A new painting of Blessed John Sullivan by the artist Will Nathans was unveiled at the annual Mass in honour of the Irish Jesuit in St Francis Xavier Church in Dublin last weekend. This painting shows Blessed John Sullivan with his bicycle and rosary beads and highlights his dedication to serving those who were sick. It will be hung in the newly refurbished John Sullivan room in Gardiner Street parish. The main celebrant at the Mass was Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ and Archbishop Michael Jackson represented the Anglican tradition that Blessed John Sullivan grew up in, before becoming a Catholic and a Jesuit.
The 10-day 24-hour vigil outside parliament, “No Faith in Fossil Fuels” ended with a service outside Downing Street last Saturday. Launched on Ash Wednesday, the vigil urged “bold climate action” by the government, including banning new UK-based fossil fuel projects, reparation payments for damage caused by climate change and investment in green policies. The lead organiser was Christian Climate Action and other agencies involved included Cafod, Christian Aid and Operation Noah. Salesians, Columbans, and Leicester Laudato Si Circle were among those on the rota. Catholic CCA members led a Rosary at noon each day.
Westminster Justice and Peace is supporting the Hope and Healing Fund of Friends of the Holy Land, where contributors are invited to give £1 for each day of Lent. “£40 would go a long way,” said the charity. Holy land contacts report that there are still about 820 adults and children sheltering in Gaza’s two main churches and they are being given financial support for basic provisions. In Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank, unemployment is rising with 80 per cent of Palestinian Christians having lost their income as tourism has collapsed and travel is restricted. The Justice and Peace Commission is urging people to talk to Church leaders and MPs about peace initiatives.
Six or seven out of every 10 Iranians approached by undercover Christian evangelists are ready to convert to the Christian faith, according to an Iranian bishop. Edward-Hosvepian-Mehr, leader of the Hamgam or non-denominational free Iranian Church in Europe said: “We hope that very soon a great revival will come to Iran.” He spoke to The Tablet at the launch of Faceless Victims : Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran. The joint report co-authored by Article 18, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern revealed that 166 Christians were arrested in Iran last year.
A Right to Life UK has launched a campaign to urge people lobby their MPS to lower the abortion limit from 24 to 22 weeks. Little Fighters features the story of Harry and Harley, twins from Derbyshire born alive at 22 weeks and five days old. Their story appears on 100,000 free postcards the charity has produced for the public to send to their local MPs, urging them to vote on lowering the abortion time limit. Twenty-five cross-party MPs led by Caroline Ansell have tabled this amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. Parliaments are due to vote on another amendment to the bill proposing that abortion should be decriminalised altogether. Postcards are available via: https://righttolife.org.uk/post-card-order
The General Synod of the Church of England voted last weekend to pursue a “process” to form a response to and consider “any necessary implementation” of recommendations following publication of two independent reports on safeguarding, by barrister Sarah Wilkinson and Professor Alexis Jay. An internal team will be set up to consider detailed proposals. Lead safeguarding bishop Joanne Grenfell told the synod, “We have failed – over many years, decades, centuries – to welcome and protect people who needed the Church. We have turned people away from the gospel of the love and hope we have in Christ and become those of whom Jesus said should have a millstone around our necks.”
A majority of churchgoers believe that tenant farmers on land owned by the Church of England should adopt organic or regenerative practices and rear their livestock using free-range systems, according to a new study. More than 57 per cent of respondents indicated that tenant farmers on church land should be either required or encouraged to adopt organic or regenerative practices.
A survey of 605 regular churchgoers was undertaken as part of a study on food and farming for Green Christian led by Professor Tim Cooper of Nottingham Trent University. Findings were released ahead of a debate on land and nature at the synod.
Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, is hosting a concert of reflective choral music for Passiontide by Lancashire’s leading choral ensemble, Blackburn Chamber Choir. The concert will include an audience participation hymn, “Forty Days and Forty Nights”, in an arrangement by Sir Edward Bairstow not heard in living memory. “Woefully Arrayed”, a concert of polyphony for Passiontide, is on 23 March. The choir will be conducted by John Robinson, director of music at Blackburn cathedral, with organist John Hosking.
The shrine and parish of Our Lady of Willesden in Westminster diocese was vandalised on the night of 19 February. Some charity money, chairs in the Holy Souls Chapel and audio-visual equipment was stolen with damage expected to run into thousands of pounds. Parish priest Fr Stephen Willis reported in the parish newsletter: “We will be considering extra security measures to protect the church building, property, and community.”
The ecumenical Manchester-based charity Church Action on Poverty has been challenging myths about people in poverty by inviting them to tell their stories. Sheffield voices, based around the mission of Mt Tabor Methodist Church in Sheffield, has highlighted the need for higher incomes and more youth clubs for young people: “There are not enough jobs, not enough secure jobs or youth training schemes or apprenticeships for people. It’s a vicious cycle, with a lack of opportunities, so people struggle more.”
A petition was presented to the Home Office on Monday with around 2,500 signatures calling for Communities Secretary Michael Gove to continue funding the Inter Faith Network. Stephen Cottell, Anglican Archbishop of York, said it was a “matter of great regret” that the government has decided to withdraw funding from the Inter Faith Network, forcing its closure. John Woodhouse, a Catholic member of Faiths Together in Croydon, told The Tablet on Monday after helping to deliver the petition that the closing of the network after nearly 40 years “sends all the wrong signals about interfaith”.
The Irish bishops have urged people to vote “no” in March’s referendums on the family and on carers. They said the proposed family amendment diminishes the unique importance of the relationship between marriage and family and is likely to lead to a weakening of the incentive for young people to marry. The care amendment would abolish all reference to motherhood in the constitution and leave unacknowledged the particular and “incalculable societal contribution” that mothers in the home have made and continue to make. The current provision they said “emphatically does not state” that “a woman’s place is in the home”.
Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has invited priests and people in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore to discuss the crisis in vocations and the possible closure of some churches and reduction in Masses. Referring to the “significant decline in vocations to the priesthood” and an ageing clergy, Bishop Cullinan said it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the current level of service in some parishes and pastoral areas. One of the areas worst affected has only six priests covering 13 churches in Dungarvan, Abbeyside, An Rinn, Stradbally, Kilrossanty and Kilgobinet. Options include reducing the number of Masses, closing churches, or amalgamating parishes.
The first in a series of pilot training programmes on empowering local leaders – clergy, religious and lay faithful – with the necessary skills and knowledge to foster synodality within their communities took place in Co Cork last weekend. According to the General Secretary of the Irish Synodal Pathway, Julieann Moran, these tailored workshops and interactive sessions will help participants develop an understanding of the theology and spirituality of synodality, collaborative decision-making processes and consensus-building techniques. It is part of the Irish Synodal Pathway’s engagement in the parishes, dioceses, movements and associations.
A man who attacked a Scottish priest as he prayed has died in prison. Fr Jamie McMorrin was saying morning prayers in St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh on July 26 2021 when 34 year old Jason Irvine, originally from Cumbria, who was drunk at the time of the incident, attacked him with a bottle. The assault is believed to have been aggravated by sectarian prejudice. A teenage girl was also injured during the attack. It was reported that Irvine died in HMP Edinburgh last Wednesday.
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