CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN LANCASHIRE HAS KEY ROLE AT G7 SUMMIT
By Ronnie Semley
The Diocesan Bishop for The Church of England in Lancashire, Rt Revd Julian Henderson, praised The Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, for his success in bringing the G7 Speakers Conference to Lancashire and for his comments prior to the event about the importance of freedom of faith in today’s society.
The Bishop and The Speaker appeared in a video from The Church of England in Lancashire timed to coincide with the major gathering, held this past weekend in Sir Lindsay’s home constituency of Chorley, and with the theme of ‘Secure versus open parliaments’.
Delegates included Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives; Richard Ferrand, the President of the French National Assembly; Roberto Fico, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies; David Sassoli, President of the EU Parliament and representatives from Germany, Canada and Japan.
The video is a ‘mini-documentary’ which specifically highlights the involvement of The Church of England in the international summit in several ways – including the official church service on Sunday for all the delegates which was held at the local parish church of St Laurence’s where the Rector is Revd Neil Kelley.
It also tells the fascinating story that lies behind the presentation of a new US flag to St Laurence’s by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday; as well as the local connection to the Pilgrim Fathers through Myles Standish; one of Chorley’s most famous sons.
The new stars and stripes, which flew during President Biden’s inauguration in January of this year, is now destined to appear alongside a much older flag which was presented to the church nearly 80 years ago by US servicemen stationed in the town during WW2.
Speaking before the conference began and welcoming the involvement of The Church of England, Sir Lindsay said: “It’s so important the Church is centre of this. Faith is important to people … and the special G7 service is so important to me … and to the other Speakers that are coming.
