The position of Bishop of the Diocese of Southwark in south London becomes vacant.
Dr Jeffery John, Dean of St Alban's Cathedral, who is gay and in a civil partnership, but celibate, is one of the nominees for the position.
Jeffrey John's name is leaked to the media, despite the vow of confidentiality taken by the members of the Crown Nominations Commission.
According to Dean Colin Slee's account in the Slee Memo, the Archbishop of Canterbury himself may have been the leaker when he inquired of church lawyers if there was any reason to decline the nomination of Jeffrey John as bishop of the Diocese of Southwark. In his memo, Slee alleges that the Archbishop had no right to break the vow of confidentiality taken by all members of the commission in order to consult the lawyers.
The news of Jeffrey John's nomination spreads through the media.
After vehement objections to Jeffrey John and another nominee by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Crown Nominations Commission submits the name of Christopher Chessun to the crown, and he is appointed to the position of Bishop of Southwark.
An inquiry into the leak (the Fitchie Enquiry) begins. The findings of the inquiry are to be secret, says the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Concerning a phrase included in Terms of Reference of (the Fritchie Enquiry) Colin Slee says in an email to Chris Smith of the Anglican Communion Office:Finally, I hope you are aware of the marvellous oxymoron in the terms of reference, (your italics) '...and to make any recommendations necessary to improve the confidentiality in the work of the Commission as it seeks to open up its processes.' (My emphasis)
Colin Slee writes in the memo about the conduct of the Crown Nominations Commission meeting to choose the bishop of Southwark:The oxymoron within the Terms of Reference will be a delight to me for years to come; it exhibits the chaotic unreality that prevailed from the very beginning.
The purpose of this post is to call attention to the "marvellous oxymoron" and to the "chaotic unreality" of the process of choosing bishops in the Church of England and also as a memory aid for me of the sequence of events if I choose to write about the Slee Memo yet again.
Thanks to Pluralist for the reminder of the oxymoron in his post titled "More on the Smell".
And now the Archbishop of Canterbury is whining about the Slee leak, saying it is unprofessional. Wow!
ReplyDeleteWalking PR Disaster
I like the oxymoron.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the bishop's name is Christopher Chessun (with an N) not "Chessum".
I would like to see C of E bishops elected, as in the US, but as it's the American way of doing things, I expect that the English will heap opprobrium on it for that reason alone. There is a great affection for "But we've always done it this way!" here, second only to "But we've never done it THAT way!"
Fred, I read yesterday about the super-injunctions which the ABC favors - because people won't behave morally.
ReplyDeleteChris, thanks for the correction.
There must be a better way than the present process, though I'm not comfortable telling other churches what their way should be.
I suspect that the Archbishops' first instinct will be to try to reinforce the secrecy around the process. Now that the dam has been broken, if there is abuse in other selection processes then people will feel freer to leak.
ReplyDeleteWatch this space. We won't get open elections anytime soon, but there will be tinkering.
Chris, I wonder if Colin Slee's book that will be published posthumously will be covered by a super-injunction.
ReplyDeleteNo, I doubt whether his oath is binding now that he's dead. In fact, I don't believe the book was written. Hard to serve a superinjunction in the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteChris, I read somewhere that Slee's daughter will arrange for publication from what her father had written. I don't remember now where I saw that.
ReplyDelete