This is the basic text of a lecture at Bradford Cathedral today at the launch of the centenary year. It is quite long.
Bradford Cathedral is 100 years old in 2019. That is, this building has been a cathedral since 1919, but the building has been here for many centuries before that. It is living evidence of Christian worship, service and faithfulness through times of peace and conflict, change and challenge, struggle and joy. It was designated a cathedral within just one year of the end of the so-called “War to end all wars”. European and wider global manhood had been cut to shreds by the developing technological weaponry disposed at the hands of people the Enlightenment had told us were progressing. So, this cathedral witnessed the loss of Bradford’s youth and innocence and tried to shape a lens of experience and perception through which a bruised generation might look…
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This week in the House of Lords bishops spoke in debates on the Commission on Religious Education, the treatment of people with terminal illnesses, plastic pollution, arts and wellbeing, Islamophobia, and the work of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. They asked questions on homelessness, Yemen, Brexit, Burma, sanctions on Iran, and university admissions, and a bishop took part in a vote on an amendment to the Government’s Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill. Parliament approved four Church of England Measures, which then received Royal Assent. Parliament rose for the Christmas recess and will return on January 7th, 2019. 
The Lord Bishop of Chichester: My Lords, I am grateful for the clarity with which the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, has spoken and am glad to follow him in this debate. I can speak today with direct experience of the work of IICSA and its handling of evidence. In March this year, the inquiry held public hearings over 14 days in its case study of the Chichester diocese, in which I gave written and oral evidence. As part of that case study, the inquiry has also heard evidence from survivors of sexual abuse. I begin today by asking the House to keep in mind the courage, and personal cost, with which survivors have been willing to share their testimony.
On the 20th December 2018 the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith asked a question he had tabled to Government about Yemen and the shortfall in aid needed to resolve the humanitarian crisis.
On 20th December 2018 the Bishop of Winchester, Rt Revd Tim Dakin, received a written answer to a question on university admissions:
On 17th, 20th & 21st December 2018 the Bishop of Leeds, Rt Revd Nick Baines, received written answers to three questions about US sanctions on Iran and migration from Iran. 
The Lord Bishop of Chichester: My Lords, the four Measures before us deal with significant areas of the Church of England’s life in ways that strengthen, update or consolidate her mission. 
On 19th December 2018 the Lords debated a motion from Baroness Neville-Rolfe, “To move that this House takes note of the threat to the environment posed by plastic and the case for improved recycling.” The Bishop of Salisbury, Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, spoke in the debate:
The Church of England in Parliament 
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