easter, but Trinity is beyond it.

BRIAN STEVENSON
Michaelmas Cottage
Stan Lane, West Peckham
Kent ME18 5JT

Andrew Brown is too downbeat about evangelism

From the Revd Dr Christian Selvaratnam

Madam, — I hardly recognise Andrew Brown’s Lenten conclusions on faith and evangelism (Viewpoint, 4 April). Perhaps he needs to see a little more of the Church of England, where signs of Christian hope are quietly and steadily on the rise.

These days, I regularly encounter vibrant expressions of faithful Christianity bringing new life to the Church from within. Just last week, I heard of students coming to faith through powerful spiritual encounters; spoke at a church that had just baptised 12 adults with no prior church background; received updates from growing intercultural congregations; and learned of five newly planted churches reaching new people in new ways.

Ironically, Mr Brown puts his finger on the very thing that often marks church growth today: being counter-cultural. Church life seems to flourish best when it resists being pressed into society’s mould — what we might call “cultural Christianity”. That version feels rather thin to me: polite, perhaps, but lacking resurrection life. Give me a church that is faithful, other-worldly, and boldly out of step any time — and, from what I’m seeing, new believers would agree.

Yes, there is still much to do to revitalise the Church of England for mission; the challenges are real, but so is the hope. The Church I see is beginning to experience Easter afresh, growing younger, more diverse, more alive.

CHRISTIAN SELVARATNAM
Dean of Church Planting
St Hild College
Address supplied

Thoughts after seeing late Pope’s pedilavium

From the Revd Malcolm Lorimer

Madam, — In the Middle Ages, English monarchs washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and presented gifts and money to the poor. Beginning in 1699, the monarch did not attend the service, sending an official in his place.

How fitting it was to watch the elderly and infirm Pope Francis wash the feet (and kiss them) of the 12 women inmates at the prison in Rome. I seem to remember Prince Charles (as he was then) say that he wanted to reinstate the washing of feet by the monarch. I hope he does, as the sight of the late Pope washing the feet was extremely moving. What a good message it sent about servanthood and humility! Far better than giving some silver coins. (When did Jesus do this?)

MALCOLM LORIMER
19 Bromley Drive
Holmes Chapel
Cheshire CW4 7AX