Catholic peace groups in the UK invoked the Pope’s appeal for “no more war” last Sunday, after Iran’s attack on Israel.
“Let’s pray that leaders in every country where conflict threatens its citizens take a step back and start talking instead of firing off weapons,” said a statement from Pax Christi Scotland. Fellowship of Reconciliation condemned the actions of the Iranian government: “Listen to your people. End violence. Work for peace and justice for all. It is the only way.” Pax Christi England and Wales urged its members to write to MPs to support an end to arms sales to Israel.
Christians for Palestine said it would join the week-long protest running outside the US Embassy from 19 April, calling for an arms embargo on Israel, an immediate end to the blockade of a humanitarian aid and a permanent ceasefire. There was again a large Christian Bloc in last Saturday’s London march calling for a Gaza ceasefire.
On 27 April, the pianist Bobby Chen will perform music by Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt at Farm Street Church at a concert in aid of humanitarian relief for the Holy Land.
The new Bishop of Down and Connor has warned that “many circumstances” challenge peace in Northern Ireland.
At his installation in St Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast, Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ appealed to all denominations in Northern Ireland to work together to “encourage our local politicians to be generous and bold as they seek to make our political institutions work for the good of all”.
Globally, he said, the escalation of war “is an awful threat” and “Christians who are channels of peace are ever more necessary”.
The Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan warned that “dark clouds are threatening the beautiful island of Guernsey” as he urged Catholics to “mobilise” against the campaign to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide on the island.
In a letter to Guernsey’s Catholic parish on 9 April, Bishop Egan said legalisation would place “an intolerable and immoral demand on medical staff” and “intolerable pressure on the sick and the elderly”, while also undermining palliative care and insidiously expanding its provision.
“The right to die would inevitably become the duty to die, and the right to make another die,” he said.
The monthly prayer vigil at the Home Office in London for victims of global migration focused on “unjust immigration laws” on 15 April.
There were prayers for those seeking sanctuary in the UK who depend on adherence to the European Convention for Human Rights. Those gathered on Monday read out the names and details of those killed as a result of European border policies in April 2023. Many – from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Tunisia, and Libya – had drowned in the Mediterranean.
The vigil was organised by Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, London Catholic Worker and London Churches Refugee Fund.
A Catholic Union survey of its members and supporters found that just over 90 per cent of respondents plan to vote in the general election, which the prime minister has said will take place in the “second half of this year”.
The survey also found a strong link between politics and religion, with 92 per cent saying that their faith and the teachings of the Catholic Church “help to influence” how they vote. The UK’s 4.5 million Catholics are its largest religious minority group and one of the most politically active.
The top five issues identified in the survey as of most concern to Catholics ahead of the election were care for the poor, religious freedom, family life, education and life issues.
A life-size statue of the Catholic MP Sir David Amess was unveiled on the seafront at Southend-on- Sea, Essex, overlooking the seafront he frequently walked his dogs.
The 69-year-old Conservative Member for Southend West was stabbed to death at a constituency meeting at Belfairs’ Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Dame Priti Patel, who was home secretary when Amess was killed on 15 October 2021, attended the unveiling, where Fr Jeffrey Woolnough, parish priest of St Peter’s Church, Southend, blessed the bronze sculpture created by Andrew Lilley, which depicts the Amess holding sheaves of paper marked “Southend for City Status” – for which he campaigned for years.
Prof Jim McManus is to be the new Chair of Pact (Prison Advice and Care Trust), the national Catholic charity supporting prisoners and their families.
He is National Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Wales and holds a range of academic and advisory roles with expertise in public health, psychology and strategy. He is a Catholic and was a member of the healthcare reference group for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales from 2002 to 2023.
Prisoners’ have generally poor health, with a life expectancy 20 years younger than the general population.
“The challenges facing the criminal justice system are well documented, but Pact makes a difference to people’s lives every day,” said Prof McManus. “In particular, there is a major opportunity to improve prison healthcare by involving families and carers more proactively in the care of their loved-ones.”
The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain has appointed Marie Norbury as its new chief executive. Norbury, who has a background in the charity and corporate sectors, as well as in Catholic education, described herself as “passionate” about social justice and serving those who are vulnerable, excluded or overlooked.
