Catholic activists, anti-poverty campaigners and educators were among those recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours this year. The vice chancellor of Liverpool Hope University, Professor Gerald Pillay, has been awarded an OBE for his services to education, as has Maura Regan, chief executive officer of the Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust. Sophie Andreae, vice chair of the Patrimony Committee of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has been awarded a CBE for services to heritage. Previously at English Heritage and a respected architectural historian, her work for the Catholic Church is unpaid. Maureen Carroll, who volunteers with HCPT, a charity that offers pilgrimages to Lourdes for disabled and disadvantaged people, was awarded the BEM for services to her local community. Justice and Peace fieldworker Steve Atherton was awarded an MBE for services to the community in Liverpool. Nigel Biggar, Regius professor of moral and pastoral theology at Oxford University, a priest in the Church of England who was appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life in 2017, received a CBE for his services to higher education. A number of church-run food banks and other initiatives were commended, with the founder of the group Working for Food Justice at the West Cheshire Food Bank, the Revd Christine Jones, awarded a BEM for services to the community during Covid-19. The Covid-19 pandemic was cited in 23 per cent of recommendations. Of the 1,129 people recognised, half were women, and 15 per cent from an ethnic minority background, making the list the most ethnically diverse to date.
Dom Mark Barrett has been elected as the new Abbot of Worth Abbey in West Sussex. An author and educator, Abbot Mark has written extensively on Christian spirituality. He succeeds Luke Jolly, who is retiring having completed his eight-year term of office
Sir Michael Wilshaw has been appointed interim head of the Jewish Free School. Parents at the north London school had voiced concerns over disciplinary issues. Sir Michael, ranked by The Tablet in 2015 as the second most influential Catholic in Britain in its list of the top 100 lay Catholics, has spoken of the importance of diversity and inclusivity in faith schools.
A BBC radio documentary on the thousands of children fathered by Catholic priests has won this year’s journalism prize at the Sandford St Martin Trust awards, which recognise excellence in religious broadcasting. Hidden Children of the Church focused on the stories of three children of Catholic priests and how they dealt with the secrecy around their fathers’ true identities. Psychotherapist Vincent Doyle, who founded Coping International, a support group for children of Catholic priests, was at the heart of the award-winning BBC documentary. Speaking to The Tablet about the award, Vincent Doyle said that more than 46,000 people have logged on to the organisation’s website from the United Kingdom since the documentary aired.
Bishop John Sherrington, the bishop for life issues, has described the annual Day for Life on 20 June as an opportunity “to pray for the gift of life from conception to natural death, to raise awareness of the precious gift of life, and to support the work of protecting life in its most vulnerable stages through the annual collection”. He warned against the legalisation of “assisted suicide” in Britain. There is now a private members’ bill in the House of Lords on assisted dying and, he said: “It is only a matter of time before the issue is back in the House of Commons”. Last week, the bishop called for an end to “at- home” abortions ahead of the expiration of a temporary measure, in place during the pandemic This has allowed women to take both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks’ gestation in their own homes following a telephone or e-consultation with a clinician.
The new Bishop of Ferns has said that he believes the Church in Ireland is at a “turning point”. On Friday, Pope Francis announced the appointment of 62-year-old Co Clare priest Fr Ger Nash as Bishop Denis Brennan’s successor in Ferns. Bishop Brennan submitted his resignation last year when he turned 75. In St Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Bishop-elect Nash spoke about the forthcoming Synod of Bishops in Rome in 2023 and the synodal journey upon which the Irish Church is embarking.
A Catholic primary school in Co. Wicklow, Ireland has said that it will not use Flourish, the relationships and sexual education programme (RSE) developed by the Irish bishops’ conference for Catholic primary schools because it discriminates against LGBT+ people. Lacken National School’s decision follows protests by parents of children attending the school. Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin is the school’s patron. The Irish Times revealed this week that parents did not feel the Flourish programme was “fit for purpose when teaching RSE to children. It is discriminatory to LGBTQ+ children and families and it does not correspond with the view of the state”, their letter to the board of management stated.
Organisations including CSAN, Caritas Salford and the Jesuit Refugee Service UK marked Refugee Week this week with events discussing Catholic community sponsorship and online education for refugees during the pandemic. The Society of St Vincent de Paul asked the Home Office to embed principles of compassion and human dignity into its New Plan for Immigration.
Four men were ordained as deacons at Westminster Cathedral last Saturday, 12 June). Bishop Paul McAleenan, an auxiliary of Westminster, presided.
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