The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) has criticised the Church of England for its handling of the issue, particularly the “appalling sexual abuse against children” that took place in the Diocese of Chichester.
In a report published last week, IICSA condemned the culture of “secrecy” within the Church and in particular the handling of abuse allegations against the former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball, who it said “was able to sexually abuse vulnerable teenagers and young men for decades”.
The former Bishop of Lewes in East Sussex and then of Gloucester was jailed in 2015 for offences against 18 teenagers and men between the 1970s and 1990s. His case and the abuse within the Diocese of Chichester were the subject of IICSA hearings that took place last year.
Call to leaders at pro-life rally
Thousands of people joined a March for Life in London last weekend. The pro-life march, which ended in Parliament Square, closed with prayers led by the Bishop of Paisley, John Keenan, who told those present: “If you’re a leader in society, civic, as an MP, or in the Church as a priest or a bishop, be brave, be courageous, because this battle will be won not just by the truth, but will be won by courage, too.”
Radcliffe rejects heresy claim
Fr Timothy Radcliffe (pictured), former Master of the Dominican Order, has denied that remarks he allegedly made about gay relationships constitute heresy.
As reported in The Tablet last week, an open letter to the Council of Bishops co-signed by a number of English Religious and scholars accused Pope Francis of heresy because he promoted Fr Radcliffe to a position in the Vatican.
The letter alleged that Fr Radcliffe had once said that gay relationships could be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.
Fr Radcliffe told The Tablet: “I presume that the text refers to the Pilling Report, commissioned by the Church of England, which, among other things, responded to the proposed legislation for gay marriage. What I said was that although there are aspects of a homosexual relationship that could be reflective of Christian love, it could not be the basis for a marriage since it is intrinsically infertile. Since it does not even consider that the homosexual couple become ‘one flesh’, there can be no marriage. All that seems perfectly orthodox to me!”
Sisters win planning battle
The Sisters of the Holy Cross have won a long-running legal battle with a Buckinghamshire parish council over the sale of a former convent school to a housing developer.
The parish council of Chalfont St Peter, which had opposed the sale of the land to developers, claimed that in 2010 the nuns deceived the local authority to get planning permission for the site.
On 7 May 2019, the High Court gave unequivocal judgment in favour of the Sisters and dismissed all of the parish council’s claims. The Sisters were found entirely innocent of fraud or wrongdoing and the parish council was ordered to pay their legal costs.
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh used his homily for Vocation Sunday to ask parishioners to give him feedback on the qualities they would like to see in their priests. The archbishop invited the people of Armagh to prayerfully reflect, and give him feedback, on two questions to help him plan for more vocations to the priesthood: what is the most important role that the priests of tomorrow will play in their diocese, and what qualities will they need to have?
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured) has warned that the divisions caused by Brexit may not heal for a generation. At the launch of Christian Aid Week, he said: “My worry is that the divisions in our country are now so deep and so pervasive that it could take a generation for us to reconcile these differences, bring people together and find a unified vision of our country, and a sense of purpose and direction that takes us forward into the modern world. It is not just that parliamentary deadlock. There’s a fundamental disagreement about what kind of Britain we are trying to be.”
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