Report finds 'lack of diversity in leadership' within the Church of England


The report has caused consternation and dismay with many in the pew, partiticularly with worshippers in rural areas.
The 'Behind Stained-Glass' report, conducted by the church's racial justice unit, claims ethnic minorities are viewed with "suspicion" in predominently "white" rural northern areas for their lack of cultural awareness.
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Hide AdThe Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice, over a six-month period, drew upon the experiences of non-white and ethnic minority clergy, and found that there is a “significant mismatch between the Church’s espoused aspirations for racial justice”, versus the “lived realities” of people from minority ethnic or global majority heritage backgrounds.
“Senior roles are predominantly occupied by white males,” says the report. Suggested reasons for this are “biased recruitment and progression processes and stereotyping”.
It is concluded that many ethnic individuals do not envision themselves in Church of England ministry, as they do not presently see role models who look like them in the leadership of parishes.
The meritocracy of traditional theology degrees was also noted as a hindrance to people from ethnically diverse and working-class backgrounds: “Greater value appears to be attached to UK qualifications and people from ‘traditional Anglican’ backgrounds compared with others with more diverse experiences and routes into the ministry.”
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Hide AdPositive elements of ordination are also highlighted, such as the “leadership and intentionality” of large city dioceses such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Southwark, who have been proactive in gathering data to analyse the racial diversity of their clergy.
Going forward, the report recommends that all dioceses implement a diocesan anti-racism plan, including measures to “systematically collect” data regarding “the demographic composition of those in its ministry”.
Culture changes are also recommended, including a “zero tolerance” policy towards both “overt and subtle” racial discrimination.
The Church of England is the foremost denomination in the global Anglican Communion, with the Church of Ireland belonging to it.
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Hide AdThe 68-page report brands the Church of England as "structurally and institutionally racist and singles out North of England dioceses as having much fewer Black and Asian clergy, regarding it as the region not being regarded as "attractive and welcoming".
Some senior clergy have reacted with consternation at the negative findings and accused the commission of clearly setting out to reach its own foregone conclusion.
One cleric the Rev Ian Paul, a member of the church's general synod and the archbishops' council, described the report as "completely unproven".
"The idea that congregations or panels being white-majority is a problem is bizarre - we live in a white-majority country. The report appears to reflect more than anything the ignorance and prejudice of those who wrote it," Rev Paul told the Daily Mail this week.
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Hide AdThe CoE report, based on internal data and interviews with more than 100 people from 24 of the church's 42 dioceses, suggests that only "liberal, progressive" congregations in large urban areas are accepting of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The report says that dioceses will be required to implement an anti-racism plan and all senior clergy forced to undertake "Whiteness Awareness" training.
Welcoming the report, former senior Labour politcian and commission chairman Lord Paul Boateng said the findings demonstrated that church leaders pay "lip service", while presiding over an institution "rife with structural and systemic racism".
The commission was launched after the Archbishop of Canterbury the liberal-minded Rev Justin Welby declared that the Church of England "is deeply institutionally racist" and he apologised for the church's history in 2020.
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Hide Ad. The Church of England’s worshipping community – its number of regular worshippers – was 1,113,000 people in 2019; 1,031,000 in 2020; 966,000 in 2021; and 984,000 in 2022.
* The Daily Mail in a damning editorial on the church report accuses the Archbishop of Canterbury of routinely wringing his hands about his church's dwindling congregations. "Does Archishop Welby seriously think that the way to reverse falling numbers is to tell worshippers that they are racist?,"the ediorial asked, accusing the unit which drew up the report of engaging in disputed "critical race theory". "Instead of pursuing damaging doctrines, should the church instead focus on promoting Christianity to all and fill its pews?" the paper concludes.