Readers of the Radio Times have been asked to vote for their favourite TV or radio programme about faith, belief and ethics for this year’s Sandford St Martin Trust Awards. Nominees for the readers’ choice award include the documentary A World Without Down’s Syndrome? by actor Sally Phillips (above), and an advert for shopping website Amazon that celebrated the friendship between a vicar and an imam. Shortlist and vote: http://origin.radiotimes.com/win/sandford-st-martin-awards-2017/540.html.
Cardinal Nichols assured Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI of the prayers and good wishes of the people of England and Wales, their clergy and bishops, in a message for his 90th Birthday. Cardinal Nichols told the Pope Emeritus (pictured above enjoying a beer), who turned 90 on Easter Sunday, that the bishops of England and Wales would celebrate a Mass for his intentions during their upcoming Plenary at Villa Palazzola, Rome.
Ireland’s lower house of parliament – the Dáil – is to vote on an amendment to allow for 30 seconds of silent reflection after the traditional prayer that is said at the opening of each day’s business.
This is intended as a compromise for those who, like Atheist Ireland, wanted to abolish the prayer and follows objections from some members of parliament who said the matter should be debated. The prayer is read by the Ceann Comhairle (chairperson) and, usually, members and those in the public and press galleries. Last month, both houses – the Dáil and Seanad – rejected a request that a Hindu prayer be read at the opening session of debate in each chamber.
The Bishop of Clifton, Declan Lang, who is the lead bishop for international affairs at the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, urged the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to “help continue the trend towards a world without executions” following a 37 per cent decrease in global executions from 2015 (1,634) to 2016 (1,032). In response to Amnesty International’s figures, he said: “Every execution violates innate human dignity.”
Graffiti anger
Sectarian graffiti on a Clyde bridge has been condemned by the Archdiocese of Glasgow as a “reminder of an ugly subculture”. The words “Kill all Catholics” were visible on the Tradeston Bridge for four days before being removed. A council spokesman did not respond to the suggestion that anti-graffiti teams had been told to prioritise anti-Muslim graffiti. Glasgow North MP Patrick Grady said “sectarianism in any form should be condemned”.
Seminary’s role queried
The suitability of the national seminary in Maynooth for preparing seminarians for the twenty-first-century Church has been questioned by Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry.
In an interview with BBC Two Northern Ireland’s Beart is Briathar programme, Bishop McKeown said that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin had raised “important questions” about Maynooth last August when it emerged that some seminarians were using the gay dating app, Grindr.
The archbishop announced that in future he would send his trainee priests to Rome to complete their studies.
“Maybe we shouldn’t send anyone to somewhere like Maynooth,” Bishop McKeown said. He cited the model currently used in Paris where student priests live in groups of five or six in a parish house and attend university from that base. There are 60 resident seminarians at Maynooth.
Sex-teaching plea
Benedictine writer Fr Mark Patrick Hederman, has urged the Church to modernise its “stifling teachings on sex” in his new book. The former abbot of Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick has also called for a national discussion on sex, celibacy and ethics in his latest publication, The Opal and the Pearl. Referring to the vote in the referendum legalising gay marriage in Ireland, he said there was now acceptance that sexuality does happen for reasons other than procreation.
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