More than half of UK adults with problem debt have used “buy now pay later” services within the past year to buy items they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford, according to new research carried out by the national debt charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP). In Savanta Comres polling, 60 per cent of adults with problem debt have used such credit-based services, and 79 per cent of that group worry about making the resulting repayments. CAP are encouraging those with debt worries to engage with their free financial advice and debt management services as part of their ongoing #BreakFree campaign.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols and the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis are among faith leaders who have voiced strong support for the Platinum Jubilee Beacons and urged their communities to take part. Faith leaders congratulated the Queen on 70 years as monarch and encouraged people to light beacons in her honour. More than 1,500 Platinum Jubilee Beacons will be lit across the UK and Commonwealth on the first evening of the four-day Jubilee Weekend, on Thursday 2 June 2022.
Prof Symeon Dagkas has beeb appointed new provost and chief academic officer at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Professor Dagkas joined St Mary’s in 2018 and has held the position of acting provost for the past six months, following the retirement of Professor John Charmley, the university’s first provost.
The former Anglican Bishop of Chester was received into the Catholic Church in 2021, it was confirmed last week. Peter Forster, who stepped down as bishop in 2019 after 22 years, was received in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where he retired with his wife. He was the fourth former member of the Church of England’s House of Bishops to become a Catholic last year, following Michael Nazir-Ali, John Goddard, and Jonathan Goodall, who resigned as Bishop of Ebbsfleet. Forster had supported the ordination of women and their elevation to the episcopacy, but has more recently been critical of its effects on ecumenism. As a member of the English Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee from 2001 to 2010, he said he regretted the change in ecumenical relations “from a vision of full visible unity to an essentially debased vision of reconciled diversity”.
The Bishops of Scotland have restored the Sunday Obligation to attend Mass from March 6, a little less than two years after public Mass was suspended by the Holyrood government. Bishop Hugh Gilbert, president of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, said: “Given the easing of restrictions in every other walk of life, the Church looks forward to welcoming Catholics back to Holy Mass.” There remains an exemption for those who are sick, and for carers.
The Redemptorists in Ireland have called for a review of the case of Fr Tony Flannery who was suspended from public ministry ten years ago. According to NCR, Fr Dan Baragry CSsR, Provincial Superior of the Irish province, said the sanctions imposed on the priest over his views of women’s ordination and the nature of priesthood were “disproportionate” and “without time-limits”. Baragry said, “It is striking that at all levels of the Church, Church leaders and theologians, are freely expressing perspectives similar to those articulated by Fr Flannery, for which he has apparently received a life-long penalty.” The Redemptorists in Ireland are supporting Fr Flannery’s call for a review of the process by which his case was dealt with by the CDF. This has also been supported by Co Mayo priest, Fr Kevin Hegarty. Writing in the Mayo News, he said an independent review is the least Fr Flannery deserved.
The Prince of Wales has visited Dr Irina Bradley’s “Metamorphosis” icon exhibition at the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception in Farm Street, Mayfair, meeting the artist, her family and staff and clergy of the church. He also met volunteers and others involved with the church’s ministry to homeless people.
Dermot Farrell, the Archbishop of Dublin, paid tribute to women and men in consecrated life saying that despite the reduced visibility of religious life in recent years, vowed religious remain “deeply valued”. In responding to the cry of refugees, of migrants and of other vulnerable groups, he added, such men and women “build up the body of Christ in their lives”. Consecrated religious, of which 2,500 reside in the archdiocese of Dublin, are of “immense value” in “their very being”, Farrell said. Ending his homily by quoting St Pope Paul VI’s Spiritual Testament, he asked the assembled lay people, priests and religious to encourage each other in living out the hope expressed in Pope Paul’s words.
On Sunday 13 February, Racial Justice Sunday, Southwark’s St George’s Cathedral will host a special Mass, celebrated by Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark, to recognise the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Catholic community in southeast England. The 10am Mass on the theme, ‘One in Christ’, is being organised by the diocese, in collaboration with the newly-formed Southwark Commission for Promoting Racial and Cultural Inclusion. The Commission’s key message is that there is no place for racism in Southwark’s parishes, schools and churches. Leaders and members of Ethnic Chaplaincies in England and Wales have been invited to the Mass. The service will be live-streamed on the RC Southwark YouTube channel.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols joined Catholic and Anglican bishops for a two-day joint meeting in Liverpool on Tuesday. Those present for the talks on Christian unity included the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon. This was the first joint meeting of the members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Church of England’s House of Bishops since January 2019, when they gathered in Leicester. The event began with midday prayers in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool’s Catholic cathedral, and was followed by a half-mile “fraternal pilgrimage walk” along Hope Street to the Anglican cathedral on St James’s Mount.
The lead Bishop for Asia in the Bishops’ Conference Department for International Affairs in England and Wales has called for Catholics to pray for the people of Myanmar and the restoration of democracy. Speaking last week, on the first anniversary of the military coup, Bishop Tom Neylon, auxiliary in Liverpool, pointed out that 1,400 people have been killed over the past year and many unjustly detained. He reported that Myanmar’s bishops warn of “thousands are on the move, millions are starving” and “we are witnessing ever more attacks against civilians, including those seeking sanctuary inside churches.” They have called for “a lasting peace rooted in justice.” Bishop Neylon urged the British government to continue playing its part through diplomacy, providing humanitarian assistance, supporting efforts to halt the flow of weapons, and protecting those who have fled the violence. Cardinal Vincent has also written to Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, offering his personal greetings and assurances of his prayers and those of the Catholic community.
UK-based Catholic Concern for Animals is launching a major new campaign in 2022, to end bullfighting in Catholic countries. “This campaign will involve working in all those countries we identify as complicit in this appalling ‘spectacle’ to educate on the barbarity of the bullfight,” Chief Executive Chris Fegan writes in their latest newsletter. “We will work with all interested groups and individuals to try and bring an end to this abhorrent activity,” he adds. Regan points out that, in Laudato Si’ Pope Francis says: “Clearly the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism, unconcerned for other creatures.” He said: “So why do so many bullfights and other activities involving the torture of bulls still continue in many Catholic countries today, including Spain, Portugal and in South America?"
The Chair of the Irish Bishops’ Council for Healthcare has said the pastoral care of the sick is not just a task for a few designated ministers but of all the baptised. Welcoming Pope Francis’ message for World Day of the Sick, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”, Bishop Michael Router said people who are sick or in pain are isolated from others and that is why Jesus made healing and pastoral outreach to the sick such an important part of the Christian life. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the institution of World Day of the Sick by Pope Saint John Paul II. The day encourages everyone to be attentive to those who are suffering and to support those who care for them. In his message, Pope Francis stressed that even in developed countries the presence of Catholic healthcare facilities are a blessing because they offer the gift of charity, focus on the sick and their families, and protect and care for all life from its beginning to its natural end. Bishop Router said that the service to the sick is a mission assigning the work of healthcare workers with a special dignity but that much still has to be done to ensure that those who are poor or marginalised receive the health care and pastoral care they need.
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