She said the chaplaincy’s “vitally important work” builds the Common Good “one person at a time”. She joins the Irish Chaplaincy from Pact, where she played a key role in raising awareness of the impact of imprisonment on faith communities. A part-time sessional prison chaplain, she also has first-hand experience of lives lived in prisons.
Clare Coffey, chair of the Irish Chaplaincy’s trustees, praised Norbury’s authority, authenticity, experience and said her “faith shone through”. She said she would take the Irish Chaplaincy forward “with compassion and mission.”
Fr Nicholas Crowe OP has been elected Prior Provincial of the English Province of the Dominicans. He succeeds Fr Martin Ganeri OP to the role, which encompasses leadership of Dominican houses in Great Britain, Jamaica and Grenada.
Crowe studied for the priesthood at Blackfriars, Oxford, and after ordination served Dominican priories in London and Leicester. After studying moral theology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, he became prior of the Dominican community in Cambridge.
In February 2023, he was elected prior of Blackfriars, Oxford where he lectures in pastoral theology. Crowe was previously vocations director for the Dominicans in Britain.
Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, the former abbot of the Trappist Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in Leicestershire, led a retreat for the bishops of England and Wales during their spring plenary, held at Buckfast Abbey on 12-19 April.
“Error, the loss of direction, may confer momentary thrills, but its long-term effect is frustration and sadness,” said Bishop Varden in his homily on 15 April. “It is worth being attentive to intimations of frustration and sadness. Should they occur, it is time to check the compass.”
Pope Francis has appointed Mgr Eamonn McLaughlin as one of seven new canons for the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major. The basilica is home to the Marian icon Salus Populi Romani (Our Lady, Salvation of the Roman People) and is the oldest church in the west dedicated to Our Lady.
Pope Francis has said he wishes to be buried in St Mary Major rather than St Peter’s because of his “great devotion” to the Byzantine Icon. Mgr McLaughlin (46) was ordained to the priesthood in 2002 and has served as a curate in the Diocese of Raphoe before pursuing research in Rome and Germany.
Christian Climate Action (CCA) announced vigils and events for the next month across England.
There will be a “Pause for the Planet Vigil” in Brighton on 19 April, and the next day will see vigils outside the main entrance to Canterbury Cathedral and at branches of Barclays Bank in Kingston and Liverpool, because “Barclays is still actively funding companies that are accelerating the climate crisis through gas and oil exploration”, CCA said.
On 22 April the group will lead an “Earth Day Walk” to the offices of “earth-wrecking companies” in central London, including BP and BAE Systems.
The Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education (MDCCE) at Dublin City University’s Institute of Education is conducting a new all-island survey on churchgoing in Ireland. The survey “Church-24” will also look at how views on assisted dying, climate change and artificial intelligence are influenced by faith.
It is the third collaborative study between York St John University and the MDCCE in recent years. Previously they undertook research on the impact of Covid-19 on clergy and laypeople across Britain and Ireland. The online survey can be accessed here.
The annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network of England and Wales (NJPN) will take the theme of “Just Politics”, exploring the need for truth and integrity in public life when it meets in Derbyshire on 19-21July.
The chair will be Sir John Battle, an NJPN patron, with speakers including Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford, and Colette Joyce of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, who will facilitate a session with young people speaking about their engagement with public life.
From Hexham and Newcastle, Fr Chris Hughes and Sara Bryson will report on community organising in campaigns with Tyne and Wear Citizens. Conference booking details are available here.
A youth retreat centre in Berkshire has invited composers to write a score for a new song based on lyrics written by the late De La Salle brother, Damian Lundy.
A spokesperson for St Cassian’s Centre in Kintbury said: “This isn’t a competition but a community project… It could be the first time you set words to music or it could be your profession. You might do this alone or work with friends and family to create something.”
The project marks the fiftieth anniversary of St Cassian’s which Lundy co-founded in 1975. An author and hymn writer who died in 1996, Lundy was best known for the song “The Spirit Lives to set us Free (Walk in the Light)”.
Entrants are asked to email office@cassians.co.uk with a score, a recording of their composition and an explanation of their inspiration and link to Lundy, the Lasallian Community or St Cassian’s.
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