Calls for peace education programmes, divestment from companies producing weapons of war, and support for the Movement for the Abolition of War were among the campaigns suggested at the end of a Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament event in Oxford last Saturday. Held at the Quaker House in Oxford on the theme, “Building Bridges for Peace”, it is an annual event to remember Barbara Eggleston, the campaign’s first coordinator who died 17 years ago. Steve Hucklesby, of the joint public issues team, chaired the part of the day dedicated to campaigning for peace. The interfaith event looked at the ways in which teachings of peace and nonviolence in sacred writings can build bridges between different faiths and cultures.
Durham diocese in the Church of England has voted to support divestment from fossil fuel companies and ruled out future fossil fuel investments. The diocese also plans to develop its response to the climate emergency and to support its investment managers in taking further steps towards a 2030 net zero target. The diocese is the sixth in the Church of England diocese to make a commitment to divest from fossil fuel, after Oxford, Bristol, Sodor and Man, Truro and Norwich. James Buchanan, Bright Now campaign manager for Operation Noah, said: “This was a significant step on the final day of COP26, as voices from marginalised communities were calling for climate justice and no new fossil fuel exploration and extraction.” He said he hoped the decision will inspire many other Church of England dioceses to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions. Last month, 72 faith institutions, including 37 from the UK, joined the largest-ever divestment announcement by religious organisations.
The need for the Legion of Mary is perhaps even greater today than 100 years ago, Bishop of Meath Tom Deenihan said at a Mass to mark the forty-first anniversary of the death of the Servant of God, Frank Duff, who founded the organisation 100 years ago in 1921. Addressing Legion of Mary members from throughout Ireland in St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin, Bishop Deenihan said that the sex workers that the early Legion members assisted “have now become the trafficked women from around the world who are sent to every Irish county, to be used and exploited”. The homeless were still present, and those who did not know the joy and hope of the Gospel are “our colleagues, neighbours and relations”. In his homily, he continued: “The private Catholic is, by nature, a poor missionary.” This, he said, was something the Legion of Mary understood. While membership of the Legion in Ireland was reducing, he said it is growing in Africa, South America and South Korea, with three million members in over 170 countries and a handbook that has been translated into 100 languages.
A tape recording of Sr Wendy Beckett reading Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love, has been released as an audio CD after being lost for 28 years. Publisher Donna Triggs, who originally worked with Sr Wendy to create the master recording in 1993, was delighted that the old analogue tape could be restored. She said: "Sr Wendy's voice remains as clear and joyful as it was the day I first heard her read Julian's words.” Sr Wendy was a huge fan of Julian of Norwich. Her Revelations of Divine Love, written between the 14th and 15th centuries, is the earliest surviving book in English written by a woman and is considered a devotional classic. Sr Wendy (1930-2018) became one of the most unlikely television stars in the 1990s when her unscripted shows from art galleries and churches around the world were a hit with the viewing public. She would leave her hermit-like life in a caravan at the enclosed Carmelite monastery at Quidenham in Norfolk to become an art critic and record presentations.
A Catholic parish priest is organising a ten mile walk and inviting laity to journey with him around the city of York in a literal response to walking the synodal pathway. Fr Daniel Seward CongOrat, an Oratorian religious and parish priest of St Wilfrid’s, York, has responded directly to the Pope’s call for a synodal church by declaring his intent to walk the York Orbital, an eight mile cycle path accessible from across the city.
Pact, the Prison Advice and Care Trust, is returning to The Church of the Immaculate Conception, also known as Farm Street Church, in Mayfair, London, for its Christmas carol service this year on 9 December. Last year’s didn’t happen because of Covid, and other organisations faced a similar problem or moved online. Attending the service this year will be Bishop Richard Moth, 'Prisons Bishop' for the Catholic Church; Bishop Rachel Treweek, 'Prisons Bishop' for the Anglican Church; and Lynn Cooper, the High Sheriff of Greater London. The evening will provide the chance to sing traditional Christmas carols live, hear festive readings and learn more about Pact’s work with prisoners and their families. Singing will be led by the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School Sixth Form Choir, directed by Scott Price.
Pupils from Saint Paul's Catholic High School in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester have launched the school's new Diversity Council. The students formed it to promote an environment of open debate about current social issues and to provide a forum through which students can feed their ideas to back to teachers. Paul Harrington, Assistant Headteacher, said, "at Saint Paul's, we are proud of the diversity of our students and staff and committed to promoting a positive and diverse culture in which all are valued and supported to fulfil their potential irrespective of their age, disability, race, religion, belief, sex or sexual orientation." The Diversity Council aims, “to work collaboratively to advocate and support diversity education in our school community and curriculum, to encourage opportunities for students, staff, and family to grow in their own understanding of diversity, and to promote equality of opportunity for all to be contributing community members.
The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered a parish priest in West Cork to reinstate a sacristan he dismissed following a drop in parish income due to the pandemic. Fr John McCarthy of Rosscarbery parish was ordered to overturn his dismissal of Michael Keohane, who had acted as sacristan for the parish for 26 years. Mr Keohane learned of his redundancy via a registered letter in June 2020. However, the Workplace Relations Commission judge, Patsy Doyle, found that Mr Keohane “was unfairly selected for redundancy amidst an attempt to address the diminution of income at the church”. She backdated Mr Keohane’s re-instatement to 7 July 2021 and ordered that on re-instatement, Mr Keohane repay the redundancy lump sum received. Ms Doyle said that Mr Keohane's exclusion from the decision-making process rendered it an unfair selection for redundancy and that “ongoing tension” in the employment relationship was a factor in Fr McCarthy's selection.
Permanent deacons are a “gift for the Church” and “do not detract from the vital role of the empowered laity,” Archbishop Michael Neary said as he ordained Tuam’s first three permanent deacons. In his homily for the ceremony at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Tuam, Archbishop Neary stressed that a vibrant diaconate enhances, expands and empowers the ministry of the laity, the religious and of the priesthood “since the diaconate is a God-given grace and gift to the Church”. He told the three men being ordained that as married men, as husbands and fathers, they brought an experience and expertise to the ordained ministry that is already “totally supportive of and fully committed to the vocation of the laity, of the priesthood, and of the consecrated way of life”. The ministry of the deacon, understood and exercised properly, does not detract and should never detract from the vital role of the empowered laity, he said. In October, a spokesperson for the Association of Catholic Priests criticised the decision by the Bishop of Limerick and the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin to proceed with a male-only diaconate in their dioceses, while a Vatican commission is still considering whether to reintroduce women deacons. Fr Roy Donovan, who is parish priest of Caherconlish, said he would like to see an Irish bishop publicly back women deacons to show that the Church is serious about reform. He called on men in every diocese in Ireland to show their solidarity with women by boycotting the diaconate until women are re-admitted to this role. Fr Donovan said a worldwide boycott of the diaconate in the Church, in solidarity with women, would “send a loud message to the Synod that women and men must be on a par where leadership, decision-making and voting at synods are concerned”. Permanent deacons can baptise, assist the priest during Mass and bless sacramental marriages as well as bring Communion to the sick and preside at funeral liturgies and carry out Christian burials.
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