Chartres peerage
The recently retired Bishop of London is to be made a life peer. Bishop Richard Chartres (pictured) will sit as a crossbencher. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: “It is wonderful to hear that Richard Chartres will be returning to the House of Lords. His deep wisdom, experience and integrity were greatly valued during his two decades on the Bishops’ benches. I pray that this new role will provide Bishop Richard with a fresh opportunity to offer those gifts in service to our national life.”
Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick has said next year’s World Meeting of Families in Ireland is an opportunity to embrace the family in all its forms and diversity, not just the perceived traditional Irish Catholic model. Bishop Leahy said: “We live in changing times and family, too, is changing. We’ve had the referendum in favour of same-sex marriage and a lot of people voted in that referendum and all are equally welcome to join in this celebration of family. Everyone must be made to feel welcome next year. We all want to build a good family network of support in Ireland at all levels.”
US cardinal visits Canterbury
Cardinal Raymond Burke visited Canterbury last weekend and prayed at the relic of the head of St Thomas More in St Dunstan’s Anglican Church. The American Cardinal was accompanied by Fr Marcus Holden, Rector of the Shrine of St Augustine in Ramsgate, who said: “We prayed for the Church and its unity and preservation in the truth of Christ.” Cardinal Burke is one of four cardinals who presented a set of questions, or dubia, to the Pope about his apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia. Cardinal Burke also visited St Augustine’s Shrine for the opening of an exhibition, “Pugin and the Opus Anglicanum”, in conjunction with London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
Mass for LGBT Catholics
The Catholic Diocese of Nottingham is to hold a second Mass for LGBT Catholics on 28 October, after Bishop Patrick McKinney celebrated a Mass last year. An article on the website of the parish where the Mass will take place, St Alban’s in Derby, stated: “These Masses deliver a strong and clear message to LGBT Catholics that they are welcome and that they have a place in the Church.”
Speaking to The Tablet, Bishop McKinney added : “My hope, as I travel about the diocese, is that more LGBT Catholics do feel welcome and part of the parish where they attend Mass, and that they are involved in its life and work. These occasional Masses for LGBT Catholics, their families and friends, in various parts of the diocese of Nottingham are more to reassure those LGBT Catholics who may feel hurt and uncared for by the Church, that they are very much part of the pastoral care I wish to ensure is offered to all Catholics in the diocese.”
An ancient pilgrimage route from Scotland to Lindisfarne has been reopened for the first time in 500 years. The path travels through coastal scenery from North Berwick to the holy island, covering 72 miles. Among the saints associated with the Forth to Farne way are St Aidan, St Baldred, St Cuthbert and St Edda. It is one of five Pilgrim Ways under development in Scotland. The opening ceremony took place in St Mary’s Parish Church in Whitekirk, one of many sites along the route that attracted pilgrims in the Middle Ages. Its minister, Revd Joanne Evans-Boiten, welcomed the restoration of the pilgrimage, saying: “Thousands of people came to Whitekirk because of a famous holy well. That is why we have such a large church in such a small place.”
An Post, the state postal service in Ireland, has issued a stamp to mark the centenary of the Marian apparitions in Fátima. The international stamp features a statue of Our Lady that belongs to Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, which he purchased when he led a pilgrimage to Fátima in 2015. An Post has also released a specially designed collector’s envelope for the stamp, which includes a quote from the sixth apparition.
Sr Jane Livesey CJ has been appointed president of Prior Park Educational Trust in Bath, succeeding the late Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.
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