The task of announcing new Church of England bishops will fall to a minister other than the Prime Minister following Boris Johnson’s Catholic marriage to Carrie Symonds in Westminster Cathedral last week. Mr Johnson, who was baptised Catholic, has been described as Britain’s first Catholic prime minister, which means that under the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 he may no longer advise the monarch on episcopal appointments. The role – now mostly ceremonial, as appointments are agreed by the Crown Nominations Commission and passed to the Queen by Number 10 – will most likely be taken on by the Lord Chancellor, according to The Times.
The Catholic Union has written to the Faiths Minister, Lord Greenhalgh, calling on the Government to partner with faith groups over post-Covid recovery. The letter notes that faith groups were not mentioned in the Queen’s Speech, despite the role they have played in helping communities survive the pandemic. Among the Catholic Union’s suggestions is an enhanced Gift Aid scheme, and calls to encourage local authorities to work more closely with faith groups.
The current shortage of vocations to the priesthood and religious life could be discerned as God calling for change in the Church, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin has said. In his homily on the Feast of St Kevin at Dublin’s Pro Cathedral, the archbishop said: “Perhaps the Lord is indicating that it is time to make the necessary choices to build new models of ministry.” He underlined that a decreasing number of priests cannot limit themselves to an ever-increasing number of sacramental celebrations. “This situation requires decision and discernment to know what we bring with us from the past into the future.” It also implied “a different role and a new self- understanding by those of us in ministerial priesthood” and that there must be an appreciation that all the baptised share this mission. Archbishop Farrell stressed that the new face of the Church must be one where women and young people have a different visibility.
An Ordinariate priest in Scotland who converted his summer house into an oratory dedicated to St Joseph has made it to the finals of the Cuprinol Shed of the Year contest. Fr Len Black live-streamed Mass from the oratory in Inverness throughout lockdown.
Churches in Cornwall held prayer meetings ahead of the G7 meeting this week. On Thursday, the eve of the summit, an interfaith service was due to be live-streamed from Truro Cathedral, with contributions from the Bishop of Plymouth, Mark O’Toole, Cafod partners, interfaith leaders and Fr Augusto Zampini, adjunct secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Soon after the G7 meeting, a youth walking relay, organised by the Young Christian Climate Network, will set off for COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, arriving at the end of October. Walkers will carry a model boat whose sail is made from fabrics donated by climate-vulnerable communities.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS UK) will mark Refugee Week (14-20 June) with a festival celebrating the creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary in Britain. The Open Writing Space Showcase on Wednesday 16 June at 6.30 p.m. on Zoom will highlight the creative writing of refugees. A poetry book, Home Is a Feeling not a Place, edited by Laila Sumpton, will be for sale, with all proceeds going to the work of JRS UK.
An online conference due to take place today tomorrow, 12 June, will consider whether Catholic schools are worth keeping in Northern Ireland. The conference, hosted by the Iona Institute, will hear from Professor Francis Campbell, vice chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia, a former UK ambassador to the Holy See; Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry; Marie Lindsay, award-winning former principal of St Mary’s College, Derry; and Professor Peter Finn, principal of St Mary’s University College, Belfast.
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