The parents of Archie Battersbee have won an appeal for his case to be heard again, after a High Court judge ruled in June that the twelve-year-old had died and his life support treatment could stop. The Court of Appeal accepted the argument of Edward Devereux QC, acting for Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, that there “cannot be room for question marks” in deciding whether a child has died. Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital had told the High Court that it was “highly likely” that he was “brain-stem dead”. The case will now return to the High Court.
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales are in the process discerning their response to the National Synthesis document that has emerged from the synodal process. Their work, together with the synthesis document will be sent to the Synod Office in Rome as the formal submission to the Synod from England and Wales. From this and reports from all the other conferences in the world, the first Instrumentum Laboris will be drawn up, referred to by the Synod Office as the “Document for the Continental Stage.”
Two Catholic dioceses in UK are among 33 faith institutions from six countries – including five Church of England dioceses, and a Church of England cathedral – that have announced their divestment from fossil fuel companies. In total, 19 of the 33 institutions divesting are from the UK. Organised by Operation Noah, Laudato Si’ Movement, the World Council of Churches, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith, this latest divestment comes from faith institutions in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, the UK and the US.
A member of the Association of Catholic Priests has warned that government policy in Ireland is “reviving the kind of religious discrimination we hoped was long gone”. Writing in a blog on the ACP’s website, retired Dublin priest, Fr Padraig McCarthy said that in the wake of the controversy over National Maternity Hospital’s move to the site of St Vincent’s Hospital at Elm Park, “the impression is widespread that the any Catholic influence is malign, and that the Church has no business whatever being involved with healthcare”. He noted comments made by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, in the Dáil debate on the National Maternity Hospital in which the Minister said, “Ireland has a dark history when it comes to the Church and women’s reproductive health.” According to Fr McCarthy, the “enormous contribution” to healthcare in Ireland and around the world by religious organisations both in the past and in the present day, whether working independently or in partnership with statutory authorities, “must not be blown away by ignorance of the truth”.
St Columba’s College in St Albans has appointed a new head, Karl Guest, currently head of Alton School in Alton, Hampshire. Guest, married with two children, was born and brought up in South London and was educated by the De La Salle Brothers. The appointment comes as St Columba’s College has been recognised as “excellent” in all areas in its latest Independent Schools Inspectorate report.
The ordination of Fr Kevin Rennie in Dumfries at the end of last week is the first in the diocese of Galloway for 14 years. Fr Rennie, who had studied engineering at the University of Edinburgh before discerning a vocation, was ordained by Archbishop William Nolan of Glasgow, the former Bishop of Galloway. Reflecting the current emphasis on synodality, Archbishop Nolan said that as a new priest, Fr Rennie had to continue learning, but now from his parishioners. He called for the priesthood to be human, empathetic and a source of help and support.
A former priest who attempted to sue the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland for more than £2m following abuse at a seminary in the 1970s, has been awarded £455,000 in damages by the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The man’s identity has not been revealed, but it was heard in court that he had asked to be laicised after suffering continuing sexual abuse by his spiritual director. Lord Clark said that the man had been “burdened by intolerable difficulties” as a result of the suffering he had undergone.
Pope Francis has appointed the Eparch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the UK, Kenneth Nowakowski, as apostolic visitor to Ukrainian Catholics in Ireland. There is one Ukrainian Catholic parish in Ireland, under the care of Fr Vasyl Korentsky, but the arrival of refugees from the war in Ukraine has created demand for a greater pastoral presence. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office records 39,000 arrivals since the Russian invasion. Bishop Nowakowski said he looked forward to working with the Irish bishops “in seeking ways to respond in positive ways to the humanitarian and pastoral needs of the growing Ukrainian community”.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell is among those billed to attend a Save the Parish conference in York this Thursday, the day before the General Synod of the Church of England opens at York university. this week in York. Save the Parish campaign was founded over fears that pressures placed on parishes by the central church risk ending a “direct, uninterrupted lineage with our local and national history”. Canon Giles Fraser, Vicar of St Anne’s in Kew, will lead the session and put questions to the Archbishop. Jacob Groet, one of the organisers, said: “This is a big moment, and a real opportunity to hear from the leadership of the CofE. Crucially, however, it is an opportunity to probe that support. We want to see real, material support for parishes, and that won’t happen unless the very top of the CofE is properly onboard.”
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