More than 3,000 people visited the relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes at St Mary’s Cathedral, Middlesbrough. The relics, which have attracted large crowds throughout the country, were welcomed to Middlesbrough at noon a week last Sunday and the church remained open for 24 hours until their departure the following lunchtime. Volunteers gave out 3,000 Miraculous Medals to those attending, but supplies ran out well before the end of the event because of the large number who came, including pilgrims from Bridlington, Scarborough, Whitby and York. After leaving Middlesbrough, the relics went to Ampleforth Abbey, St Anne’s Cathedral in Leeds, St Marie’s Cathedral in Sheffield, St Peter in Chains in Doncaster, Our Lady of Lourdes and St Peter Chanel in Hull, St Bernadette in Scunthorpe and St Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham. They visited Birmingham, Bicester, Northampton and Norwich. They were due also to visit Cambridge and on Sunday, arrive at Brentwood Cathedral where they will remain until Monday. They will be at Southwark Cathedral from 19 until 21 October.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See attended a memorial Mass at the Vatican on 7 October to mark the first anniversary of the murder of Sir David Amess in his Essex constituency. The co-chairs of the group, the Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh and the Labour MP Mike Kane, led the delegation on a three-day visit to the Vatican which concluded with the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, in the Irish Chapel of St Columbanus in the Vatican Grottoes. The UK’s ambassador to the Holy See, Chris Trott, also attended.
In advance of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) final report - due to be published 20 October - the abuse lawyer and safeguarding campaigner Richard Scorer has published four steps he argues are necessary to prevent abuse in religious settings. These include mandatory reporting - with non-compliance carrying criminal penalties and no exceptions for the seal of confession - the end of time limits for civil claims, effective and consistent regulation of safeguarding norms, and “proper redress for survivors”. IICSA, which was established 8 years ago, has yet to disclose what its recommendations will be. "Despite several years of hearings" Scorer wrote in a 6 October blog for the National Secular Society "we have no real idea as to whether IICSA will embrace these reforms or not."
A Catholic primary school in Ashton-in-Makerfield is due to close down in spite of strong local opposition. Wigan council took the decision to close Our Lady's Immaculate Catholic Primary School last week, in spite of a consultation which saw 234 submissions opposing the closure and 5 in favour. The council argues that it would be in £574,186 of debt by the 2024/25 school year - by which time enrollment would have fallen in half of current levels. The school, under the authority of the Archdiocese of England, has raised concerns that the closure would “leave families without a Catholic primary school in the North Ashton community”.
The Archbishop of Glasgow has called on the UK government to tie benefits to inflation, as politicians continue to consider whether to protect welfare from a real-terms cut in the wake of the cost of living crisis. William Nolan, installed as Archbishop on 26 February this year, said in a statement that “It is essential that Government commit to upgrading benefits to at least keep pace with inflation. The poor must not be sacrificed in an attempt to shore up the Government’s credibility with the markets. Making the poor poorer is not an act of fiscal prudence, it is an act of injustice”. Pointing out that the delay in a decision is already causing great anxiety and stress, the Archbishop said proposals to fix benefits at their current rate “seems so immoral”. “Guaranteeing security for the most vulnerable in society” he said, “is a sign of a civilized country.”
Catholic campaigner and commentator Caroline Farrow was arrested last week on “allegations of malicious communication and harassment” related to her participation in debates around gender identity. The arrest, sparking headlines in the national press this week, came as the mother-of-five was making dinner. Taken to a police station, Farrow stated she was then “shown material that police were accusing me of sending. None of them were my doing”. In a statement, Surrey Police stated that they had “attended an address in the Guildford area as part of an investigation into allegations of malicious communications and harassment.” If convicted of “malicious communication” Farrow could face up to two years in jail.
DePaul International have launched their Winter Appeal, this year focused on the humanitarian crisis around the conflict in Ukraine. Father Vitaliy Novak, Chair of Trustees for Depaul Ukraine, said "Last year our volunteers in Odesa found homeless people who had frozen to death, and Odesa is one of Ukraine's warmer cities.” The situation will be even worse elsewhere, he added. Since the outbreak of war, Depaul has delivered over 2,000 tonnes of food, hygiene, and medical supplies to affected communities, and is currently supporting over 23,000 people a day in Ukraine with food, shelter and winter clothing. In a statement, the CEO of Depaul international said he expects a crisis of homelessness in the country to go on for years, paralleling record levels of displacement worldwide.
