News briefing Britain and Ireland

A sketch of a foot by Michelangelo has sold for nearly £20 million at Christie’s auction house. Experts say the red chalk drawing is a sketch of the foot of the Libyan Sibyl, later painted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. According to Christie’s the owner had submitted a photograph of the sketch for an auction estimate with no idea of its value. The owner, based on the West Coast of America told Christie’s he had inherited the drawing from his grandmother: it had passed down through the family in Europe since the late 1700s. The sketch is thought of date from 1511 – 1512 when Michelangelo was preparing to paint the second half of the Sistine chapel ceiling.

On 1 March, the Jesuit free prayer app Pray as You Go will celebrate its twentieth anniversary. Resources include “Sign as you Pray” British Sign Language prayers and meditations featuring Fr Paul Fletcher, a Jesuit who has been deaf with birth, and a new monthly series partnering with Pope Leo’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

St Bede’s Catholic Academy in Stockton-on-Tees has earned the highest Ofsted grading for behaviour and attendance. The Catholic primary school was also praised for strong practice in personal development, inclusion, wellbeing, curriculum teaching, leadership and governance under the new Ofsted evaluation system where one grade for overall effectiveness has been replaced by detailed report cards assess key areas of school performance. Part of the Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, St Bede’s was described by inspectors as offering “a safe place to thrive.”

St Benedict’s School in Ealing is holding a Women in Leadership Conference on Friday 13 March. The one-day event is designed for women for preparing for leadership. Fiona Allen, deputy head of academic studies at the school said: “At St Benedict’s, we believe leadership should be thoughtful, values-led and inclusive.” The event will feature leadership identity and self-awareness workshops, explore practical strategies for overcoming bias and imposter syndrome and tools for influencing, negotiating and leading with confidence.

Credit: SVP Birmingham.

A St Vincent de Paul group for young adults has launched in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Fifteen young adults aged 18-35 years old (pictured above) with an interest in faith, friendship and practical service to others attended an initial meeting on last Sunday at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. They shared lunch, looked at the foundations of the SVP and prayed together and met with the local adult conference president, and the membership support officer for Birmingham, Maria Lynch.

At the end of the meeting, they were asked over the next month to consider what type of poverty they would like to respond to initially. The next gathering will be on Sunday 8 March after 11.30am Mass at the Cathedral, at which point they will map out the needs of the area, pray together and plan for service. The group is one of several new urban hubs the SVP hopes to establish, bringing students and young adults together to promote and serve their mission. The SVP has approximately 8,500 volunteers aged from as young as 7 up to 35 years old, 

Bishop John Arnold of Salford installed the Vicar General for Salford Diocese, Fr Peter Hopkinson as a canon of Salford Cathedral. Canon Hopkinson is the parish priest of St Joseph’s Church, Ramsbottom in Bury, Greater Manchester.  

A national webinar hosted by the National Justice and Peace Network, linked to Racial Justice Sunday, urged Christians to confront racism, grounding anti-racism firmly in Gospel discipleship and Christian hope. More than 80 people attended on 5 February, “Shining a Light on Racism in England: From Lived Experience to Collective Action.” There was a call for parish-level education, and partnerships with communities affected by racism. Dr Beverley Prevatt Goldstein encouraged participants not to avoid difficult conversations in their parishes and communities. “Too many people know racism, live racism and feel it,” she noted. Richard Reddie, Director of Justice and Inclusion at Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, called for racial justice, “to be embedded in the Church’s weekly life.”

The 44th annual Ash Wednesday Prayer Vigil for Peace outside London’s Ministry of Defence on 18 February will involve prayers for repentance regarding nuclear weapons and conventional war, along with the distribution of ashes. The public witness has been organised by Pax Christi England and Wales and supported by Christian CND, FCJ Centre for Spirituality and Justice, London Catholic Worker and Westminster J&P. Up to 100 people from these organisations usually attend, carrying banners calling for a rejection of violence and quoting Church peace statements. Ash Wednesday services organised by Pax Christi are also planned in Leeds and Liverpool.

Paul Mc Gowan, Paschal Somers, Ann Farr. Pax Christi EW members, pic by Pax Christi

Christian peace campaigners from Coventry and Birmingham, including members of Pax Christi, Justice & Peace, Passionists and Quakers, joined two days of protests last week to call attention to a controversial arms fair hosted by Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. They viewed the Specialist Defence & Security Convention UK as a showcase for companies that profit from war and human suffering, saying weapons sold there end up being used against civilians in conflicts from Yemen to Gaza. An open letter to Paul Reeve, CEO of the NEC Group, signed by over 400 individuals and 30 organisations including Pax Christi, Justice and Peace and Quakers, had been delivered to the NEC on 21 January.

The parish of Our Lady and St Joseph’s on Orkney has a new permanent priest. From March 21, Fr Andrew Kingham will take up the post in Kirkwall, relieving Fr Colin Davies of a lengthy weekend commute to the northern archipelago. Fr Davies has celebrated Mass, weather and ferries permitting, since 2021. He expressed his delight that Orkney was to have a full-time priest again, and that Sunday celebration of Mass would not be prevented because of high winds and storms. Fr Davies also said, “I know that my own health will benefit from not having to travel to Orkney every weekend.” The diocese of Aberdeen covers one third of the landmass of Scotland. The only more northerly Catholic church in the Northern Islands is St Margaret’s and the Sacred Heart in Lerwick, Shetland Lady and St Joseph’s Orkney. 

Forensic archaeologists excavating the site of the Tuam Mother and Baby home in Co Galway have uncovered another 22 sets of infant human remains. This brings the total number of remains recovered since the excavation began last July to 33. According to the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT), all of the infant remains recovered so far were buried in coffins. In its latest update, the ODAIT said these remains have been recovered from a site identified in historical documents as a burial ground.  It is not the location of the underground chamber.

The Irish bishops have launched a dedicated Vocations Monstrance which will be used for Eucharistic Adoration focused prayer for vocations. During their annual spring retreat in Knock, Co Mayo the new monstrance, which was blessed by Pope Leo last November, was unveiled. According to Bishop Phonsie Cullinan, who chairs the Bishops’ Council for Vocations, the monstrance will visit dioceses, parishes, schools, and seminaries throughout the country. “Our initiative aims to encourage prayer for vocations and to deepen young people’s awareness of God’s call in their lives,” he said. 

The Bishops of Ireland launching the Vocations Monstrance at the International Eucharistic and Marian Shrine in Knock, Co Mayo. (Photo: Catholic Communications Office)

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