Does Cardiff Council trust in Jesus?

A row has broken out over banners displayed in Cardiff saying, “Trust in Jesus, He is Alive, Come to Church!” – with Cardiff Council’s logo at the bottom. The banners do not state that they are adverts that have been paid for.

Humanists UK argues that the banners present the impression that the council is imploring all its residents to be Christian, and that it has a responsibility to remain impartial and not to give the impression of favouring or endorsing any particular religion or belief. It believes that the council should either make sure that all future adverts include prominent disclaimers regarding their origin, to prevent any confusion with official council communications, or remove its logo from the banners.

Cardiff Council responds that the signs comply with its advertising policy, that it is not involved in “decisions regarding individual campaigns”, and that the Cardiff Council logo is placed at the bottom of all banner advertising coordinated by its agent, Bay Media: “It does not indicate any formal partnership or endorsement of the specific content of the advertisements.”

Readers can choose for themselves whom to side with – but one cannot help wondering if a council logo is necessary at all.

The position of the Lords Spiritual

Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Plaid Cymru) tabled a written question asking His Majesty’s Government “when they will review the right of Church of England bishops to sit in the House of Lords”. To which Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent, a Baroness in Waiting, replied on Wednesday:

“The Government is supportive of the inclusion of individuals from all backgrounds in the House of Lords and believes the second chamber is enriched by members who bring diverse experience. This includes the Lords Spiritual.”

So that’s a “No”, then.

Headstones moved to make way for “activity space”

In spite of local objection, the PCC of St Mary’s, East Molesey, was been granted a faculty permitting the removal of 64 headstones from the central area would permit the church to use the churchyard for: “its youth and children’s programmes (enabling better engagement with a growing demographic in the congregation); community events such as fairs, open-air services; gardening initiatives that foster connection and belonging; an area for quiet reflection, offering spaces for prayer and peaceful contemplation” [5], Re St Mary East Molesey [2025] ECC Gui 1.

There are about 111 headstones, box tombs and tablets in the churchyard surrounding the church. Some of the headstones have previously been moved and relocated along the boundary walls of the churchyard due to “safety concerns”. The proposal is to retain all the box tombs, including the two listed tombs, in their present positions and to relocate the headstones around the perimeter of the churchyard.

Rectories in Guernsey

The BBC reported that on 9 April, Guernsey’s States of Deliberation debated a Policy and Resources Committee report linked to a dispute involving Torteval and St Saviour parishes over the maintenance costs of a Church of England rectory. Currently, Guernsey’s parishes are required to provide housing for rectors with the costs covered by ratepayers, but an amendment has been proposed to end this policy on 1 January 2030. The States voted by a two-thirds majority for the amendment to the Parochial Church Property (Guernsey) Law 2015, declaring that any customary duty on parishes to provide suitable accommodation for their rector and the rector’s household should be abolished.

The Church Times notes that there are 16 churches in Guern­sey across 14 parishes, in addition to one each in Alderney and Sark. Ratepayers are responsible for the ex­­ternal maintenance of the churches of the ten ancient parishes in Guern­sey. Detailed legislative changes will have to be approved by the next meeting of the States before the reforms come into effect. The Dean of Guernsey, the Very Revd Tim Barker,  said that he respected the “clear resolution of the States”, but warned that there would be “significant implications, primarily for the clergy and their families who will be directly affected by the decision but also for the Deanery of Guernsey and the work and ministry of our churches, especially in the more rural parishes”.

“Net zero” in the Church of England (again)

Further to last week’s report on the Daily Telegraph article, Net zero ‘is destroying the Church of England’, the paper has followed up this storyline with How one Just Stop Oil supporter’s net zero obsession tore a church apart, in which it focuses on St John the Baptist, Tideswell, which “has been without central heating since Storm Babet wrecked its gas boilers in October 2023”. The article suggests that “the Diocese of Derby has not supported a single request for a new fossil fuel boiler since the rule change” – an assertion which the Diocesan Registry could readily deny or confirm.

The remainder of the article rehearses many of the issues which PCCs in this position are now facing, although concerns on “digging a trench through the ancient churchyard to lay cables to power air-source heat pumps” is an issue that is frequently addressed by the consistory courts in other circumstances. Likewise, the availability of the necessary electrical power to the church is a matter of fact for the electricity supplier to resolve.

Quick links

• Ecclesiastical Law Society: Newsletter No 1/2025.
• Equality & Human Rights Commission: Statement on Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers.
• Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter: French Cassation: Secular Judges Cannot Review Excluding Decisions by Religious Courts.

AND A HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!