News Briefing: from Britain and Ireland

The Catholic Social Action Network (CSAN) has said it is “deeply concerned” by Home Office proposals to build a 13ft wall near the Calais camp (above) known as the “Jungle”, in the latest attempt to prevent migrants and refugees jumping aboard lorries heading for the Channel port.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd recently announced that the UK would pay for the building of a 1km-long wall to run along both sides of the road to Calais port. It is due to be completed by the year end at a cost of £1.9m.

“The dire situation in Calais cannot be resolved by building yet more fortifications”, said CSAN chief executive Phil McCarthy. “Rather we need to find ways of responding to human needs”, he said.

CSAN, which is working to support those in the camp, alongside its French partner, Secours Catholique, is calling for the EU and French and British governments to provide for the basic needs of migrants and refugees; to share responsibility more effectively among EU member states; to prioritise family reunification of asylum seekers; and to protect the most vulnerable refugees.

CTA elects president
The Catholic Theological Association (CTA) has elected a new president, Tom O’Loughlin. The Dublin-born academic, professor of historical theology at the University of Nottingham, was elected at the CTA’s AGM on 7 September. (See Brendan Walsh, p10.)

The Bishop of Paisley has reacted strongly to a survey suggesting that the Ferguslie Park area of the town is the most deprived in Scotland. Figures from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation suggest that the area suffers disproportionately from poverty and crime. Bishop John Keenan, who lives in St Fergus’ parish (rather than in his official residence) described the area as a “lovely place to live” and “really quite peaceful”. Parish priest Fr Oliver Freney said the labelling was “a bit of a kick in the teeth”.

A new UK-network for people involved in Catholic education will be launched at Heythrop College (above) next week. The network, to be led by academics from Heythrop, Liverpool Hope University, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and the University of Glasgow, aims to bridge the gap between research, policy and practice in Catholic education. The launch will take place on Tuesday.

New RE materials
Cafod launched a new set of GSCE Religious Studies resources highlighting global justice issues, for Education Sunday last weekend.

The free resources, found at cafod.org.uk/gcse, cover topics including the causes and effects of poverty and Christian responses, stewardship of creation and Cafod’s approach to sustainability and issues around conflict and peace-building, including Christian responses to refugees.

Christians march for refugees
Christians are preparing to pray and march in solidarity with refugees ahead of two major United Nations summits on refugees and migration.

A service to pray for refugees, organised by Cafod and Christian Aid, was due to be held today, 17 September, at 12 noon at St James’s, Spanish Place. Thousands of people are expected to march through London following the service.

The UN General Assembly will host a summit on migrants at heads of state and government level on Monday. US President Barack Obama will host a leaders’ summit on refugees on Tuesday.  

Prior Park College in Bath has opened a new senior school in Gibraltar. The school is the fourth Prior Park school, and the only one overseas. It is Gibraltar’s first independent, co-educational Catholic senior school and has been set up with the involvement of local parents.

A married lesbian couple who act as choir directors in St Michael’s parish in Athy, County Kildare, returned to their roles last weekend, despite the protestations of a parishioner who is editor of the Catholic Voice newspaper.

Geraldine Flanagan and Jacinta O’Donnell were married last July under Ireland’s same- sex law. The couple are prominent in the parish and were respectively, president of the Lay Dominicans in Ireland and president of the local Athy chapter of lay Dominicans, roles they quit after their marriage.

Anthony Murphy of Catholic Voice let the couple know he believed they should also stand down from their roles in the parish choir. But following a groundswell of local support for the couple, they returned to lead the choir at last Saturday evening’s Mass which was concelebrated by five priests.

Mr Murphy, who was told by Gardaí not to attend the Mass for his own safety, said the issue was about a same-sex couple holding leadership roles and the receiving of Communion in a very public way. He told The Irish Times that he and his family felt “shunned and terrorised by the local community in Athy”.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May (above), and Cardinal Vincent Nichols are to speak at a service as part of anti-slavery events in October. The service in Westminster Abbey, hosted by the Government’s anti-slavery tsar, Kevin Hyland, will also hear from Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Home Secretary, Amber Rudd. The Pope is to send a message to the 12 October service.

Bishop Douglass Catholic School in the London Borough of Barnet has converted to an academy and joined the Cardinal Hume Academies Trust. The trust, based in Westminster, already comprises St George’s Maida Vale and St Thomas More in Wood Green. Director of Education for the Diocese of Westminster, John Paul (JP) Morrison said: “The move to academy status will benefit the community as will the other schools within the Cardinal Hume Trust. This is a community the whole of Barnet should be proud of.”

The prohibition on women’s ordination is a symptom of the centuries-old disrespect for the vocation of womanhood in the Church, Fr Brian D’Arcy has said. In an interview with Hot Press magazine, the 71-year-old, who was censured by the Vatican over his views on issues such as women priests, said he longed for the day when women would be ordained. He also expressed reservations about the quality of bishops being chosen by the nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown.