Church of England bishops play an historic and important part in the debates within the House of Lords.Here Patrick Kidd describes a recent maiden speech by the Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, that had a stunning impact on her audience.Kidd described the Bishop Guli's speech as "a powerful and very personal debut from Chelmsford that had several peers wiping away tears and saying it was the finest they had heard."He went on: "It was in a debate on the fate of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been imprisoned in Iran for five years on a trumped-up charge of plotting to topple the government."Chelmsford knew all about persecution in Iran, where she was born. Her mother was injured in an attempt on the life of her father, a Christian convert who was bishop of their community; their home was ransacked and her brother murdered. Guli Francis-Dehqani, as she became, fled the country in her teens. 'None of this has left me bitter or with ill will towards my homeland or my countryfolk,' she told peers. 'I retain a deep love for Iran and her people, and a desire to work for reconciliation across all the divides we create as human beings.'"As for Zaghari-Ratcliffe, she had been used as an innocent pawn, Chelmsford said, in the power struggles between Britain and Iran. She appealed to the government to apply the 'British values of compassion, tolerance and justice” and settle the financial debt that Iran claims it is owed. If Britain acted with integrity and decency, she said, Iran would reply with honour and respect. "'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,' she concluded, quoting the Prophet Amos, words adopted by Martin Luther King. Few would disagree with the sentiment. The problem is that the river of justice and righteousness has a frustrating habit of running into the dam of politics."<span style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Patrick Kidd is editor of The Times diary column and author of The Weak Are A Long Time In Politics</span>
The new Lambeth Palace Library (see photo) has welcomed new books on the environment following a donation.David Shreeve, who has previously been awarded an honourary Lambeth Degree for his work on the environment and worked for the Church of England for several years, gave a donation of almost 40 books. Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich and lead bishop for the environment, welcomed the donation. He said: “I am delighted that the Lambeth Palace Library wants to reflect within its collection the engagement of Anglicans with environmental issues, from the story of Anglican priest naturalists to those writing from the context of today’s climate and biodiversity crises.” Books accepted into the public library’s collection include the 1883 “Natural History of the Bible” by the ordained naturalist HB Tristram, and the 1893 “Teachings of Nature” by Hugh Macmillan.Giles Mandelbrote, librarian and archivist of Lambeth Palace Library said: “Lambeth Palace Library aims to document through its collections all the major challenges which have faced the Church in the past and in years to come. “We welcome these new books to the collection at a time when the library’s new building is raising its public profile and improving public access to its collections.”The books will be available to view and read from the reading room. More information on accessing the library’s collection is available online.Lambeth Palace library is open to the public.
Newly-appointed team vicar Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters was asked about the Christian faith by bakery worker Catherine after he went into Greggs for a sandwich following his first Sunday services as a Team Vicar.On his second visit just before Christmas, Catherine asked him about the possibility of being baptised.“She said ‘It is amazing you have come in because I want to ask you whether I can be baptised.“I have a close friend who was recently baptised and she sent me the video and it looked like a really moving experience.’ “Since their conversation, Catherine has joined a regular weekday morning Eucharist service at St John the Baptist Church, Barnet, north London, where Fr Sam is Team Vicar and was baptised there this month.Fr Sam said: “Catherine told me that she had felt for a long while that God was calling her – at the moment that she was thinking about all this, I happened to come into her shop – wearing my dog collar – and this felt like a sign to her.“Catherine is an inspirational person and she has had a huge impact on our morning Eucharist community. I was only licensed as Team Vicar at the church in November. Her story has really inspired my faith.”
