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The Cartoon Blog
The not- quite- daily internet column of Dave Walker. Dave writes and draws for the Church Times and is to be the 'Cartoonist in Residence' for the 2008 Lambeth Conference. (more)
This afternoon I had the opportunity to present a cartoon canvas to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The cartoon is ‘the parish system‘. The Archbishop has visited my cartoon tent on several occasions over the course of the Lambeth Conference and this was one picture that he had enjoyed.
As you may have picked up I am a great fan of the Archbishop, so to be given this chance was a highlight of what has already been for me a really quite overwhelming conference. The handing over of the canvas was originally planned for 14.30 in the cartoon tent, but in light of the Archbishop’s time commitments today the venue was moved to his flat / office and the time to 16.50. My wife and one of the official conference photographers came with me. The picture makes it look as if part of the image is missing, but that is just the sunlight shining behind the canvas.
Tomorrow is the final plenary session followed by a service in Canterbury Cathedral. I go home on Monday.
If you’re interested in my writings about Anglican goings-on you can tune in via the Church Times blog. There should be some new cartoon material posted there in the coming weeks too.
I’ve posted a cartoon about Bishop Gene Robinson’s non-invitation to the Lambeth Conference on the Church Times blog. Also a brief observation on the fact that Wesley Owen are to be the official bookshop of the conference.
Don’t worry - I’m not going to write something here every time I make a Church Times post. But I might sometimes say something here when I’ve drawn a new cartoon, especially during these first few weeks whilst there are people wandering aimlessly up and down the corridors trying to work out where my cartoons are and which room they are supposed to be after the coffee break.
As you’ll have noticed I haven’t been commenting and drawing much about Anglican goings-on. This is a temporary state of affairs. But I couldn’t resist making one or two insignificant remarks about the fact that the ‘Gafcon’ alternative Lambeth Conference has been rearranged so that the ‘political’ bit is now only for invited dignatories. You’ll need to go elsewhere for in-depth analysis of course, but just one or two things that I noticed:
I had a great time at General Synod on Wednesday. Apart from meeting various people it was absolutely fascinating just to watch the general goings-on. I was there as a guest of a future client, and whilst I wasn’t directly doing any drawing I did make plenty of notes. The diagram above is a raw sketch (unlike my normal highly-polished diagrams).
One of the excitements of this particular Synod was the introduction of new electronic voting devices which I imagine are a bit like the ones they use on ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ and other such shows. On Monday the Synod was given training and some practice votes were held. Alastair Cutting, whose Synod blog has lots of synodical happenings, has blogged about it:
A practise vote was set up on Monday - a ‘vote of the whole house’ that ‘This synod ask the Business Committee to acknowledge Valentine’s Day’ was passed by a significant majority of the whole Synod.
However a following motion, a ‘vote by houses’, that ‘Valentine’s Day be celebrated by each bishop buying chocolates for their diocesan representatives at Synod’, was passed by both of the lower houses, but the House of Bishops voted it down. Because ‘votes by houses’ require a majority in each house to be passed, it meant that bishops were let off the hook from buying their diocesan representatives chocolate for Valentine’s Day. But, woe betide any bishops who do not…!
Meanwhile, whilst I was observing I wa also being observed. Peter Ould, who was watching my every involuntary movement:
Finally, a big thank you to Dave Walker, who (even if you didn’t realise it) entertained me by being sat across the gallery from me and moving his head in slight motions every so often. I know you’re concentrating hard on cartoons and the like Dave, but you ain’t half amusing when you get a good idea!!!
Thanks Peter. I had no idea I did that, but now when I need an idea I will move my head in slight motions and see what happens.
Valentine sweethearts can tie the knot for free at a Chelmsford church. Romantic Rev Tim Ball, vicar of Holy Trinity Springfield, believes that marriage is best. So he’s waiving the cost of the service, the choir, the organist, the verger and the heating.
And the good news is that the offer will be available throughout the year.
“My church believes that marriage is best for couples, for children and for the community,” says big-hearted Tim.
“So we have put our money where our mouth is. We will pay all the costs of the service in the church. We are offering a free marriage service to parishioners because Holy Trinity is a good place to celebrate love and commitment.”
Presumably the organist, choir, verger and the man who turns the handle on the boiler have been consulted.
Before you all rush off to get married there I should make you aware of the small print. One of you has to live in the parish or you have to be ‘full and regular members’. Not full or regular, full and regular. It’s both/and, not either/or. There is also a marriage preparation evening which must be attended and an optional 8 week ‘bolt-on’ course all about ‘the basics of the Christian faith and what it means for today’.
In the unlikely event that you meet these criteria and happen to want to get married this year and happen to be a reader of this blog - what are you waiting for? Give the ‘Romantic Rev’ a call.
Update: I asked Rev Tim how they could afford to do it and he has kindly got back to me. Everyone is being paid as per usual. The church has made a decision to foot the bill. Here’s a section of his response:
These are our points for doing it. (I would say that we are doing it for people who live in our parish - it is not for the whole world.)
We want to say how important we think marriage is, best for couples, best for children, best for society.
We want to express our faith in generous giving - we don’t want to say we will ‘do it for Free’ - but that we will ‘pay for it’ because we have to pay the fees to the diocese, to the organist and for the verger etc, - so it is not just a case of not collecting the fee payable to the PCC.
