Scan the Wikipedia entry for Paula Vennells and you find a paragraph on her involvement with the Church of England:
From 2002 to 2005, Vennells trained for Holy Orders on the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course. She was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2005 and as a priest in 2006. She has served as a non-stipendiary minister at the Church of St Owen, Bromham, in the Diocese of St Albans. She was reported to have 'stepped back' from duties in 2021. Her membership of the Church of England Ethical Investment Advisory Group was also terminated.
But it's become clear today that her involvement has been far deeper than that.
This afternoon BBC News revealed that in 2017 Vennells was on a shortlist of only three names to be the next Bishop of London. The authors of its report, Henry Zeffman and Harry Farley, say two sources told them that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, pushed her application and was seen as a supporter of hers.
On Twitter, Communard turned Northamptonshire parish priest turned cosy-crime novelist Richard Coles asked:
Why did the Crown Nominations Commission shortlist Paula Vennells, a priest with no experience of running a parish and not even on the payroll, for the CofE’s third most senior position?
A possible clue is to be found in a quote from Welby's book Reimagining Britain flagged up by Gilo, again on Twitter. There Welby writes:
Conversations with Sam Wells, Paula Vennells, Tim Cross, former colleagues in the oil industry and Sir Graham Hearne and many others have shaped my thinking over the years.
It's not clear whether he is talking about his thinking on a particular topic or his thinking in general, but this does support the idea that the Archbishop held Vennells in high regard. The Church of England, incidentally, declined to comment on the BBC's story about the appointment of the Bishop of London.
As to Vennells herself, Andrew Graystone (on Twitter) quotes from a talk of hers to the London Diocese in October 2017:
Later. Another nugget from Twitter: Marcus Walker reveals that Vennells has been a tutor on the Church of England's leadership development programme for bishops."My faith has been absolutely central to transforming the Post Office. We have developed three values: Care, Challenge, Commit. They are based on the Second Commandment: Love your neighbour as yourself."
4 comments:
Very interesting. This puts me in mind of the late Roman practice of former provincial governors switching careers to become bishops (for instance Ambrose of Milan, and Sidonius Apollonaris). The thinking was that the same set of skills were needed for high social/political status and for running the church. A similar mindset seems to be in place here.
Many of the leaders of the Church may be decent hardworking people but it needs someone like John Wesley with great faith, drive and determination/enthusiasm if it is not to die, though of course many people would love that to happen, unfortunately
Interesting how the Oil industry is mentioned.They! seem to be mentioned quite a lot in the establishment circles.Is it all jobs for the boys and the REAL dedicated decent hardworking people get sidelined? I do note that Welby is an Old Etonian like many other establishment figures who control us.
I am not sure if Nigel Hunter is taking it as read or not, but some people might not be aware that before he was ordained Archbishop Welby was quite high-up in the oil industry - first Elf Aquitaine, and then Treasurer of Enterprise Oil.
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