Tour operator Pax Travel has ceased trading as a holder of an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence. The Civil Aviation Authority said: “Pax Travel Ltd - ATOL 3011 has ceased trading as an ATOL holder on 22nd December 2021.” The company is still registered with Companies House, but its confirmation statement, due on November 2021, is overdue and highlighted in red on their website. Pax Travel held an ATOL up until 30 September 2021. ATOL is a UK financial protection scheme. Established more than 40 years ago, Pax Travel specialised in organising Christian pilgrimages tours to Rome, Santiago de Compostela, Malta and Mexico. Martin Pendergast, who was due to lead the fourth LGBT+ Pilgrimage to Rome in February 2022, told The Tablet that he had been unable to obtain a response from Pax Travel. Mr Pendergast added: “People have paid deposits but it is unclear what our recourse can now be. Although their booking form displays ABTA and ATOL logos, Pax Travel does not appear to be listed among their agencies.” The Tablet has not been able to reach Pax Travel for further information. Kent-based Tangney Tours has offered to advise people affected on their office number 01732 886666.
The ecumenical group Green Christian is urging people to adopt new year resolutions such as measuring and reducing carbon footprint, becoming vegan and engaging with MPs on climate change and biodiversity.
A new report by Christian Aid, Counting the cost 2021: a year of climate breakdown, identifies 10 destructive events which cost $1.5 billion or more. Among them is Hurricane Ida which struck the US in August costing $65 billion and killing 95 people. July floods in Europe cost $43 billion and killed 240, while floods in China's Henan province caused $17.5 billion of destruction and killed 320. In addition, the extreme weather events caused severe human suffering from food insecurity, drought and mass displacements. Christian Aid said that in 2022, more must be done to provide financial support to the most vulnerable countries, in particular the creation of a fund to deal with loss and damage suffered in poor countries due to the climate crisis.
The award of a knighthood to Tony Blair in the New Year Honours has prompted criticism from peace campaigners. “I'm very surprised,” Pax Christi Vice-President Bruce Kent told The Tablet, adding: “I would have thought that for the illegal and immoral Iraq war some sort of public penance would have been more appropriate.” A petition started on New Year's Day to remove Tony Blair's knighthood had reached around 400,000 signatures within two days. Under Blair’s leadership, the UK joined the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, a decision which culminated in a devastating report by Sir John Chilcot in 2016 which found he overplayed evidence about Saddam Hussein's weaponry.
Caritas, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) and the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) were among the Catholic social outreach charities supporting people in need at Christmas. On Christmas Day in London, Farm Street Jesuit Church, the home of Central London Catholic Churches homeless services, hosted a lunch. Fr Dominic Robinson, SJ, Parish Priest of Farm Street and Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace,said: “The rough sleeping situation on the streets of London this Christmas shows how this problem isn’t going away but is getting worse, but, thankfully, this is being matched by the incredible generosity of volunteers and donors who want to put faith into action.”
Aleem Maqbool has been appointed as the BBC’s new religion editor. Currently BBC News’ North America correspondent, Aleem has been based in Washington DC since 2014. He has worked at the BBC for nearly 20 years, reporting on political and social news stories across the USA and beyond for TV, radio and online audiences. His previous postings include Pakistan correspondent and Gaza/West Bank correspondent.
Radio Maria England has been awarded a grant to explore the relationship between science and faith through the church engagement programme Scientists in Congregations, which is run by Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science. The series, Science and Faith, navigates the relationship between science and faith and explores topics such as neuroscience or genetic modification, health, and nutrition as well as mathematics.
The Catholic bishops in Scotland have postponed the restoration of the Sunday obligation because of the worsening pandemic. Earlier this year, the Scottish bishops decided to restore the obligation from January. The Irish bishops and the bishops of England and Wales however agreed to postpone any such restoration. The bishops said: “At the beginning of Advent the Bishops of Scotland looked forward to welcoming the faithful back to Holy Mass and anticipated that the restoration of the Sunday obligation might be possible as we begin the New Year. Sadly, there has been a serious worsening of the situation and the restoration of the obligation will be postponed until a more favourable time.”
The founder of the Irish homeless charity, Sophia, has welcomed the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of its first resolution on homelessness. Sr Jean Quinn, a member of the Daughters of Wisdom, hailed the landmark resolution which urges governments across the globe to address the causes of homelessness and provide supports for those who have experienced homelessness. As executive director of UNANIMA International at the UN, the Irish nun played a key role in getting the resolution passed. She was part of a panel of global experts on homelessness who met in Kenya in 2019 and began drafting and advocating for a UN resolution on homelessness. As co-chair of the Working Group to End Homelessness, a coalition of 31 organisations advocating for global action on homelessness, Sr Jean brought the experience and voices of those directly impacted by homelessness to the UN. Welcoming the resolution she said, “Member states must be accountable for their plans to address homelessness and it is hoped that this level of accountability will be the driver to support thousands of people across the world to have a home of their own.”
A new religious education programme for senior cycle non–exam RE classes has been launched by the Bishops’ Council for Catechetics for use in Catholic voluntary secondary schools in Ireland. “Credible Catholic” is based on a 2018 programme written and produced by Fr Robert Spitzer SJ and the Magis Centre in California. However, this new programme has been reworked for an Irish context in line with feedback from RE teachers and theological advisors. The programme aims to promote critical reasoning, stimulate dialogue, foster religious literacy and build community. Each of the seven modules of the programme aligns with sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and is developed with the specific educational aims of Catholic schools in mind. The chair of the Council for Catechetics, Bishop Brendan Leahy, told Fr Spitzer that the content communicates effectively the intellectual and spiritual richness of the Catholic faith. “It promises to be an important resource for RE teachers in post-primary education.”
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