Day Conference 2023

June 11, 2023

On Saturday 10 June 2023, the Ecclesiastical Law Society’s Thirty-fifth Annual Conference took place at St Peter’s Eaton Square in London. The subject was ‘Sacred Space and Contested Heritage’, and the speakers were the Rt Rev’d Dr John Inge, Bishop of Worcester; Araba Taylor, Deputy Chancellor of Southwark and Deputy Commissary General of Canterbury; and Janet Berry, Head of Conservation & Collections Policy, Cathedral & Church Buildings Division, Church Commissioners. All three speakers gave excellent presentations with much food for thought, generating lots of questions and discussion. We are very grateful to our speakers for making the day so worthwhile. See a future edition of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal for a full conference report and more details.

Also during the day there was a celebration of the Eucharist, at which the Vicar of St Peter’s, Fr Jonathan Kester, presided. The Society was most grateful to Fr Jonathan and the parish for hosting us.

The Society’s Annual General Meeting took place in the afternoon, chaired by Elizabeth Wilson. The Revd Christopher Smith was elected as a trustee, and small changes to the Society’s consitution were agreed. Thanks were recorded to all those who in so many ways have advanced the Society’s work during the course of the year. Two announcements were made about future conferences. In 2024, a day conference will consider the law of liturgy. In 2025, the Society will mark the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea with a weekend conference, at which the Society will be very honoured to welcome as keynote speaker His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Some downloads from the papers presented at the conference are available here.

At the end of the conference, we enjoyed drinks in the garden of St Peter’s.