The Irish Bishops have said it is “totally unacceptable” that Travellers experience racism and discrimination on a daily basis in Ireland. This situation often forces young Travellers to hide their own identity. They highlighted that the suicide rate of young Traveller men is seven times higher than in the settled community. At their Autumn general meeting, the bishops also discussed the high proportion of Travellers in the prison system in Ireland, and the volume of financial resources returned to the exchequer relating to projects to assist Travellers, particularly on housing, due to third party objections and other systemic blockages.The bishops asked catholics to show solidarity with Travelling people and to work for a change of attitude in society to enable Travellers participate more fully in the life of the community.
Christian Climate Action, the Christian arm of Extinction Rebellion, is joining a three-day protest in London 14-16 October to highlight the climate crisis, and links with the cost of living crisis. On Friday, members were due to meet others at noon in Trafalgar Square to join a mass protest demanding that the government act now and it is hoped to hold a service and vigil and today, Saturday, they are expected to join Extinction Rebellion for a programme of talks and music plus putting up posters around London to inform people about the science of climate change and about Citizens Assemblies. Tomorrow will see a march from Hyde Park to Parliament Square, carrying on oak sapling and calling to all “to reclaim and re-vision our future”. Some churches are supporting with basic sleeping accommodation.
The Autumn lecture of Catholic People’s Weeks (CPW) will be on the theme of ‘Living in a Time of Crisis: Christianity and Ecological Catastrophe’. The free online lecture will be delivered by Dr Carmody Grey on the evening of 25 October. Dr Grey is Assistant Professor of Catholic Theology at Durham University, and a visiting research fellow at the Laudato Si Institute in Oxford. She is involved in teaching and research on environmental philosophy and ethics. With the next UN Conference on Climate Change taking place in Egypt next month, the lecture will explore faith engagement with ‘ecological catastrophe’. Dr Grey is on record as lamenting that the fossil fuel companies and the UK government want to continue with business as usual and are failing to act on the climate crisis. CPW has organised holidays/study weeks for the last 70 years and has run a number of them since 2015 around the theme of care for “our common home”, inspired by the encyclical Laudato Si’. Register for free at: https://catholicpeoplesweeks.org/events/annual-autumn-lecture-2022
More than 20 of Ireland’s greatest sports stars have spoken about their faith in a new book titled, Faith: In Search of Greater Glory in Sport. Dublin GAA football legend, Brian Mullins, who died last week, revealed in his interview, “I lean towards God who gives sense and purpose to what my world should be. God wants us to be good and create goodness. For me, that is trying to be the best you can be.” Author, Gerard Gallagher, who previously worked in the Archdiocese of Dublin’s Evangelisation and Ecumenism Office, but recently moved to the Association of Missionaries and Religious in Ireland, spoke to stars like boxer, Katie Taylor, rugby international, Josh van der Flier, jockey, Johnny Murtagh and hurler, Ciaran Carey. They told him about faith in themselves, faith in their teammates and backroom team, and faith in a greater power perhaps that can help them to reach their greatest potential on the biggest stages of their sporting careers. Figures from the world of chaplaincy in sport, including John Boyers, retired chaplain at Manchester United FC, also contribute.
Bishop Howard Tripp, Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Southwark from 1980 until his retirement in 2004, died aged 95 on Monday, 3 October. Among his many responsibilities, he served as ecclesiastical adviser to the Knights of St Columba and to the Catholic Union, as president of the Catholic Child Welfare Council and represented the Catholic Church on the Churches’ Committee for Hospital Chaplaincy. Throughout his priesthood, Bishop Tripp was interested in social welfare and housing and was a founder member of the Richmond-upon-Thames Churches’ Housing Trust. He was born in Croydon on 3 July 1927 to journalist Basil Tripp, and Alice Emily, nee Haslett, a convert to Catholicism and was educated at St Anne’s Convent Kindergarten School, Sanderstead, and at the John Fisher School, Purley. He served as an Auxiliary Bishop until his retirement on 7 January 2004.
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