The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020
The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020
THE Archbishops of Canterbury and York have welcomed the report of the Anti-Racism Taskforce and have pledged to implement five of its recommendations immediately:
- working with the General Synod to co-opt ten ethnic-minority candidates with full voting rights;
- inviting ethnic-minority clergy as participant observers to House of Bishops meetings until there are six UKME bishops there by right;
- establishing a racial-justice commission to review and reform the Church’s working practices, and to “hold the two of us to account for our leadership in this regard”;
- working with the Archbishops’ Council to create a racial-justice directorate as part of the national church institutions, to spend the next five years ensuring the implementation of the taskforce’s recommendations; and
- again with the Archbishops’ Council, working to replace the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC) with a new standing committee to oversee the work of the new directorate.
The Archbishops have invited the Revd Dr Joel Edwards to act as the commission’s first chair.
In their response, the Archbishops write: “Racism is a sin. Of this, we have no doubt. Anything which diminishes the value and beauty of each individual person, made in the image of God, is sinful. There is no place for it in the world, and we are determined to make sure there is no room for it in the Church.
“But it is here. We have seen, time and time again, people being bullied, overlooked, undermined and excluded from the life of the Church, from the family of God. It breaks our hearts, and we are truly sorry.”
They note the lack of progress over the past 35 years. “We hope we will be the generation to halt this cycle of inaction.”
Read our full story on the report, and a list of the key recommendations
