Jonathan Beswick

Father Jonathan Beswick SSC is Rector of St Peter’s, London Docks and was a member of the General Synod 2011-18

Thursday

Jonathan Beswick

Is vaccine refusal a matter for Justin Welby?

It’s not quite ‘the night before Christmas’ but it’s close. The timing could hardly be worse for Justin Welby to clumsily wade into the argument over Covid vaccination. In an interview with Julie Etchingham on ITV, the Archbishop of Canterbury asserted that vaccination is a ‘moral issue’. Getting the Covid jab, he said, is ‘not about me and my rights to choose’. It is instead a fulfilment of the commandment to love our neighbour. ‘To love one another, as Jesus said, get vaccinated, get boosted,’ he continued. ‘It’s Christmas: do what he said’. What a grim and joyless corruption of the beautiful and familiar Christmas Gospel.

Saturday

Jonathan Beswick

Lionel Shriver, Matthew Parris and Jonathan Beswick

25 min listen

On this week's episode, Lionel Shriver says we believe what we want to believe. (00:45) Then, Matthew Parris says Peter Mandelson, infamously nicknamed the Prince of Darkness, could have been prime minister. (09:50) And finally, Father Jonathan Beswick explains why he's keeping his church open during lockdown.

Thursday

Jonathan Beswick

The tech supremacy: Silicon Valley can no longer conceal its power

36 min listen

Joe Biden won the US election, but is Big Tech really in power? (00:45) Churches are allowed to open during lockdown, but should they? (13:20) And can comfort eating and cosy socks replace human connections? (25:50)With historian Niall Ferguson; New York Times editorial board member Greg Bensinger; Father Jonathan Beswick; The Very Reverend Peter Howell-Jones; journalist Laura Freeman and psychology professor Dr Shira Gabriel.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Max Jeffery, Sam Russell and Matt Taylor.

Jonathan Beswick

Why I’m keeping my church open in lockdown

On a beautifully sunny Maundy Thursday last year, during the first lockdown, I removed my cassock, slung my satchel over my shoulder and rode my bicycle to Lambeth Palace and back. At the halfway point I paused briefly to slip a letter under the Archbishop of Canterbury’s front door, before heading for home and the sad prospect of a solitary evening mass. In my letter I asked the Archbishop to reconsider his request that we not pray in our churches. Communal worship was still forbidden, but the government clearly considered it lawful for the clergy to continue to go into their churches to pray on behalf of their absent congregations. Surely that is what we are here for?