The 40th anniversary of the ecumenical social justice charity Church Action on Poverty was marked with an online event on 8 June. Around 60 participants saw the launch of a new anthology of prayers, stories, poems and reflections, published by Wild Goose Publications of the Iona Community. Dignity, Agency, Power is aimed at those who want to be part of the movement to end UK poverty. It draws on 40 years of work and on the insights of around 40 contributors, including some with personal experience of struggling against poverty. Kathy Galloway of the Iona Community, who wrote foreword, called for churches to challenge unjust systems as well as provide charity to victims of poverty. She said: “I hope many people will learn from this book – resisting, persisting and insisting.” The event looked at suggestions for marking CAP’s 40th anniversary year and its campaigning work. Niall Cooper, Director of Manchester-based CAP, highlighted a special online anniversary service at 7pm on 5 July from Iona Abbey.
A Scottish-based charity has launched an urgent appeal in the face of impending famine across the globe. The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund has called for donations as the world faces a crisis unprecedented in modern times. Sciaf’s chief executive Alistair Dutton said “We are all facing rising food costs, but the poorest in the world are in danger of being killed by famine. We must act urgently to help the world’s poorest people who cannot feed their families and fear the worst.” In addition to spiralling inflation and the climate crisis, war in Ukraine and conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen are contributing to global shortages that will disproportionately affect those with the most limited resources and resiliency.
A national pilgrimage to the Shrine and Well of St Winefride, at Holywell in north-east Wales, resumes this summer after the Covid pandemic interrupted a 1,300-year unbroken line of pilgrimage. On Sunday, 26 June, Bishop Peter Brignall of Wrexham, will lead the national pilgrimage, offering it as an opportunity to give thanks and offer prayers for those who continue to be affected by Covid and for those who died from the virus. The Sunday falls during the World Meeting of Families and starts with a procession from the Church of St Winefride at 2.30pm down to the Well, followed by Mass at 3pm in the Shrine Grounds.
Islamic fundamentalism, not climate change, is the driver of violence and killings in Nigeria, the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland has said. In a statement, Abbot Brendan Coffey OSB, president of AMRI, condemned “the appalling attack on Catholics” as they celebrated Pentecost Sunday at St Francis Church in Owo. The organisation quoted an anonymous Nigerian religious ministering on the ground in Nigeria who stated: “It is too simplistic and indeed very painful to link the killings going on right now in Nigeria to climatic change. Anybody living in Nigeria today will consider that such a point of view is grossly disconnected from the reality on the ground.” The Religious warned: “The truth is that Nigeria is under siege. There are too many cases of entire villages being wiped-out, churches burnt completely and people killed. There are many Catholic priests kidnapped whose whereabouts are still not known to this very day.” AMRI highlighted that many Nigerians believe that the present administration is aware of who is perpetuating the violence – Boko-Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Fulani bandits, Islamic State West Africa Province – but is slow to condemn and act against them.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Irish Church saw an increase in allegations made to it over the year from April 2021 to March 2022 according to its annual report. 178 allegations of abuse against clerics and religious were received during that time, up from 134 complaints in the previous year. The majority of allegations relate to sexual abuse (140), physical abuse (18), boundary (8), with 12 complaints not specifying the type of abuse. According to Teresa Devlin, NBSCCCI CEO, the vast majority of complaints relate to the 1960s, 70s and 80s with one complaint relating to the last decade and two from the 2000s. “It is however important to note that allegations are still being made,” she stressed. Separately, a new police investigation is underway into allegations against a former teacher and rugby coach at top Dublin school, Terenure College, which is run by the Carmelites in Ireland. The investigation mainly concerns allegations made against John McClean, who is already serving an eight-year sentence for sexually abusing 23 pupils. However, a number of the new complaints relate to two former lay teachers, as well as a deceased Carmelite priest.
A “devout catholic” has been jailed after threatening two mormon missionaries with a replica handgun in June 2018. Robert Sacawa, aged 42, has been sentenced to 136 days imprisonment after being reported to police by two female mormons who knocked on the door of his home in Lossiemouth, Scotland and invited him to become a mormon. Protesting that he would not be converted from Catholicism, Sacawa brandished a replica Colt 9mm BB gun at the pair. The missionaries, who thought the handgun was genuine, ended their conversation abruptly and filed a police report.
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has been personally sanctioned by the UK government over his complicity in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus’, widely seen as a key ally of President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned on June 16 “for his prominent support of Russian military aggression in Ukraine” according to a UK government announcement. According to a 2019 Novaya Gazeta report, Kirill has a personal wealth of between $4 billion and $8 billion (around £3-6 million UK pounds). The sanctions will block the prelate from entering the UK and freeze his assets here, including property.
Family members of the victims of the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre will receive significant damages after a settlement was reached at Belfast’s high court. The result follows an inquest last year that found the 10 Catholics shot dead in the massacre were unarmed civilians posing no threat to the soldiers responsible and that nine out of ten victims were shot by members of the Parachute regiment. The victims of Ballymurphy include one priest, Fr Hugh Mullan, shot whilst delivering the last rites to a dying man. According to the testimony of one soldier, the perpetrators of the massacre used another victim’s skull as an ashtray.
A Catholic Church in Rochdale has received more than £500,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund – one of just five UK churches to benefit from the programme. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Rochdale has been awarded £678,400 in order to preserve the Grade II listed building and, according to the local diocese, “kickstart outreach projects in the local community” including oral histories, guided tours, digital resources and masterclasses focussing on the Church’s distinctive mosaics. The £5.5 million National Lottery Heritage Fund is targeted at widening education and the restoration and maintenance of heritage sites.
The family of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee has asked the Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling that his life support can be withdrawn. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, his family has been fighting a legal battle since he was injured at home in early April. The High Court ruled on June 13 that “on the balance of probabilities” Archie had died and authorised doctors to cease life support. “Until it’s God’s way I won’t accept that he should go,” his mother, Hollie Dance, said following the ruling. Before his accident, Archie had expressed an interest in Catholicism. He was baptised in hospital on Easter Sunday and his mother and other family members were baptised the following day.
Christian educator Edmund Adamus is to take on a new role as head of formation centre for the Sovereign Military And Hospitaller Order of St John, of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta.
He said: “This is a unique opportunity, for which I'm truly grateful to God after almost three years of continuous searching/discerning for a substantive role. The work will involve me travelling regularly to Rome and further afield as well as working from home in England.” He is setting up his own freelance consultancy business, continuing his role in the field of relationships and sexuality formation resources for parents and schools at www.fertileheart.org.uk as well as doing bespoke senior leadership recruitment work in Christian education with www.emmausleadership.me.
A South Sudanese bishop who was forced with his family into exile before he was one year old has been named as the next secretary general of the Anglican Communion. Bishop Anthony Poggo, the former Bishop of Kajo-Keji in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, is currently the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser on Anglican Communion affairs. He will take up his new role in September, succeeding Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who steps down after next month’s Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, Kent, from 26 July to 8 August.