Romero Evensong
One of the highlights of the Blessed Oscar Romero Centenary takes place next weekend with an Ecumenical Evensong in Westminster Abbey on 23 September 3 p.m.
It will be led by the Dean of the Abbey, the Very Revd John Hall. The preacher is the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, patron of the Archbishop Romero Trust.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, is also expected to take part, along with the Ambassador of El Salvador. The occasion will feature the premier of a specially commissioned anthem by James MacMillan (above). The late Archbishop of San Salvador was shot dead by a death squad while he was celebrating Mass in 1980.
The Catholic Education Service (CES) said it had no comment to make on the latest controversy over a school’s policy in relation to gender issues.
Sally and Nigel Rowe, parents of a six-year-old boy, removed their son from a Church of England school on the Isle of Wight, after another pupil was allowed to wear a dress.
The Rowes said their child was confused as to why the child dressed both as a boy and a girl. They added that the suggestion that gender was fluid conflicted with their Christian beliefs. The Diocese of Portsmouth, under which the school falls, said it was required to “respect diversity of all kinds” and to comply with the Equalities Act, 2010. The CES said that, as “Catholic education centres around the formation of the whole child, every pupil, regardless of what gender they identify as, is treated with the same dignity and respect”.
Tribute to grandparents
The Archbishop of Armagh has paid tribute to the “pivotal role” that grandparents play in holding families and society together. Archbishop Eamon Martin was the main celebrant at the Catholic Grandparents Association’s (CGA) pilgrimage at the shrine at Knock at the weekend, which 5,000 grandparents and great-grandparents from across Ireland attended. The Irish Primate told the packed basilica that grandparents were in a unique position to offer loving advice and correction to their children and grandchildren, and to act as a link to values that people sometimes forget, such as respect for life, the family and marriage.
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have announced the reinstatement of two Holy Days of Obligation, after the Holy See confirmed the decision. The reinstated days are the Epiphany of the Lord on 6 January, except when it falls on a Saturday or a Monday – when it will be transferred to the nearest Sunday – and the Ascension of the Lord, which takes place on the Thursday after the Sixth Sunday of Easter. In 2006, the two feasts were transferred to the nearest Sundays. The decree comes into effect in England and Wales this year on 3 December, the first Sunday of Advent.
Mass grave found
The bodies of at least 400 children are believed to be buried in a mass grave in Lanarkshire, southern Scotland, according to an investigation by BBC News and the Sunday Post newspaper. The children were residents of the Smyllum care home, run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.
The home was closed in 1981. A group of In Care Abuse Survivors (INCAS) are now campaigning for a proper memorial for the children whose burials were unmarked and unrecorded. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland denied that there had been any insensitivity in its management of the graves, or in dealing with requests for a memorial. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is investigating events at Smyllum. The Daughters of Charity said they were “co-operating fully”.
The 50th Annual Horseman’s Sunday Service and blessing of the horses will be celebrated at the St John’s Church of England church in Hyde Park, central London at noon on Sunday. The clergy of St John’s will be on horseback for the service.
Pictured last year are the Revd Stephen Mason (above left), the vicar of St John’s, and the Venerable Luke Miller, the Archdeacon of London. A local stable owner, Ross Nye, founded Horseman’s Sunday in 1967.
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