Catholic theologian Tina Beattie (above), who signed a letter objecting to the potential criminalisation of Polish women who have abortions, will not lose her position as a member of Cafod’s Theological Reference Group, despite an online petition calling for her removal reaching more than 5,000 signatures.
Aid agency Cafod said in a statement that the views expressed in the letter addressed to the Polish Bishop’s Conference did not reflect the agency’s policies. It also emphasised that the reference group was not a decision-making body, and that the organisation would be reviewing the “role, status and membership expectations” of all its advisory groups next month.
Beattie, who is Professor of Catholic Studies at Roehampton University, said that her role as a voluntary theological advisor did not make her privy to any of Cafod’s internal discussions or decisions. She added that she did not regret her decision to help draft the letter.
Abuse allegations fall
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) recorded a drop in the number of new allegations of sexual abuse last year.
According to its 2015 annual report, the board dealt with 116 new allegations, suspicions or concerns relating to priests or religious, 112 less than the previous year. The vast majority of these allegations relate to historical abuse prior to the 1980s. However, one case relates to an incident of abuse in 2015.
A Catholic teenager told a court this week that he was strung up on a wooden cross in a mock crucifixion during a sustained period of bullying.
The boy who cannot be named for legal reasons also had religious symbols and phallic images drawn on him by co-workers while he was an apprentice for a shop-fitting company in Selby, North Yorkshire, in July 2014.
Lawyers for the prosecution said that the boy was a practising Roman Catholic and told the jury the defendants were motivated by hostility based on his religious observance. Four men are on trial at York Crown Court accused of religiously aggravated assault. All four deny the charges.
Tributes have poured in for Labour MP Jo Cox, above, who was fatally stabbed and shot last week outside a library in Birstall. The MP for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire was attacked on Thursday. Thomas Mair, 52, has been charged with her murder and remanded in custody. The parish priest of St Mary of the Angels in Batley, Fr Eamonn Hegarty, remembered how Mrs Cox had welcomed him to the area when he first arrived. He said: “She was very much involved in the area … She came into the church about three weeks ago and gave a donation to us. She had a tour around the church and took an interest in what we were doing. She gave a donation to the roof fund and when I explained that we were having to go through the planning application process she said that she could help us; she was so generous.”
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is expecting more supporters than usual to attend London Pride this weekend, as people stand in solidarity with the victims of the recent shooting in a Florida gay club.
The Pride Communion service after the march will take place today in Bloomsbury Baptist Church at 5.30 p.m. Christian Aid will be leading prayers, during which there will be time for remembering the lives lost in Orlando.
Martin Pendergast, from LGBT Catholics Westminster, said: “What’s significant about Pride these days is that there is a whole section for faith groups and that gets bigger and bigger every year.”
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has launched a blog seeking to explore the place and role of religion in British public life. The emphasis, writes Professor Craig Calhoun, director of LSE, is on encountering religion from the point of view of a member of the public, rather than as an insider to one or other faith.
The LSE will also host a series of lectures by academics, religious leaders and critics, each exploring the role of religion in the public sphere.
The Revd Dr James Walters, who contributes to the blog and is chaplain at the LSE, told The Tablet: “To some it is a surprise that an institution like LSE is hosting debate about religion at all! So we want to challenge perceptions and get deeper into the religious questions that are increasingly pressing in the public sphere.”
Ordination celebrated
The Diocese of Aberdeen celebrated its first priestly ordination for five years on 13 June. A former Shell oil worker, Fr Peter MacDonald, converted to Catholicism as a young man and was married for 39 years. After his wife’s death in 2011, he began to consider joining the priesthood. He had served on the Permanent Diaconate since March 2000.
Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen commended Fr MacDonald’s “sterling” service to the diocese as a treasurer, parish administrator, children’s hospital and prison chaplain.
Church set to shut
An historic church in Cork owned by the Vincentian order is set to close due to a lack of parish priests. St Vincent’s church, which has been open since 1856, is due to close its doors on 30 June despite a petition with 120 names calling for it to be kept open. Cork and Ross diocesan spokesman Fr Tom Deenihan told the Irish Examiner: “This is the first time in Cork City that a church has been faced with the reality of the decline in vocations. This is going to become a more common story.”
Cardinal Vincent Nichols (above) joined 19 bishops for a thanksgiving Mass at St David’s Cathedral on Monday to celebrate the centenary of the Archdiocese of Cardiff. Members of Catholic Women’s Ordination held a protest outside with banners that read “Challenging institutional sexism in the Roman Catholic Church”. “We feel women are being sidelined and forgotten,” said Mary Ring, a member of the group. “We don’t want to create dissent but feel we have to speak up for justice. The Anglican Church has women bishops now. Why are we still knocking on the door? I’m sure a lot of people have left the Church because of this.”
Priest who stole £96,000 jailed
An Ayrshire priest, Fr Graeme Bell of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Saltcoats, has been sentenced to 10 months in jail for embezzling £96,000 of parish funds to finance an online gambling habit. The Bishop of Galloway, William Nolan, has pledged to return the money to the parish and has expressed his sorrow to the parishioners.
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