Cardinal prays for Grenfell
On the first anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people on 14 June last year, the Archbishop of Westminster called for prayers for all who had been involved in the “unforgettable disaster”.
At a Mass held at St Francis of Assisi, Notting Hill, London on Wednesday Cardinal Vincent Nichols prayed for the repose of the souls of those who died in the most deadly domestic blaze in Britain since the Second World War. Present at the Mass were the families of many of the victims and other former residents of Grenfell and some of the hundreds of volunteers who assisted at St Francis in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. They were joined by ecumenical guests Revd Dr Alan Everett from St Clement and St James’ Anglican Church and Revd Dr Mike Long from Notting Hill Methodist Church.
In his homily, the Cardinal spoke of the importance of prayer which “equips us to live together even through the worst of times, as has been shown in this parish, this neighbourhood, in the very worst of those times.”
After the Mass, the congregation gathered in the courtyard outside the church where Fr Gerard Skinner, the Parish Priest of St Francis, together with Imam Fahim Mazhary from the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre and Yousif Al-Khoei from the Al-Khoei Foundation read out the names of all who died in the fire, followed by 72 seconds of silence. After the silence the Cardinal blessed a plaque and a statue that commemorate the 15 children, women and men of the parish who were killed.
Cura closes after 41 years
The Catholic Church crisis pregnancy agency Cura has closed after 41 years due to a decrease in “service demands”. The agency, which assisted women in dealing with crisis pregnancy through its national helpline, said in a statement that when they first began operating in 1977 they were one of just two agencies providing this “vital service”. Cura pointed out that today there are 14 such agencies “operating in a new regulatory environment with changing counselling quality standards compliance requirements”.
The Irish Bishops’ Conference at their June meeting said they “shared the regret” of Cura’s national executive council that Cura has been compelled to close “due to the decrease in demand for its services and the accreditation requirements associated with the new regulatory environment.”
Anglican rural wifi plan
The Church of England has started work with Shared Access, the owner and operator of a wireless communications infrastructure, in a bid to add mobile phone masts to churches to reduce the number of rural connectivity blackspots, the Financial Times reports. Based in Dublin, Shared Access is understood to be working with local church authorities to enable them to make financial deals with network operators.
A Labour MSP James Kelly has claimed the Scottish government is treating the Catholic community in Scotland with “contempt” by failing to include an official Catholic Church representative in a working group attempting to define sectarianism. Mr Kelly spoke in a debate at Holyrood on the independent review of hate crime legislation chaired by Lord Bracadale. He said that he welcomed the setting up of the working group, “because definitions are important”.
However, he continued, “there is a real problem for the government in terms of membership of that group; there is no formal member of the Catholic Church.”
Canon Thomas Deenihan, a priest of the Diocese of Cork and Ross, has been appointed as the new Bishop of Meath in the province of Armagh, Ireland.
The Bishop of Cork and Ross, John Buckley, welcomed the appointment, announced on 18 June, describing “Canon Tom” as “a man of strong faith, good judgement, very committed to his priestly duties and fully realising that our lives as priests can only be sustained by prayer”.
Ordained in 1990, the Bishop-elect has worked in Glanmire Parish (1991-1994) and taught in Saint Goban’s College, Bantry between 1994 and 2003.
“I offer my sincere congratulations and prayerful support to Bishop-elect Deenihan on a joyous day for him, his family, friends and for the faithful of the 69 parishes of Meath,” said the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin.
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