Assessing the Church of England’s Leadership Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Listening to the Voice of Rural Lay People

The aim of the present study is to analyse the qualitative text written on the back page of a quantitative survey concerned with the Church of England’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Of the 1460 rural lay people in England who took part in the Coronavirus, Church & You survey, 501 wrote further (sometimes detailed) comments on the back page (34 per cent participation rate). This study analyses the comments made by a subsection of these 501 rural lay people, specifically the 52 participants who voiced their views on how the Church of England’s leadership responded during the first four months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Analysis identified a number of issues and concerns, including: a lack of quality leadership, comparing with other Churches, becoming irrelevant, centralizing action, closing rural churches, neglecting rural people, neglecting rural clergy, marginalizing rural communities, using the kitchen table, and looking to the future. Overall, rural lay people were disappointed with the response of church leadership to the first national lockdown. If these churchgoers are to be fruitfully reconnected with their churches after the pandemic, then leadership of the Church of England may need to hear and to take seriously their concerns.

Talking with My Daughter About Archives

In a kitchen table discussion, a Métis genealogist and his Cree-Métis librarian daughter talk about the ways Indigenous people navigate archives, oral history, and research; discuss the inaccuracies that exist in records relating to Indigenous people; and consider the ways that records can supplement oral history about Métis culture.

Choosing Wisely

I was about 10 years old when my parents decided to move our family across town. Why? I had no idea. I don't think my older brother and sister had a clue, either. The decision was announced one night at dinner and, without discussion or debate, the three of us learned that we'd be packing up our house, changing schools, and settling into a new neighborhood within the month. As a little girl, I had very little visibility into the choices my parents made for themselves and for the family. Though my dad was happy to talk to me about chemistry and my mom would have sacrificed anything for my benefit, the process by which they arrived at life's big decisions was a mystery. Instead of sharing their thinking, Mom and Dad would sit alone at the kitchen table, whispering to each other in Mandarin. Whether it was just easier to think in their native tongue, I don't know, but it also seemed strategic. Children were not active decision makers in our family. As I got older, things changed. I listened to my parents debate whether to buy a new car, how they were going to vote that November, and which relative should host Thanksgiving.