Catholic Life in the Church of England: Catholic Life in Relationship – Singleness, Celibacy & Marriage
A study day as part of a series exploring the catholic tradition in the Church of England today, offering wisdom for every Christian. The day starts with Mass at 10am, followed by three talks from three excellent speakers with a break for lunch, and concludes with Evensong and Benediction at 3pm. All welcome.
Speakers
The Rev’d Cécile Schnyder
Cécile was born in Switzerland and grew up in Zurich. She subsequently lived in France and Belgium before moving to England in 2003. She is currently the vicar of St Anne’s in Wandsworth in the diocese of Southwark. She has degrees in Biomedical Science, Psychotherapy, Art and Theology and speaks multiples languages fluently. What brings her joy is pursuing anything that’s beautiful, making art, pottering around the garden, looking after her bees and hens, and going for a slow walk with Lina the basset hound.
The Rev’d Canon Professor Morwenna Ludlow
Morwenna is Professor of Christian History and Theology at the University of Exeter and Canon Theologian at Exeter Cathedral. Her talk will explore how for the first millennium and a half of Christianity celibacy – a voluntary single life dedicated to God – was seen as superior to marriage. Many Christians today still hold to that view. So what are the sources and roots of that idea? How does it relate to the bible and to early Christian practice? How did early Christian ideas of celibacy relate to marriage and how might we understand that relationship today?
Fr Charlie Bell
Charlie is a priest and a doctor. He practices as an academic psychiatrist at King’s College, London, and The Maudsley Hospital in South London and is also the current curate of St John the Divine, Kennington, in the Diocese of Southwark. He has written about both medicine and theology, and the intersection between the two, and is the author of Queer Holiness: the gift of LGBTQI people to the church, a recent book that calls for a sea change in the way we talk with and about LGBTQI people in the church, with a particular view to the situation in the Church of England.
Image: Anuja Tilj via unsplash.som