Big Doncaster Welcome

Last Updated on Friday, 17 February 2012 09:47

The new Bishop of Doncaster, Peter Burrows, said this morning (11 February) that he strongly believed that “together we can build a better society where everyone can flourish.”

Speaking at a Civic Service at Doncaster Minster welcoming both Bishop Burrows as Bishop of Doncaster and the new Archdeacon of Doncaster, Stephen Wilcockson to their posts, the Bishop gave an upbeat assessment of the still to be realised potential in communities like Doncaster: “I’m  sure we’d all agree that building community, a society where everyone has a fair share, the good of society is promoted as a first order issue, where all can flourish and benefit, is a top priority.

The Bishop told the congregation, which included representatives from parishes in all the deaneries of the Doncaster archdeaconry: “There needs to be radical change and transformation of social and political thinking by those with the ability to affect change, and that requires flourishing partnerships. Whilst there’s been much debate over the years about the relationship between the church and state, it’s my firm conviction that the church, in its prophetic role, needs to build partnerships with public, private, and not for profit stake holders because when working effectively together we can bridge the gap between the most deprived and disadvantaged communities and build a fairer and more just society.

“It’s a shift to a more authentic radicalism in which the Church itself gets further involved in all kinds of processes of welfare, medicine, banking, education, the arts, business, technology, and ecology and in doing so seeks to transform society with others.”

Bishop Burrows said: “In realising our ambitions for a Big Society, we can together build on the huge amount of experience faith groups have in getting out into the community. Some see religion as a problem that needs to be solved. The Government sees it as part of the solution. I want to send an important signal that we value the role of religion and faith in public life. The days of state trying to supress Christianity and other faiths are over”.

The Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Steven Croft, said today: “After many months of preparing for today, Doncaster now has a new team in place and Bishop Peter has laid out some of the challenges facing, not only the Diocese, but all of us working together to create a more dynamic sense of what it means to be together. I was delighted to see so many people and aspects of community life in and around Doncaster represented.”