Church of England Bishops
They cannot ask for kindness
Or for mercy plead,
Yet cruel is our blindness
Which does not see their need.
World-over, town or city,
God trusts us with this task:
To give our love and pity
To those who cannot ask.
– Edgar A Guest
Found on
New Advent’s website:
“Ö St. Gregory writing to St. Augustine of England laid down the rule, ‘We abstain from flesh meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese, and eggs.’ This decision was afterwards enshrined in the ‘Corpus Juris’, and must be regarded as the common law of the Church.”
Thank you to Wendy, who gave me permission to post the following article found in the May edition of Woman Alive, the UK monthly magazine for Christian women — http://www.womanalive.co.uk. (This article is not on their website.)
Give up meat for Lent? Don’t be ridiculous
It may be Lent, a time of abstinence and self-sacrifice, but if there is one thing that Church of England bishops appear unable to give up, it’s meat.
The days of gorging on pheasants may be long gone, but bishops are still not willing to go for a whole month without their steak and chips, a vegetarian campaigning group has discovered.
Every bishop was sent a letter from the Christian group, called Veg4Lent, asking them to endorse the campaign for not eating meat for Lent, but not one was able to give it their backing.
The group suggest that Lent “provides an ideal opportunity to reflect on the countless innocent lives sacrificed to satiate meat consumption”, and asked the bishops to consider that vegetarianism can become “assimilated within a more widespread Christian approach to life”.
Whether on grounds of theology or taste, the bishops seem less than convinced by the vegetarian argument. “I do not believe that vegetarianism is ‘an essentially grave moral issue’. I believe that is is a matter on which opinions differ, and I respect those who are vegetarian,” said the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev John Oliver, whose own son does not eat meat. He added that he does not believe that there is any necessary link between vegetarianism and the Christian faith.
This was a view shared by many, including the Bishops of Carlisle, Norwich, Ripon and Leeds. The Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev David James, a keen lover of curries, didn’t think twice about turning the idea down: “As I am not a vegetarian it would be hypocritical of me to support your initiative,” he said.
The Rev Prof Andrew Linzey, a Patron of the group, said that he was unsurprised that the bishops would not give up meat for Lent. “They are not there on this issue. They don’t care for creation. If you look for any response on cruelty and indulgence, the bishops aren’t there. They don’t lead on issues of creation concern.”
The Bishop of Hereford said that he believed that good husbandry and good abattoir practice are entirely compatible with animals being part of God’s creation.
However, the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Rev Peter Forster said that he had deep misgivings about modern animal rearing, and said that he keeps a few hens in a fully free-range situation as a pesonal protest. “I am willing to, and where possible actually do, pay a premium price for meat from freely reared animals.”
In 1998, 31 Church of England bishops endorsed the following statement by Bishop Llewellin (now the retired Bishop at Lambeth):
“All animals, in their complexity and beauty, must surely concern Christians, since they are a part of Creation.
During this century farm animals have been exploited on an unprecedented scale. Many now experience little other than misery from birth to death as factory farming systems deprive them of any comfort and - as science research confirms - cruelly frustrate nearly all their needs.
The battery cage system, which produces most of Britain’s eggs is a prime example of such systems. As Christians we must surely do all in our power to bring an end to this lack of proper respect for God’s creatures.”
That was an inspiring show of ecclesiastical support. But what does “As Christians we must surely do all in our power to bring an end to this lack of proper respect for God’s creatures” really mean in practice, when they aren’t willing to do anything simple and within their power, to challenge the faithful to go beyond giving up chocolate or sweets, which is a meaningless sacrifice and “substitutionary atonement” for humanity’s sins against creation. The Church is in a unique position to speak out, even subtly (but expectly) with the yearly built-in opportunity to present its members with the suggestion to reclaim the traditional dietary observance of Lent — which coincidentally could provide a substantial 6-week moratorium on consumer demand that necessitates violent acts committed against other species.
ì[T]here is something so very dreadful, so satanic in tormenting those who never have harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power, who have weapons neither of offense nor defense, that none but very hardened persons can endure the thought of itÖ. Think then, my brethren, of your feelings at cruelty practised upon brute animals, and you will gain one sort of feeling which the history of Christís Cross and Passion ought to excite within you.î
ñ Cardinal Newman (from his Good Friday sermon)
“Fasting in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition”
‘Not just for Lent but for life?’ (The Church Times, 3/3/2006
conveniently hidden behind closed doors which,
if seen, heard and smelt, would make vegetarians of us all.
The cruelty to which these animals are subjected
does not sit comfortably alongside pretensions to be
a civilised, let alone a Christian, society”
– the Rt. Rev. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, Jesus and the Earth, SPCK 2003
Tags: Lent