News briefing for Britain and Ireland

An icon of the fourth-century Roman martyr St Urban was dedicated and blessed on 6 September during Mass at the parish of St Urban in Leeds.

Written by the iconographer Aidan Hart, the icon was commissioned by the parish priest of St Urban, Fr Chris Butler, to mark the jubilee of the parish which opened 75 years ago. The relics of St Urban were brought to Leeds from Anagni, Italy in readiness for the re-opening of St Anne’s Cathedral, Leeds, where they remain today within the Martyrs Chapel.

A new organisation, Catholic Autism UK, is being set up to support autistic Catholics, their families and parish communities throughout the United Kingdom. Catholic Autism UK aims to provide a community for autistic Catholics, promote greater understanding of autism within the Church and support parishes in becoming more accessible. It will also provide opportunities for discussion, mutual support and sharing resources. “We believe that every person has gifts to offer The Church, and that autistic Catholics should feel fully welcomed, valued, and included in the life of our Catholic communities,” said the founder, Deacon Mark Paine. For more details, email markpaine1970@gmail.com.

Fr Martin Wheaton of St Joseph’s parish, Birtley in Tyne and Wear has blessed a cemetery where a blue plaque has been unveiled to commemorate Belgians who came to the area during the First World War. Approximately 6,000 Belgians lived in Birtley during the First World War in a district named Elisabethville after the Queen of the Belgians. Most returned after home after the First World War: 60 are buried in the Birtley-Elisabethville Roman Catholic cemetery.

The father of a priest of Liverpool archdiocese has been ordained to the permanent diaconate. Peter Ross, whose son Fr Peter Ross is assistant priest at the parish of St Wilfred in Widnes was ordained a permanent deacon by Archbishop Sherrington on 18 September, at St Margaret Mary parish, Knotty Ash. He said: “Through my ministries in the Church and throughout my working life, I have always had a desire to help people and to be there for others…it was through particular experiences that this desire began to take on a deeper meaning and gradually led me to recognise God’s call in my life. This became very real for me when I was asked to help at the Missionaries of Charity homeless shelter in our city centre.”

Westminster diocese is inviting parish catechists and other volunteers to a “Called to Serve” day in London on 3 October led by the Agency for Evangelisation, Westminster Youth Ministry and Caritas Westminster, with keynote speaker Fr Patrick van der Vorst, founder of Christian Art.

Caritas Deaf Service held its 50th anniversary celebration at Westminster Cathedral last Saturday. In spite of several name changes over the decades, the service said, “our mission has remained the same – to serve the deaf community and raise the awareness of the skills and talents that deaf people have to share with the wider Catholic community.”

Geoff O’Donoghue has been elected the new leader of the Lay Community of St Benedict, succeeding Adam Simon. Married to Jenny with three children, he has been a member of the Lay Community for more than 25 years. “Coming into the Lay Community brought prayer and service back into a rhythm and structure for me. I have come to see how important a rule of life is in holding prayer and service together,” he said, adding that he was keen to strengthen connections across generations, building on the Community’s work with young people and young adults, while developing greater support for members experiencing bereavement, loss and change.

The Church in Scotland is considering a proposed reduction in the number of dioceses in the country. This follows a request in spring 2026 from the Holy See for an examination into how the Church could best fulfil its mission and “specifically whether the present situation of eight dioceses is suitable”. An alternative possibility would be increased sharing of resources.The options being considered include the merging of Dunkeld, which covers the city of Dundee, with St Andrews & Edinburgh, and the other archdiocese Glasgow with Argyll & the Isles, though there is an alternative proposal to merge Argyll with Paisley. The Paisley diocese, which was erected in 1947, could alternatively be merged either with Galloway or with Galloway and Motherwell, the other new diocese erected out of the archdiocese of Glasgow in 1947. Only Aberdeen, which also includes the two remote northern archipelagos, appears not to be included in the current list of proposals. A number of other possible mergers and divisions of existing dioceses were discussed, but not carried forward.

Bishop Niall Coll at the annual Knock pilgrimage of the Legion of Mary said, “Renewal begins in people. It begins when baptised men and women discover again who they are. When prayer becomes real. When faith becomes visible in the way we live. When ordinary Catholics stop seeing themselves as spectators and begin to recognise that they are participants in the mission of Christ.”

Stay updated — add us as a preferred news source on Google: