The Church of England’s first black clergyman, a Rev Bryan Mackey, was ordained in 1794. A contemporary newspaper notice of his being presented to “the valuable Rectory of Coates, Glouceſterſhire”, did not note his race, but characteristically thought it relevant to relate that he was “late of Braſen Noſe College” in Oxford.
Today’s Church of England is somewhat more conscious of race. There are now, for instance, two “lead bishops for the Church of England on racial justice”, a “Racial Justice Board”, and aa “Racial Justice Panel”, the product of recommendations from an “Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice”, which found that the church was “institutionally racist”.
But even the CoE may be suffering from racial justice fatigue. On Monday, the Church Commissioners quietly revealed that its central funding for “social and racial justice” was to be more than halved, from £26.7 million for the three years up to 2025 to £12 million for the next three years.
The joint racial justice lead bishops are not happy. The Right Rev Arun Arora and Rosemarie Mallett, respectively bishops of Kirkstall and Croydon, said they were “deeply concerned and troubled”, with Bishop Arora describing the cuts as “brutal”. Church House replied that the largesse of the previous years was always meant to be temporary.
Read it all in Unherd