News Briefing: from Britain and Ireland

Relics tour under way
The relics of St Anthony of Padua began their tour of Britain and Ireland this week starting in Cahir, County Tipperary. Thousands are expected to turn out to pay homage to the two relics, one of which Pope Francis venerated 16 years ago in Argentina when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. The relics will visit Killarney, Knock, Sligo, Dublin, Longford, Derry and Armagh before crossing to Paisley in Scotland. They then continue to Middlesbrough, Manchester, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Birmingham and London. The relics will remain exposed during eucharistic celebrations taking place in parishes.

Christian charities in Wales have launched a campaign against the Government’s plans to regulate church youth work. Under new proposals intended to combat extremism, churches in Wales that teach children for more than six hours a week will have to register with the Government. They will be inspected if complaints are raised about them teaching fundamentalist values. But the coalition, which includes Care, Christian Concern and the Evangelical Alliance, said the wording of the proposal was vague and jeopardised freedom of religion. “For an inspector to scrutinise a Sunday School class, Bible study, youth meeting or church weekend away would be highly intrusive,” they said. “Inspectors questioning volunteer leaders and children (without their parents) is an unwarranted incursion into private religion and family life.”

Queen’s Birthday Honours
Professor Paul O’Prey, vice chancellor at the University of Roehampton, has been appointed Commander of the British Empire in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours list for his services to higher education and the literary history of the First World War. He joins other distinguished Catholics, including Trudy Kilcullen, chief executive of the Jack Petchey Foundation; Martin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary, Department of Business, Innovation and Skills; Professor Yvonne Doyle, director for London, Public Health England; Paul Bede Johnson, writer and historian; John Micklethwait, former editor-in-chief of The Economist; Dr Frances Lannon, former principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University; and Declan Donnelly and Anthony McPartlin, entertainers.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron (above) this week joined Anglican Archbishops Welby and Sentamu in the Remain camp ahead of the 23 June referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Speaking to a 600-strong congregation in Manchester, he called on faith communities to consider future generations when voting. “As Christians, we should vote as parents to future generations,” he said. “When voting, we should think about the kind of world we want our children and grandchildren to grow up in.”

Ampleforth head leaves
The first lay headmaster of Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire resigned last week, less than two years after joining the private Catholic school. In a letter to parents, the Abbot of Ampleforth, Cuthbert Madden, said David Lambon was leaving “to pursue new professional opportunities”. The Daily Telegraph reported that Lambon resigned after parents and students opposed a proposal to introduce a school uniform at the £30,000-a-year college. He also encouraged pupils to mark each other’s homework and tests and to make key decisions about the running of the school. Fr Wulstan Peterburs, procurator of Ampleforth Abbey and College, is acting headmaster  until a replacement is recruited. (See Schools Practice, page 14.)

Pro-life group Every Life Counts has criticised the UN Human Rights Committee report on Ireland’s abortion law. The Geneva-based committee found that Ireland’s prohibition of abortion “services” violated Amanda Mellet’s right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In 2011 she was told she could not have an abortion in Ireland even though doctors discovered her baby had congenital defects and was likely to die in the womb. “The UN language reflects the appalling attitude of discrimination which is pushing families towards abortion, and denies them time with their sick babies, time that allows them to make memories and provides a pathway to healing,” said Tracy Harkin from Every Life Counts. The UN report has no legal weight but puts pressure on Dublin to reform abortion laws.  

Speaking at the launch of the new Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice this week, Dr Anna Rowlands  (above) said that migration is a defining moral challenge of our generation, yet we have failed to come up with effective political or legal strategies to tackle it. The debate on migration is one of several projects by the centre, a national network with links to academics, charities, religious orders and social movements working in the areas of Catholic social thought and practice. Dr Rowlands chairs the centre and  lectures in Catholic studies at Durham University.

The report by Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman into the killing of six Catholic men by loyalist paramilitaries in 1994 in Loughinisland, County Down,  has been welcomed by the Diocese of Down and Connor. While it brought “a sense of healing” for families, the report also presented them with “the bitter confirmation of state collusion in the murder of their loved ones”, said diocesan spokesman Fr Edward McGee. “The traumatic loss of life was compounded by the manner in which the investigation by state authorities was carried out.”  

Speaking to The Tablet, Fr McGee said the journey towards justice would continue, as the families called on the British Government to ensure that there is full accountability over the “catastrophic failings” and cover-up by the police accused of protecting informers.

Christian Churches, other religious groups, politicians and civil servants must work together to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East, Coptic leader Bishop Angaelos told parliamentarians on Tuesday. The general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK warned that after a huge exodus from the war-torn region, remaining Christians are vulnerable to killings and torture. “We have regressed,” he said. “What is happening today would have been unacceptable 100 years ago.” Bishop Angaelos was speaking at the annual National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast in Westminster Hall, attended by 700 people including 150 MPs and peers. He hinted at possible difficulties with Whitehall when he said: “It is time for us to collaborate whether it is inter-church, inter-faith, cross-party, and, yes please, between government departments.”
Also attending were the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.