The Society of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) is to mark its bicentenary next year by committing to fight climate change. In a statement that linked the climate emergency to the theology of the Pope’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, with humanity’s relationship with the earth, and the demand for social justice, the FCJ sisters pledged to plant ten trees per community or group in 2020, to endeavor to divest all FCJ homes and communities of single-use plastics, and to become involved in environmental advocacy where possible. The FCJ will also contribute financial support for an alternative energy project. The FCJ, which was founded in France in 1820, will also celebrate its bicentenary with a number of events throughout 2019-2020, including a Day of Kindness at FCJ schools on 20 September 2019 that will be marked with tea parties for the elderly and other “random acts of kindness”.
The Bishop of Motherwell has said that St Thérèse of Lisieux, whose relics are currently on a tour around Scotland, is a personal inspiration for his ministry as a bishop. Speaking to thousands of pilgrims at the national shrine in Carfin, where Thérèse’s reliquary has been on view, Bishop Joseph Toal said that his busy ministry “is sometimes burdensome… when you’re not getting any younger you feel the strain of things heavier upon you”. “St Thérèse was a great inspiration for us in the sense that it didn’t actually matter the amount of things you had to do but it was the spirit you did them in and that you gave of yourself as fully as you could to the particular thing you were doing at that time,” he said. On Thursday [12 September] St Thérèse’s relics were received at St Columba’s Cathedral in Oban by Bishop Brian McGee of Argyll and the Isles, where they will remain until September 14.
The chief executive of homelessness charity Depaul UK, Mike Thiedke, has hit out at the government’s decision not to end a five-week wait for Universal Credit as part of its spending review. Speaking after the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, delivered his spending review statement last week, Mr Thiedke said: “Funding to make Universal Credit work better for people who are homeless will help, but the five-week wait will still force vulnerable young people without a home to choose between taking on debt or trying to survive with no money whatsoever.” He also warned that no action had been taken to raise local housing allowance to match rents. “The gap between rents and housing benefit is trapping young people in homelessness,” he noted.
Cafod staff and supporters are to join in with climate strikes to be held in towns and cities across the UK on 20 and 27 September. The global strikes are designed to call attention to the climate emergency and are modelled on ongoing strike action by schoolchildren.
The Ecumenical Adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Revd Dr William Adam, has been appointed the new Director of Unity, Faith and Order for the Anglican Communion. Dr Adam will have overall staff responsibility for the ecumenical dialogues in which the global Anglican Communion is engaged, including with the Catholic Church.
An annual pilgrimage in honour of the only Scottish woman to be put forward for sainthood has been held in Edinburgh. The shrine of Venerable Margaret Sinclair, a Poor Clares nun who died in 1925, is in St Patrick’s Church, Cowgate, where an annual Mass is held in her honour. After being denied entry to the Edinburgh Poor Clares community, she was admitted to the convent in London, becoming Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds. She contacted tuberculosis of the throat and died in an Essex sanatorium at the age of 25. Her body was subsequently returned to Edinburgh. In 2015 Archbishop Leo Cushley revived a campaign to secure sainthood for Margaret Sinclair, who had been declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1978, on the centenary of the restoration of the Scottish hierarchy.
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