Archbishop William Nolan of Glasgow will be a speaker at Scottish CND’s “Festival for Survival” in Glasgow on 4 November.
The archbishop told The Tablet: “I will be reaffirming the Catholic Church’s opposition to nuclear weapons dating back to John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris where he says nuclear weapons should be banned – a constant teaching which was manifested most recently by the Holy See being among the first to ratify the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons.”
Archbishop Nolan said that “Vatican II condemned the use of nuclear weapons as immoral and Pope Francis has emphasised the immorality both of production and possession of these weapons and the resources they consume which could be spent on the poor.”
The event will explore the link between nuclear weapons and climate change and aims to strengthen the movement for nuclear disarmament. Archbishop Nolan regularly attends vigilsoutside Faslane nuclear base on the Clyde and was involved in Church lobbying at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow two years ago.
The government’s free speech tsar has voiced “great concern” at findings by the Catholic Union regarding faith-based discrimination at universities. Professor Arif Ahmed, the director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom from the Office for Students was commenting on a Catholic Union survey on faith-based discrimination in the workplace.
During a meeting with Professor Ahmed, the union’s director, Nigel Parker, highlighted concerns from Catholic students, academics and staff regarding freedom of speech at student unions and universities. Ahmed said it was “really important that people can express legitimate views [at university].”
The Manchester-based ecumenical charity Church Action on Poverty (CAP) is lobbying churches to pay the new Living Wage of £12 an hour, or £13.15 in London. Set by the Living Wage Foundation, and uprated each autumn, this is higher than the government-set minimum wage.
CAP suggests it is morally unacceptable to price labour so low that people who work long hours still live in poverty. It said that the UK’s low-pay culture and the low level of the legally-enforced minimum wage meant 61 per cent of children living in poverty have working parents.
A full-time worker earning the new Living Wage will earn £3,081 a year more than someone on the current government minimum, and an additional £5,323 in London, according to the foundation.
The IT manager for the Diocese of Portsmouth has won an award for training 250 diocesan staff and 2,000 volunteers in the use of up-to-date technology. Liam Olford won a prize for Special Recognition in Tech Leadership – a category created specifically for him – at the South Coast Tech Awards.
The Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan said: “As technology continues to evolve, so does the need to effectively communicate it. Liam Olford has single-handedly embarked on a transformative IT project across our diocese, upskilling our clergy, staff and volunteers and inspiring collaboration among a largely non-technical audience through his well-planned, courteous, and jargon-free approach.”
The priest responsible for Catholic churches on Jersey has assured parishioners that there are no plans to close any of the island’s seven churches, after they appeared together on a list of property transactions in the Jersey Royal Court at a combined £70 million. Canon Dominic Golding told ITV News that the Diocese of Portsmouth had recently changed its charitable status, meaning its property was re-registered, but did not plan to close any churches. “Why would they? They’re all in use,” he said.
A row has erupted over plans, submitted by the Diocese of Plymouth, to add a spire and bells to a modern church that were approved last month despite opposition from residents. St James’s Catholic Church in Tiverton is set to gain a new spire and a belfry housing two bells, which will ring six times a week before services.
The design statement on the council’s website says the additions will help “identify the building as a church”, something which is “desperately needed”. However, Liberal Democrat councillor Les Cruwys complained that “bells are not there to call people to the service anymore, people come from further afield and will not hear the bells anyway.”
Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and the Diaspora, Seán Fleming, has paid tribute to organisations supporting the Irish community in Britain as he announced £6.23 million in funding. The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, which supports older and vulnerable Irish emigrants in Britain, is set to receive £271,350 from the fund.
Mr Fleming made his announcement at the annual Emigrant Support Programme reception in the Irish Embassy in London. He paid tribute to “the extraordinary work being done in Britain, often with limited resources, to support what is still the largest Irish-born community outside of Ireland”.
To mark its 160th anniversary, the charity Catholic Care is inviting supporters to pledge 160 hours of prayer for its work by the end of 2023. “The prayer can take any form or length as you like, on your own or with others,” according to a statement from the charity, which serves the destitute in Yorkshire.
Founded in Leeds in 1863, Catholic Care is also distributing prayer cards for its anniversary throughout the diocese. On 8 December, the Bishop of Leeds Marcus Stock will celebrate a Mass marking the anniversary at St Winefride’s Church, Wibsey.
A prayer space dedicated to Bl John Sullivan is to be opened at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street next weekend, with the unveiling of a picture of the Jesuit by artist Sean O'Sullivan.
The Anglican Archbishop of Dublin Archbishop Michael Jackson will be the guest speaker at the ceremony attended by Sullivan’s relatives of Fr Sullivan who are living in England. It was at Farm Street that Fr John Gavin SJ received Sullivan into the Catholic Church in 1896. He had been a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn when he had a conversion experience. He was beatified in May 2017.
A new musical about the Gunpowder Plot will reach the London stage next week. Treason the Musical, starring Joe McFadden and Gabriel Akamo, will run from 8-18 November at the Alexandra Palace Theatre before transferring to the London Palladium.
Originally streamed online as a concert, the musical was performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 2022 before making its fully-staged debut last month in Edinburgh. The creator, Ricky Allan said comparisons to the US musical Hamilton were “both flattering and a misconception”. He explained: “The parallels probably lie in telling a historical story that doesn’t come across as a history lesson.”
On the evening of 4 November the soprano Sophie Bevan MBE will give a recital of Schuman, Schubert, Mahler and Muller-Hermann alongside the conductor-composer Ryan Wigglesworth at Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire.
The recital is part of the inaugural St Birinus Festival, named after the local Catholic church where Bevan sings and Wigglesworth conducts the Davey Consort, a choir promoting Gregorian chant and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sacred music through concerts and the liturgy. On 5 November Matthew Martin will close the festival with an organ recital at St Birinus, home to an Aubertin organ.
Caritas in East Anglia will host an inaugural festival on 4 November, celebrating Catholic social outreach at St Laurence’s Church, Cambridge. The event will feature talks, stalls from social action organisations, and prayer, with Bishop Peter Collins of East Anglia celebrating a Mass to start the day.
Two speakers sharing their stories of social action are Selwyn Image, who founded Emmaus UK in response to homelessness in Cambridge, and Margaret Clark, past president of the National Board of Catholic Women. Stalls showcasing organisations involved in social action across Cambridge will include the SVP, Cambridge City Foodbank, Cambridge Justice and Peace Group, Street Pastors, and Cafod.
A conference at Friend’s House in Euston, London, on 7 November will explore “Financing a Liveable Future – Church Investment in Climate Solutions”. It is geared to financial decision-makers for a denomination, diocese or Church investment body, bringing together those in charge of investing within churches and those concerned with climate justice to examine investing for a sustainable future.
Lorna Gold, chief executive of FaithInvest, will speak on: “The urgency, the responsibility, and the challenges – what do we mean by ‘investing in climate solutions’?” She says it is important for churches to take more serious action, especially in light of teachings in Laudate Deum.
Loading ...
