Catherine Pepinster
Catherine Pepinster is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Catherine Pepinster
How King Charles’ coronation will be unlike any seen in England
By Catherine Pepinster — April 27, 2023
LONDON (RNS) — Charles will be crowned in an England different from that of his mother, 70 years ago, and details of the ceremony will reflect the new landscape.
Church of England submits blessings for same-sex couples to fierce debate in Synod
By Catherine Pepinster — February 3, 2023
LONDON (RNS) — The bishops have displeased both conservatives and progressives in the church with a proposal to bless civil unions between same-sex partners.
Church of England bishops head for showdown on marriage for same-sex couples
By Catherine Pepinster — December 12, 2022
LONDON (RNS) — In the next few months, the Church of England's long-running debate on marriage for same-sex couples may come to a head.
King Charles is interpreting ‘Defender of the Faith’ for a new Britain
By Catherine Pepinster — September 21, 2022
LONDON (RNS) — Next: how to make the country’s rapidly expanding numbers of nonbelievers feel included
Elizabeth II, longest to rule Britain and Church of England, dies at 96
By Catherine Pepinster — September 8, 2022
(RNS) — While bearing the title of Supreme Governor of Britain's established church, Elizabeth let her bishops manage its affairs. But in recent years she had spoken openly about her faith, explaining how it provided the framework of her life.
At Lambeth, Anglican Communion abandons vote on same-sex marriage
By Catherine Pepinster — August 3, 2022
CANTERBURY, England (RNS) — 'The issue of gay people and their rights is equivalent a struggle in our time to the one over race,' said Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Communion row over same-sex marriage overshadows Lambeth Conference opening
By Catherine Pepinster — July 29, 2022
(RNS) — Conservative bishops from the Global South refuse to receive Communion at Lambeth from supporters of same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage sparks divisive debate at twice-delayed Lambeth Conference
By Catherine Pepinster — July 27, 2022
(RNS) — Protests forced the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to revise the conference documents and to make an embarrassing, last-minute U-turn on how the talks will be conducted.
Elizabeth II’s 70 years as head of the Church of England
By Catherine Pepinster — June 3, 2022
LONDON (RNS) — While Defender of the Faith has been, over the years, an inherited title and little more, Elizabeth II embraced it and made it her own.
The most important Jewish woman of medieval England recognized with new statue
By Catherine Pepinster — January 28, 2022
LONDON, England (RNS) — Britain remembers a role model and its own antisemitic past.
Looking for radical solutions to decline, Church of England debates lay-led house churches
By Catherine Pepinster — July 9, 2021
LONDON (RNS) — A proposal published on the eve of the Church of England's General Synod shows the growing influence of evangelicalism.
Boris Johnson and Britain are having their own Catholic crisis
By Catherine Pepinster — June 17, 2021
LONDON (RNS) — ‘Appointment as prime minister is the completion of the Catholic stealth minority’s rise to influence,’ said one historian.
Ethical vegans in UK win court protection for their creed
By Catherine Pepinster — January 8, 2020
LONDON (RNS) — A ruling in an alleged wrongful termination case said that ethical veganism qualified as a philosophical belief under the U.K.'s Equality Act 2010.
Chief rabbi’s attack on anti-Semitism keys reckoning over faith in UK election
By Catherine Pepinster — December 2, 2019
LONDON (RNS) — The Dec. 12 national election has brought unaccustomed denunciations from Britain's top religious figures against discrimination based on faith.
Boy’s removal from church service spurs debate in UK on welcoming those with autism
By Catherine Pepinster — June 21, 2019
LONDON (RNS) — According to the National Autistic Society in the U.K., more than a quarter of people with autism and their families have been asked to leave a public place because of behavior linked to their autism.