The anti-trafficking network RENATE is running a daily online, self-directed prayer campaign to mark the 30 July, the UN World day against Trafficking in Persons. Inspired by the theme this year from the UN, “Reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind,” Talitha Kum, the international network of sisters against trafficking, proposed the theme, “Walking on the path of dignity, leaving no-one behind.” Supporters are being urged to share their activities and events for the day and to help raise awarenes by publishing a post or photo using the hashtags #EndHumanTrafficking and Talitha Kum’s hashtag #CareAgainstHumanTrafficking.
The new steering group of the International Church Reform Network met recently via Zoom with organisations from the USA, India, Australia, Central Europe, Ireland and the UK. In a statenebt afterwards the network said, “The synodal Church that Pope Francis has called for requires laity, religious and clergy to work together to understand how the Church can move forward. Formation for synodality is essential and ICRN committed itself to work with other agencies and associations in supporting the process of becoming the Church we were meant to be.”
Bishop Terence Drainey, chair of Caritas Social Action Network, has urged Catholics to make their voices heard on the Illegal Migration Bill that will now become law. Bishop Drainey, with the charity’s chief executive, Raymond Friel, said: “We at Caritas Social Action Network are deeply concerned that the Illegal Migration Bill will now become law after a series of votes in the House of Lords did not succeed in securing modern slavery protections or limits to the detention of children.” Bishop Drainey added, “We call upon the Catholic community to speak out against this cruel Bill and write to their MPs urging them to work to expand safe routes for those seeking asylum.”
The fourth episode of The Carer's Tale, a series of short clips to help, comfort or inspire people “living well” with dementia and those who love and care for them, continues on the Caritas Leeds YouTube channel. This week, Maureen Crossley tells how she and her late husband Mike adapted aspects of daily life in the early years after his dementia diagnosis. The couple were members of the Caritas Leeds Dementia Forum in the Diocese of Leeds. They got involved in telling their story for the book, Journeying Together: accompanying people living with dementia by our Deacon Joseph Cortis and Dr Pia Matthews from St Mary’s University, Twickenham.
Caritas Salford, launching its summer appeal, is calling for urgent action to support children experiencing poverty, as latest figures show a 24 per cent rise in child poverty in the Diocese of Salford compared with the same time last year. The charity says need for its services supporting families experiencing poverty in the area is rising significantly. The new figures, taken from research by Loughborough University on behalf of the End Child Poverty Coalition and published earlier this month, show that 302,158 children in the Diocese of Salford, which covers Greater Manchester and parts of Lancashire, are living in poverty.
Hundreds of people gathered at Salford Cathedral last weekend to celebrate Bishop John Arnold having served 40 years as a priest. Priests, parishioners and friends joined on 16 July for what was the final Mass at the cathedral before it closes temporarily for restoration. Bishop Arnold said in his homily, “For those among you who may have been here on 8 December 2014 at my installation as bishop of this diocese, you will have received a small card with the usual request: ‘Please pray for John Arnold, installed as bishop.’ And on the other side, a simple prayer of seven words: ‘Stay with us, Lord, on our journey.’ And I’ve been delighted with the number of remarks, letters, cards, and comments I’ve had over the years about how much those seven words mean to people: they speak volumes.”
Those attending World Youth Day in Lisbon will have the chance to see the first viewing of a new documentary series made by Mary’s Meals, “Zero Hunger”, filmed by Kinnane Brothers and featuring Mary’s Meals founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. This screening, an official part of the WYD programme, will be held on 1 August 2023 from 3-4pm at Cinema Sao Jorge, Lisbon.
Women, whether ordained or not, must be given meaningful leadership roles in the Church, according to Passionist priest Fr Brian D’Arcy has said. Writing in Sunday World, Fr D’Arcy suggested that the fall-off in male celibate vocations was a direct message from God “asking us to bring about a different kind of church”. We should welcome the diminishment of the clerical church,” he said.
Social Justice Ireland has appointed John McGeady to succeed Fr Seán Healy SMA as chief executive. SJI founder Fr Healy and co-founder Sr Brigid Reynolds SM are due to retire in the autumn. Mr McGeady is currently working as justice officer with the OLA Sisters in Ireland. He is part of SJI’s budget analysis team and a member of the independent think tank’s roundtable on migrations in our common home. He will take up his new role with SJI in September.
The Church can “never be just a Church of the comfortable and the like-minded,” Archbishop Dermot Farrell has said. In a homily to mark the anniversary of the Oblate parish of Our Lady Immaculate, Darndale-Belcamp, the Archbishop of Dublin said, “We need to be bold and creative in rethinking structures, styles and the methods that inspire and support a living faith in a society that is becoming increasingly secularised.” He said the church grows by witnessing and not by proselytising. Paying tribute to those in the parish who kept the doors of the church open, physically and metaphorically, over the past 50 years the Archbishop said, “Everybody is welcome in the Church – there are no exceptions.”
Professor Alexis Jay, former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, IICSA, has agreed to develop proposals for a fully independent structure to provide scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church of England. She will be supported by the former secretary to IICSA, John O’Brien.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, said: “We are very pleased that Professor Jay has agreed to take on this vital role to ensure we move quickly towards objective, independent, credible and resilient oversight of safeguarding in the Church of England. This work will be entirely in their hands and fully external and independent; we will welcome the scrutiny and challenge that rightly comes with that.” Earlier this month, Archbishop Cottrell admitted at the General Synod meeting in York that there was a “crisis of safeguarding” in the Church after the Archbishops’ Council ended the contracts of all three members of its Independent Safeguarding Board, including that of acting chair Meg Munn.
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