We would like to highlight the fact that the Christian marriage service expresses a higher ideal of committed love than any other wedding service.
We hope we might encourage couples who aren’t married to consider it, or even to do it.
We want to put our money where our mouth is - in that sense it is sacrificial, we see it as an investment in the kind of society we would like to see as bearing the marks of the kingdom of God.
If like me you believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury has been treated remarkably unfairly by certain sections of the media in the last few days then why not, if you are on Facebook, join this group, entitled ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury is a good man’. Let’s see whether we can get it to really take off and send a message to the wider world.
The group was set up today and includes a number of General Synod members who would like to counteract the unkind sentiments expressed by a few of their number in the press. The aims are as follows:
Joining the group affirms that you believe:
1) The media has misinterpreted the spirit of what Dr Williams was talking about in his lecture
2) As an intellectual, and a spiritual leader, Dr Williams should feel free to express a carefully considered opinion.
3) That Dr Williams is one of the most gifted minds in Britain, and his views should be given careful consideration.
As it happens General Synod starts tomorrow in London. All being well I shall be going along on Wednesday for the afternoon session. I will be making observations.
See this post by ‘Cranmer’ in which he links to some examples of the sort of nastiness that needs to be counteracted by good people everywhere.
I’m more or less ignoring the Archbishop and Sharia Law controversy. All sorts of nonsense is being spouted and you don’t need me to point to it. I find it all quite wearying if I’m to be honest.
Meanwhile, The Times has an Exclusive (in bold letters). The story is that someone, somewhere is calling for the Archbishop to resign but wishes to remain anonymous. It is apparently a senior Church of England clergyman, presumably one who does not have the courage of his convictions.
If you would like this unnamed senior Church of England clergyman to resign please write in anonymously , or get someone else to do it for you.
The new Church of England ‘Olympic Tsar’ was licenced yesterday at St Paul’s Cathedral. He is shown here with a three handed bishop: one hand adjusting the microphone, one hand engaged in a service sheet tug of war and one hand holding the great big book.
I wanted some information on tsars and what they do, so I looked it up. ‘A male monarch or emperor, especially one of the emperors who ruled Russia until the revolution of 1917′ apparently, but it can also be ‘a person having great power; an autocrat’ or ‘an appointed official having special powers to regulate or supervise an activity’.
Looking at Google News it appears that there are drug tsars, flood tsars, food tsars, design tsars, trash tsars, tourism tsars, canal tsars and dementia tsars. These are either in existence or being called for by someone or other somewhere or other.
If any tsars are reading please write in and tell us what you are a tsar of and how being a tsar is different to being a non-tsar.
The C of E Olympic tsar, by the way, will do the following:
Duncan’s role is to work on behalf of the Church of England with the ‘More than Gold’ structure and with LOCOG and the LDA. The aim is to help mobilise the churches of London and the nation to serve and witness to the Olympic movement in producing the best possible games and ensuring a positive legacy for East London.
If anyone would like to explain what this means then feel free to write in as well.
You might remember, by the way, that I posted about this post in December 2006, along with this cartoon which I plan to repost each and every time the Olympics is mentioned anywhere by anyone:
You might remember the story of Tom Ambrose, the Cambridge Vicar who has been appearing before a tribunal to see whether there has been pastoral breakdown in his parish (here are some Church Times reports from last year to remind you: 1, 2).
I have little inside information, but it really does appear from the outside as if justice has not been done. John Pettigrew, an ex-blogger whose opinion I trust who was at the Tribunal, and he says this in Ruth’s comments:
Yes, Tom has lost. Personally, I have little idea why. He’s not always a sensible man, but he is not the monster he’s being painted as. And it is certainly the case that there is no breakdown between “the parish” and the priest. There is a breakdown between certain members of the PCC and the priest, and quite a bit of collateral damage scattered around. At the Tribunal itself, I had the distinct impression that the prosecuting lawyer was simply trying to score points and to unsettle witnesses, rather than the proceedings being a tribunal seeking facts.
(Update) Also:
The view of most of the “ordinary” parishioners at Trumpington (i.e. those outside the circles of politics that bedevil the parish) seems to be that this has been a power play from the moment Tom arrived in the parish. Neither side is guilt-free, but I am perfectly clear in my own mind where the causes lie, and they’re not with Tom. To dismiss him would be a manifest injustice.
I recommend reading the whole post if you’re interested in more background.
This is the Trumpington church website. I suspect John has something to do with it as he is good with that sort of thing.
Those who pray might like to remember Tom and his wife Gill at this present time.
Update: Reports like this one from HR zone really irritate me:
They’ve lost the quotes around the word ‘bully’ (as used by the Times) from the headline, thereby telling the reader that the vicar in question is guilty
The other side of the story isn’t reported, and there is no link to enable the reader to hear the other side of the story.
The not- quite- daily internet column of Dave Walker. Dave writes and draws for the Church Times and is to be the 'Cartoonist in Residence' for the 2008 Lambeth Conference. (
Posted by Dave at 11:55 pm on August 2, 2008 and filed under Cartooning, Anglican goings-on, Lambeth 08, Lambeth Conference. 
The new Church of England ‘Olympic Tsar’ 