More than 2,500 people have signed a parents’ petition to reinstate the governors of John Fisher school in Purley. The governors were dismissed in a dispute over an invitation to the gay author Simon James Green to speak at the school. In a letter to parents posted on the Southwark education commission, the archdiocese says: “Some parents and pupils may have been disappointed by the cancellation of Mr Green’s talk and book-signing, and troubled by the press reports of the reasons for the cancellation. Concerns were raised with the archdiocese by parents who felt that some of the content of Mr Green’s books may be inappropriate for those aged 12-13 years and that the content did not align with what would be expected in a Catholic school. Having read some of the material, the archdiocese recommended that the school cancel Mr Green’s visit.”
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and more than 50 Anglican and Catholic bishops are among 200 church leaders who wrote to prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of the Government’s spring statement, calling on them to tackle the climate emergency and address the cost of living crisis. Catholic Union director, Nigel Parker, along with Professor Philip Booth from St Mary’s University, Twickenham and Andrei Rogobete from the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics also wrote to Sunak urging him to set up a commission to examine the tax burden on families. The debt help charity, Christians Against Poverty, is also pleading with the government to use everything at its disposal to help those on the lowest incomes through the coming months.
Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin has warned that women and children fleeing the war in Ukraine are being lured into prostitution networks across Europe. In his homily for St Patrick’s Day, the Archbishop noted that St Patrick was “a trafficked person” and he appealed to the Irish Government to address comprehensively the plight of enslaved and exploited women, children, and men who have come to Ireland. Referring to the current Trafficking in Persons’ Report (TIP) he highlighted that Ireland remains on a Tier 2 watch-list. “This is a source of immense shame. In this jurisdiction prosecutions are so low as to be farcical,” he said. The Archbishop thanked women religious who rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate victims of human trafficking. “As a country, we need to open our eyes to what is going on around us. We need to raise awareness of this underbelly of pervasive human degradation,” he said. The Mass for the national saint in St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin was attended by President Michael D. Higgins who took time afterwards to meet sculptor Timothy Schmalz and view a scale model of his work “Let the Oppressed go Free”. It depicts St Josephine Bakhita, a native of Darfur in Sudan, opening up the gates of the underworld and allowing those enslaved by trafficking to be set free. “Like Patrick, she was kidnapped and trafficked. Like Patrick, she was but a child, aged only nine,” Archbishop Farrell said and added that the sculpture captures the range of trafficked victims: child brides, young beggars, those trafficked for their organs, and both men and women enslaved by and for prostitution. Globally there are more than 40 million victims of modern slavery of whom 70 per cent are women, and about 20 per cent are minors.
The Church apostolate to seafarers has expressed “deep sadness” at P&O Ferries’ decision to sack 800 workers without notice. Stella Maris, previously known as the Apostleship of the Sea, has expressed that the thoughts and prayers of the organisation are with all those affected by the dispute and asked any ferry workers in need of support to contact the charity at https://www.stellamaris.org.uk/contact. The decision to replace existing staff with cheaper foreign sailors has prompted legal challenges, protests and criticism of P&O from across the political divide.
In a report submitted to dioceses of England and Wales in support of the synod process, A Call to Action, which aims to bring together laity, religious and clergy to discuss and review issues of common concern within the Catholic Church, calls for dioceses to make a significant investment in the formation and development of clergy and laity. “The challenge of the Synod on Synodality lies mainly in the fact that the majority of laity and secular clergy have not been trained to engage in the kinds of discussions and the exercise of discernment that the synodal process requires,” the report says.
Edgardo Colón-Emeric, Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University in North Carolina and author of Oscar Romero’s Theological Vision: Liberation and Transfiguration of the Poor, has said: “In the present time, when there is a torrent of news but a drought of truth, Romero invites all Christians to be transfigured into microphones of God. You must listen to Jesus, find your voice, and preach peace.” He was speaking at St Martin in the Fields Church in London, during a week of events to mark the 42nd anniversary of the martyrdom of St Oscar Romero. He called on a congregation of more than 150 “to learn from Oscar Romero, this doctor from the Latin American Church for the whole church”. He said Romero particularly deplored humanity’s addiction to violence but the power of Jesus can transform “senseless tragedies into Lenten tales that end in Easter resurrections”.
