The bishops’ conference of Scotland has welcomed the government’s decision to allow places of worship to open ahead of Easter weekend, after the proposed route out of lockdown indicated that churches would only be permitted to reopen on 5 April, Easter Monday. The bishops also called for any cap on numbers of worshippers to be determined by building size.
The two safeguarding bodies in the Church in England and Wales, the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission and the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service, are to be replaced by a new agency, called the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency. This follows a recommendation made by the Elliott Report into safeguarding procedures.
The General Synod of the Church of England met online last Saturday to discuss issues around safeguarding and the challenges for ministry posed by the pandemic. No legislation was discussed because it was an informal session. A formal session is planned for April.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has welcomed the publication of “Coming Home – tackling the housing crisis together”, a report by the Commission of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on Housing, Church and Community. It warns that around eight million people in England are living in overcrowded, unaffordable or unsuitable housing. Local government, churches, landlords and all in society must “share responsibility for change”. Cardinal Nichols described the housing crisis as “a national scandal”. He said the scale of poor housing “should shame us; so too should the fact that over 4,000 people will sleep rough in England tonight”.
The former Downing Street adviser and chief architect of the modern slavery act, Fiona Hill CBE, has called for a standalone supply chain bill to address the need for consumers to know where they are buying their products from – and to know what lies behind their production. She made her comments during The Tablet’s webinar, “A crime against humanity: fighting modern slavery in a post-pandemic world”. She said that such a bill would address the gaps in the supply chain clause in the modern slavery act.
A new report by the British Association for the Study of Religions has challenged the “institutional predominance of theology”, warning that the discipline of religious studies “is in danger of becoming institutionally invisible”. The report challenges a 2019 report by the British Academy, which it said conflated theology and religious studies, and drove “the closure and downsizing of departments in religious studies”.
Nine out of 10 Christian teenagers in the UK are concerned about the climate crisis, but only one in 10 believes their church is doing enough to respond, according to new research from Tearfund and The Youthscape Centre for Research. One respondent said: “Please create a culture where responding to climate change and justice are central to what the Church does.”
Cardinal Nichols has backed a new report by the Commission for Countering Extremism that draws attention to gaps in law that allow extremists to operate with impunity in the UK. “Our society must be characterised by a determination both to counter hateful extremism which seeks to inflict harm, and to protect freedom of speech,” he said.
The Irish bishops have appealed to public health authorities to make vaccines available to priests who are chaplains to nursing care facilities and who preside at funerals “as a matter of priority”. Bishop Michael Router, chairman of the Bishops’ Council for Healthcare, reiterated the bishops’ appeal to everyone to support the vaccination programmes in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland.
International Women’s Day on Monday is due to be marked by a number of Catholic organisations in Britain. Pax Christi is hosting an event celebrating non- violence and women peacemakers; the University of Edinburgh’s School of Divinity will examine how women are “translated out” of sacred texts; and a Tablet panel asks if there is a future for women in the Catholic Church. All events are online.
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