Newman University in Birmingham has appointed Professor Jackie Dunne, currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton, as its next Vice-Chancellor. Professor Dunne, who has also worked at the University of Leicester and Coventry University, will join Newman in March 2020, following the retirement of Professor Scott Davidson.
Writer, broadcaster and author Mary Craig died on 3 December aged 91. Her bestselling memoir, Blessings, her account of the short life of her second son, Paul, born in 1956 with Hohler’s Syndrome, which left him severely handicapped and unable to engage emotionally with his parents, is regarded as a modern-day spiritual classic. She also wrote biographies of Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa and the Dalai Lama. An obituary will appear in next week's Tablet.
The Christian Brothers in Ireland have paid off all of their voluntary redress contribution to survivors of residential institutions, bringing the congregation’s total contribution to €30m since 2013. The Department of Education and Skills, which oversees the contributions to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (RISF) by the 18 religious congregations who managed the institutions, confirmed that the Christian Brothers had paid off their share of contributions. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of the Ryan Report into the operation of residential institutions. Some 15,579 people received compensation worth on average €62,250 under the Ryan Commission’s statutory redress scheme, which cost the state a total of €1.5bn.
Parishes in the Archdiocese of Dublin will lead sacramental preparation in the future as part of “significant” reforms to the current, schools-based approach, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has announced. The shift has been endorsed by the Dublin Diocesan Council of Priests and is the culmination of a process that began in September 2018 when a sacraments review group was set up to consult widely and make practical recommendations on future practice. One of the key findings that emerged was the view that the family has the primary responsibility for leading children in faith. Archbishop Martin has called for preparation and training of voluntary lay catechists and the development of resource materials to begin immediately.
A Scottish priest; Ooberfuse, a Catholic electro duo; and the children of Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall have all joined the race for Christmas number one, with Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall and Oberfuse’s single at 10/1 odds this week, the same odds as James Blunt and Mariah Carey. The song, Christmas Time, aims to raise money for victims of the forest in the Amazon rainforest. In Scotland Fr Willie Boyd of St Mary’s and St John Ogilvie’s parish and Rev Neil Urquhart of Fullarton Parish Church, both in Irvine, Ayrshire, want to promote environmental consciousness with their new single, Come to Save our Planet. The pair perform under the name The Shoes Brothers.
Faith leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, have called for an end to the tragedy of homelessness, lending their support to The Independent’s Christmas Homeless Appeal and the World’s Big Sleep Out, which took place last weekend and saw thousands of campaigners camp out overnight in Trafalgar Square in London and elsewhere. In their statement the faith leaders said: “In our capital city, there are 170,000 homeless people, as well as more than 1,200 people sleeping rough. A recent report showed that someone becomes street homeless every two hours. Behind the big statistics lie complicated human stories for every individual. They need our help to redress this social injustice.”
Vandals have damaged a Nativity scene in Aberdeen city centre, smashing a figure of the infant Jesus and knocking over other figures. The Bishop of Aberdeen, who presided at the blessing of the ecumenical display at St Nicholas Kirk, expressed his sorrow at this “particularly hurtful” act. Bishop Hugh Gilbert said that as part of Aberdeen Churches Together, “the diocese is trying to find a replacement baby Jesus for the Nativity scene, at least until Aberdeen City Council can find a replacement or have one made”. In a personal statement, Aberdeen’s deputy provost Jennifer Stewart, who is Catholic, described the vandalism as “mindless” and “a real attack on the Catholic and Christian community”. Two juveniles, aged 17 and 13, have been charged by Police Scotland.
The Church in Wales began celebrations for its centenary year on the First Sunday of Advent, marking 100 years since it became an independent part of the Anglican Communion. Events being held to mark the anniversary include celebration services in all six of the Church’s cathedrals on 7 June and a tour of Wales by the Archbishop of Canterbury in April. The centenary will be marked at the National Eisteddfod festival with a panel discussion on how the Church has served Wales since 1920 and what lessons the disestablished church has for today’s devolved government.
The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh has called on the government to address the prison crisis in Scotland, saying that: “Our prisons and the way we treat our prisoners tell us a lot about the social mores of our society.” Archbishop Leo Cushley was responding to an Audit Scotland report that found prisoner numbers had increased by more than 8 per cent in 2018/19 and prisons were now operating beyond capacity, posing a risk to the safety of both inmates and staff. The total prison population in Scotland was now over 8200 and set to rise further. Archbishop Cushley identified the decline in Home Detention Curfews, reviewed following a murder committed by a man on HDC, as a major cause for the increase. He said: “The length of time that we are putting people in prison for in Scotland seems to be a measure of a distorted politics or at the very least an aversion to risk”.
The bishop for migrants and refugees, Paul McAleenan, celebrated an Advent service for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) at the Jesuit church in Farm Street in Mayfair last week. The service of carols and readings included a drama piece by refugees about the trials of waiting, scripture readings and poetry read by refugees in English, French and Cantonese. “The JRS Advent service is an opportunity for refugees, volunteers and supporters to come together in a spirit of joy and anticipation,” Sarah Teather, Director of JRS UK, told The Tablet. “We were thrilled to have a full Church, including many refugees, who led much of the service as readers and performers and exhibited their artwork at the reception afterwards”. She pointed out that Christmas can be a lonely time for anyone who is separated from family, and she said that, “in the weeks before Christmas we try to create space for community, joy and friendship alongside delicious festive meals and gifts of warm clothes”.
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