The chairman of the Irish bishops’ Council for Emigrants has paid tribute to those who help vulnerable elderly Irish emigrants. In a message for St Patrick’s Day, Bishop Paul Dempsey remembered Irish people who had to leave home in the past to find a new life in a different land. “Many are now advancing in age. The recent Covid crisis left many of them alone and isolated,” he said. Pastoral centres operated by the Council for Emigrants offered support to vulnerable emigrants through food banks for undocumented Irish in the US who were unable to work or avail of social welfare supports during lockdown. In London, resources were invested in teaching Irish seniors in the Irish emigrant community how to use electronic tablets so they could stay connected during the pandemic, which eased the acute isolation and fear they experienced. The council also provided grants to organisations supporting emigrants battling addiction and mental health problems.
Tributes have been paid by RTE viewers to Ireland’s youngest catholic priest who spoke about his faith journey to comedian Tommy Tiernan on his weekend TV talk show. Thirty-year-old Fr David Vard recalled how he decided to enter the priesthood following a visit to Lourdes. He said he grew up in an Ireland where the Church was “just bad news” and he didn’t have a relationship with God until that trip to Lourdes as a teenager. “My parents are divorced. I’m very normal – well, I like to think I am. I was baptised, made my first holy communion, my confirmation and then after it, I said, ‘I’m done. I don’t want anything more to do with this Church,’” he explained. “Everything I thought I knew about the Church - the big, bad Church – was really tested in Lourdes. I encountered people who were so compassionate and really cared for me and cared for people who were really sick.” Reactions to the interview on social media included many tributes including one which said: “Really impressive man. Great insight and a sense of community.” Another stated: “Audience hung on your words, which is a God-given talent of wisdom. I am so glad you spoke openly and honestly about your faith. Touched many a soul I can assure you. Praise God.”
The Scottish Bishops, in association with young Scottish Catholics, have released a video to mark the 40th anniversary of a pastoral letter on peace and disarmament. Produced by Justice and Peace Scotland in collaboration with Sancta Familia Media, the video features four of the Scottish Bishops, a group of students from Catholic schools, and a reiteration of the original March 1982 letter, read by nuclear disarmament activists. The newly installed Archbishop of Glasgow, William Nolan is president of Justice and Peace Scotland. Speaking within hours of Russian president Vladimir Putin making veiled threats towards Ukraine and NATO that “ultimate” steps would be taken if NATO forces or ordinance crossed into Russian territory, Archbishop Nolan said “if it is immoral to use these weapons it is also immoral to threaten their use”. The Archbishop said that the challenge of the 1982 letter “was not accepted at the time, but now more than ever the church has come to recognise that deterrence is something which is unacceptable.” In their original letter, the Scottish Bishops challenged not just the use of nuclear weapons, something the church has always condemned, but they challenged also the very notion of deterrence and the morality of deterrence”. Archbishop Nolan also referred to the money spent annually on defence, stating that this could be redirected into programmes promoting peace and understanding.Sancta Familiar Media is a video production company based in Lanarkshire which specialises in producing documentaries and other information materials for the Catholic Church.
Bishop John Sherrington, lead Catholic bishop for life Issues, reiterated the Church’s support for high-quality palliative care for all after the Conservative peer Lord Forsyth’s amendment to the Health and Care Bill was rejected by the House of Lords on 16 March. Bishop Sherrington said: “I am pleased that last night the House of Lords rejected Lord Forsyth’s amendment to the Health and Care Bill, which would have brought in assisted suicide by the back door.” Four disabled peers, the crossbenchers Baroness Campbell, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Baroness Masham and the Conservative Lord Shinkwin, helped defeat attempts to hijack the bill and use it to secure a change in the law to legalise assisted suicide.
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