Parishes across England and Wales are preparing to mark Peace Sunday this weekend. Pax Christi said almost 20,000 prayer cards have been distributed at the request of parishes and groups nationwide, and members of the peace group will speak at various events, including on a “Peace Trail” around Cambridge focussing on East Anglian men and women who worked for peace and social justice.
Canon John O’Toole, former National Ecumenical Officer and Secretary to the Department for Dialogue and Unity at the Bishops’ Conference, has been appointed as Episcopal Vicar for Kent. Canon O’Toole, who has worked at the Bishops’ Conference since 2015, will hold the post until a new auxiliary bishop is appointed to Southwark by the Holy See.
Jesuits in Britain has joined 10 other institutional shareholders in asking Barclays to phase out its financing of fossil fuel companies. The 11 investors, who together manage over £130 billion, filed a shareholder resolution at the bank that will be voted on at the annual general meeting in May 2020. The resolution, the first climate change resolution filed at a European bank, asks Barclays to stop financing companies not aligned with the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Stephen Power of the Jesuits in Britain said: “Climate change is the most pressing challenge the world faces... The scale of the challenge means large global banks should do all they can to help avert the severe financial risks that could result from a failure to meet the Paris goals.”
Blackfriars Hall in Oxford has expanded into a building formerly used as a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The four-storey building on St Giles, close to Blackfriars Hall, will provide four new student bedrooms, shared spaces for researchers, dedicated teaching and meeting rooms, offices, and a new Student Common Room. A spokesperson for Blackfriars said that the expansion is one of four strategic steps being taken in the run-up to the 800th anniversary of Blackfriars’ first foundation in 2021. In November 2019 a fundraising campaign was launched to offset the cost of the expansion, which has climbed to well over £1m.
Church groups that work with asylum seekers have criticised the Government for scrapping protections for child refugees, known as the Dubs amendment, in the redrafted EU withdrawal agreement bill. In a joint statement, Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, Seeking Sanctuary, and People Not Walls called for migrants to be given, “respect for their human rights, especially the right to seek asylum”. They urged the Government to reinstate its promise to negotiate with the EU on behalf of young asylum seekers across Europe. Barbara Kentish, interim coordinator of People not Walls, said: “We call on all Churches, faith communities and people of goodwill to stand up for the rights of these children and young people who have already experienced enough trauma in their young lives.”
The Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan, has announced that the diocese will observe a day of prayer and reparation for sexual abuse committed by and against members of the Church, especially children. The event will take place at Portsmouth Cathedral on the first Sunday of Lent, Bishop Egan announced on Twitter. A day of prayer for abuse victims and survivors is marked by the Church in England and Wales every year on the Friday of the fifth week of Lent.
Members of Pax Christi attended an anti-war demonstration in London this weekend, calling for a de-escalation of the situation in Iran. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and peace activist Bruce Kent addressed the rally, with Mr Kent, 90, telling the crowd: “We're here to work for justice, peace, equality amongst peoples ... so let's carry on with that work, however old you are".
A fingerless mitten worn by St Padre Pio to cover his stigmata drew a crowd of more than 1,000 people to a Co Kerry parish church last week. Devotions at the Church of Saints Stephen and John in Castleisland were led by popular Capuchin, Fr Bryan Shortall, who is the National Director for the Padre Pio Apostolate in Ireland. Speaking to RTE, Fr Shortall explained the popularity of the Italian saint’s relic. “We all have favourite sports stars. We all like the Roy Keane jersey, or the Christy Ring jersey or the Cristiano Ronaldo jersey or Larry Mullen’s drumsticks. So, in a religious sense, the Padre Pio mitten is one such way of people connecting to Christ, primarily through the intercession of a saint.” Blessings with Padre Pio’s mitten will also be available at the Capuchin Friary in Church Street in Dublin on 23 February.
The threat of vandalism should not force parish churches to shut their doors, and churches should instead consider installing CCTV, a parish priest in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin said after two churches in the diocese were attacked last weekend. Fr Paddy Byrne of the Church of the Most Holy Rosary in Abbeyleix, Co Laois said he was disappointed by the “mindless act of vandalism” that took place in his own parish, which saw a new candelabra “totally destroyed”, and noted that churches are particularly vulnerable because “we choose to keep our doors open” to offer people a retreat from the busy world. He said religious buildings like churches and mosques “shouldn’t have to shut up shop over the fear of vandalism”. But he said the two incidents were a wakeup call to churches to be “on top of their game” in relation to safeguarding their property. On Saturday, parish priest Fr Willie Byrne and parishioners of the small rural Church of the Holy Trinity in Allen, Co Kildare were shocked to discover it had been substantially damaged when thieves ripped out the Tabernacle as well as stealing the safe from the sacristy, and the candle shrine from the back of the church.
A fresh outbreak of anti-Catholic graffiti in Glasgow has been described as “saddening” by the Church in Scotland. Despite recent attempts to characterise anti-Catholic abuse as a historical problem, the Church statement said that “tackling the problem first requires that it be accurately measured”. Anti-Catholic graffiti have been found on the main Kingston Bridge in Glasgow, one of the busiest thoroughfares in Scotland. A spokesperson for TranServ, which deals with upkeep of the road transport network, said that staff had been diverted from important maintenance duties to remove the graffiti.
Catholic Peoples Weeks has launched a programme of events to mark the organisation’s seventy-fifth anniversary year. Celebrations start with a February weekend on Prophetic Imagination at Hinsley Hall in Leeds, which is due to hear from David McLoughlin, Emeritus Fellow of Christian Theology at Newman University, Birmingham. Among nine other CPW events organised in 2020 will be a walking week in North Wales in June and a cycling week in the Cotswolds in August. A seventy-fifth anniversary celebration will be held at St Cassian’s Centre in Kintbury on Saturday 15 August. See the full events programme at: https://catholicpeoplesweeks.org/events/
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