Christ, not colonial guilt, inspired CoE fund to help victims of historic slavery, Justin Welby says
- Fund planned to help people affected by the Church’s past investment in slavery
- Welby, 67, told of complaints after Church Commissioner’s decided to start fund
The Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted that Christ and not ‘ambivalent wokery’ prompted the Church of England to set up a £100 million fund to help those affected by its involvement in slavery.
In his Easter message, the Most Rev Justin Welby addressed plans to set aside a social impact fund to help local and international communities affected by the Church’s past investment in slavery.
Rev Welby, 67, told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral he received a ‘large’ volume of complaints regarding the Church Commissioner’s decision to start the multi-million-pound fund.
But Welby insisted: ‘It’s not post-colonial guilt, ambivalent wokery, it is the living presence of Christ that compels us to consider and respond to those actions.’
He added: ‘We believe it because although the global church has shown its sin and foolishness and although the global church has been a place of suffering again and again since its birth 2,000 years ago, it has found renewal and new courage.’
The Archbishop’s sermon was largely aimed at hailing examples of facilitating worldwide peace.
He praised the recent Windsor Framework in which the UK Government and the EU plan to mitigate many of the difficulties caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Rev Welby said it was a reminder that reconciliation and peace are not ‘one-off events’ but ‘long journeys that require determination, stamina and faith.’
The Archbishop highlighted the Good Friday Agreement signed 25 years ago and the ‘extraordinary and courageous work’ of those involved in reaching it.
The Church’s work in Mozambique was also touched upon in the sermon.
He said: ‘Christians worked with the UN to set up 200 peace clubs in partnership with Muslim leaders to provide a force of life and hope against the death cult of Isis operating in Cabo Delgado, the northern part of Mozambique.’
Reflecting on the war in Ukraine, as well as other conflicts around the world, the archbishop told congregants that ‘we must not lose heart’ in the face of conflict.
He said: ‘Even in our lifetimes, as we are surrounded by fears, even by evil, we know that those who oppress and subjugate others will face divine justice.
‘We know with certainty that policies that cause suffering and pain will fall away.’
