Different Country: Different Church – National Cathedrals Conference, May 2022.
Announcing – the second National Cathedrals Conference is taking place at Newcastle Cathedral in May 2022
- The pandemic has exposed the inequalities in our communities and our nation like never before.
- What does this mean for the mission and ministry of the 42 Anglican Cathedrals of England?
- How can they help the nation, church and their communities build back better, stronger and fairer?
Different Country Different Church will bring together the 42 Anglican cathedrals (plus some ecumenical partners) to explore injustice across the three key issues of climate, race and society, and ask what can cathedrals do to help nation and church build back better, stronger and fairer.
Visit the conference website here.
This national cathedrals conference, held across four days, will explore injustice by examining it theologically, ethically and practically: what constitutes social, environmental and racial justice; what is a Christian response and what part can we play?
Using keynote speakers in each of the three key areas, one topic will be explored each day with follow up panel discussions and action planning sessions to allow delegates to discuss lessons learned and plan actions to be taken.
There is an afternoon of workshops where delegates can explore the topics in more depth.
Who:
Speakers confirmed so far include a former Prime Minister, the Archbishop of York, British historian, writer and broadcaster, David Olusoga, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, the Church of England’s lead bishop on the Environment, the Very Revd Rogers Govender, the first black Cathedral dean, Mark Russell, Director of the Children’s Society, and Julian Allwood, Professor of Engineering and the Environment at Cambridge who leads the Use Less Group.
The programme is still being finalised.
The event will be hosted by Newcastle Cathedral – chosen specifically following its £6m Lottery funded redevelopment project which has put inclusivity and social justice at the centre of its mission and ministry– including sub-contracting the cathedral café to the Oswin Project which employs ex-prisoners to staff it.
The Dean of Newcastle will speak at the conference briefly on the vision for this project and its current outcomes.
This is only the second time the Church of England Cathedrals have come together for a national conference. The first, entitled Sacred Space, Sacred Ground was held in Manchester in 2019.
Different Country: Different Church, National Cathedrals Conference #2, Newcastle Cathedral, May 16 – 19 May 2022
Photo credits – Newcastle Cathedral, Graeme Peacock.
