News briefing Britain and Ireland

Royal Mail’s Christmas stamps feature Nativity scenes. The first-class stamps (eight for £13.60) depict the Shepherds, the Three Wise Men and Mary and Jesus. The second-class stamps (eight for £6.96) depict the Archangel Gabriel and Mary travelling with Joseph. All are designed by the award-winning illustrator Paula Doherty, who said: “I feel excited and slightly overwhelmed to think that they will be on envelopes flying all around the world this Christmas.” Royal Mail were also assisted by Ben Quash, Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King’s College London, and Andrew Davison, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford.

The “Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer,” a white concrete sculpture comprised of a million bricks is now under construction between the M6 and M42 in Coleshill near Birmingham. Richard Gamble, a former chaplain to Leicester City FC said God gave him a vision for the Wall 20 years ago. Each brick in the 51.5-metre-high sculpture due for completion in 2038 will represent an answered prayer. 

The Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia is urging Catholics in Wales to write to their member of the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, to oppose assisted suicide. Archbishop Mark O’Toole said in reference to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: “As a nation, Wales has always valued compassion, care, and the protection of the vulnerable.” He added: “The proposal before the Senedd, driven by legislation from Westminster, risks eroding those values by suggesting that some lives are less worth living. True compassion means accompanying people in their suffering”.

The premier of Becoming Dominic, a film giving a sculptor’s view of Dominican life will take place at the Rosary Shrine in London on 22 November at (7:15pm), at St Dominic’s – the Rosary Shrine, London NW5 4LB. 

The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has launched a new Office of Communications and Evangelisation, which will distribute statements from the Church and “work closely with its dioceses, parishes, schools, religious communities, and lay groups to promote the spread of the Gospel.” It will provide video content and live events via  Being Catholic TV, the official digital platform of Scotland’s Catholic bishops. 

On 20 November, Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton will chair a webinar on taxation and Catholic Social teaching. The online event will feature Professor Anna Rowlands, Ruth Kelly and Professor Philip Booth, the co-authors’ of Render unto Ceasar, a publication of the Social Justice Department of the English and Welsh Bishops’ Conference. 

“The Catholic Church does not wish to have any type of monopoly on education,” said Archbishop Eamon Martin, leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland. He encouraged all those eligible to participate in a new Department of Education survey on school choice. Catholic primary schools currently educate 480,000 children in Ireland, and prepare children, within the school day, for the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. However, according to a survey published by the Irish National Teachers Organisation in April that 57 per cent of primary school teachers believe sacramental preparation should not take place in the classroom. Archbishop Martin declared the task of building peace in Northern Ireland to be “far from over,” being an “unfinished work that “cries out for leadership on so many levels.” He made the statement at celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the Ulster Project, which since 1975 has offered leadership training in conflict resolution and reconciliation, particularly to help Northern Irish teenagers. 

Religious Education should be added to the national curriculum according to the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review. “We are of the view that RE’s importance is not currently reflected in its standing in the curriculum,” said the review report, chaired by Professor Becky Francis. Paul Barber, director of the Catholic Education Service said: “Religious Education (RE) has always been compulsory in all schools, and in Catholic schools 10 per cent of curriculum time is dedicated to it. This means alongside Catholic Christianity other religions like Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and world views are given more study time than in most non-denominational RE, contributing to community cohesion.” He added: “A national curriculum approach which threatens the integrity of Catholic RE is therefore concerning at a time of heightened community tensions.” 

A proposal to have a racial justice representative in every parish was made last Saturday at the AGM for the Catholic Association of Racial Justice (CARJ) in London by Deacon Justin Malawezi Jr. a lecturer and chaplain at Edge Hill University, Liverpool, and the author of several booklets on racism for schools. He made the recommendation during a presentation on his work in Liverpool Archdiocese. A meeting had been held there to listen to people’s experience of racism and look at how to make parishes more welcoming. Christine Allen shared how CAFOD has integrated anti-racism into their structures, procedures and projects. Yogi Sutton, the chair of CARJ reported that a serious reduction in funds, after the Bishops of England and Wales took over responsibility for Racial Justice Sunday some years ago, has forced CARJ to reduce its staffing capacity. However, CARJ has been invited to meet with representatives of the Bishops’Conference to set the theme for Racial Justice Sunday 2026 and to discuss how to advance racial justice in the Church.

Nine new vice-presidents to the Catholic Union were appointed at its AGM on 4 November. They include Damian Hinds, the former Secretary for Education and Conservative MP for East Hampshire. During the AGM, winners of the Catholic Young Writer Award 2025 were announced. A student from De Lisle College, Loughborough and another from Stonyhurst College, Lancashire won joint first place for their response to this year’s writing prompt, C. S. Lewis’ statement that “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher […] Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse” (1952). The award received a record 124 entries from students at Catholic secondary schools.

Bishop John Arnold of Salford is the new president of Pax Christi for England and Wales. The lead bishop for the Environment he described climate action as “an urgent moral and practical necessity” as COP30 began on Monday. In Glasgow, Archbishop William Nolan celebrated a COP30 Mass, followed by a livestreamed report from Ben Wilson of SCIAF who is attending the conference in Brazil. The same day, 97 people joined Green Christians’ first online daily prayer during COP30, calling for “a restoration of right relationships between each other and with creation. Cafod is taking part in the COP30 Day of Action today in Manchester and London, and the Jesuits have published a COP 30 Faith in Action prayer guide containing reflections on the global call for climate justice. 

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