News Briefing: from Britain and Ireland

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (above) praised Churches for speaking out on behalf of refugees at a service for delegates at the party’s conference in Liverpool.

The morning after he won the leadership contest last Saturday with 61.8 per cent of the vote, Mr Corbyn attended a service at St James in the City and told the congregation that it was important to bring faith communities together.

More than 500 Catholic scholars have signed a document affirming the importance of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae and condemning a report by the UK-based Wijngaards Institute that called on the Church to revise its teaching on contraception. Scholars including Tracey Rowland, Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne, and Fr Wojciech Giertych O.P., Theologian of the Papal Household, said that Humanae Vitae was prophetic in warning about the dangers of using artificial contraception.

“Humanae Vitae speaks against the distorted view of human sexuality and intimacy that many in the modern world promote,” they wrote.

Bishop Jenkins funeral
The funeral of the former Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, was due to take place on Wednesday in Durham Cathedral. Dr Jenkins died last month aged 91.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, was due to attend the service and James Bell, Bishop of Ripon, was to give the address.  

During the service, the Durham Miners’ Association Band was to play “Gresford”, the traditional hymn played at the funeral of members of mining communities.

Bishops Jenkins was consecrated in Durham Cathedral in 1984 during the miners’ strike and he used the occasion to voice his support for the miners, while making less than flattering comments about Ian McGregor, the head of the National Coal Board.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has warned that Europe has built “sandy foundations” on wealth while the reality is “the breakdown of families”, “hunger and inequality”, “fearing the stranger” and extremism.

Archbishop Welby was addressing a gathering of world  faith leaders, including Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, at the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi last week.

Catholics, including the Scottish Bishops’ Secretary for Interfaith Relations, Sr Isabel Smyth, and a representative of the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, have signed a new “declaration of humanity” that calls for interfaith dialogue to prevent radicalisation.

The document signed on Friday last week at St Andrews University in Scotland by 130 international faith leaders will be used in schools and by community and faith groups around the world.

The eleven-point Declaration was written by Professor Mario Aguilar, Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics at St Andrews. It incorporates the teachings of different faiths and embraces the principles of humanity, equality, diversity and freedom.

The Iona Cathedral Trust has received £100,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to rescue a library hidden above the cloisters of Iona Abbey. The early monastery of St Columba, founded in the sixth century, famously produced the Book of Kells, among other notable manuscripts. The current library, restored during the rebuilding of the Iona Abbey claustral buildings by George Macleod and the Iona Community, includes Gaelic manuscripts and examples of Celtic art which require restoration. The project is expected to be completed by October 2018.

Former Conservative MP Jonathan Aitken, who was jailed for perjury and perverting the course of justice, has been appointed patron of the Christian ministry programme working with those in prison, the Prison Fellowship of England and Wales (PF).

“Ever since I came out of prison over 16 years ago, I have been committed to prison ministry and rehabilitation work for offenders,” Mr Aitken said on his appointment. “Much of my work in this field has been done through various PF branches. Against this background, it will be a joy to support Prison Fellowship England and Wales as a patron and in many other ways.”

Drop in minority ordinations
The Church of England has appointed a new national minority ethnic officer to encourage more vocations from black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups.

Last year, the numbers of BAME people embarking on the process of becoming a priest fell to 1.9 per cent. In previous years the number fluctuated between 4 and 5 per cent.

The role of the new national minority ethnic officer will be to help dioceses increase the number of BAME candidates for ordination. The officer’s identity has not yet been disclosed, but it is understood that a senior figure is being considered.

The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Richard Moth, called on Catholics to do more to help the poor in a pastoral letter for the Year of Mercy read in churches last weekend. “In helping the poor and loving our neighbour we recognise them as people created by a loving God,” he wrote. He added that loving God required loving and being merciful to others and this demanded action.

Marie Collins (above), the only abuse survivor currently serving on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, has praised the Church’s progress in safeguarding children.

Speaking to Religion News Service, Collins said: “I have complained about slowness and frustration in the past … From my point of view as a survivor, I would like everything to happen tomorrow.” But, she continued: “We have had some really positive moves.” She cited specifically the commission’s participation in an orientation programme for new bishops at the Vatican last week and the recent papal decree to make bishops more accountable for abusers and to mandate their removal for “negligence”.