An open letter to the Catholic Church, from victims and survivors of clerical abuse
Tuesday 10th November 2020
following the publication of IICSA’s report into the Catholic Church on 10 November 2020
We want to thank IICSA for its report on the Catholic Church. We welcome its findings, highlighting the Church’s gross failings to protect children and others from abuse.
We are grateful that the Inquiry has exposed the Church’s treatment of victims and survivors when it comes to reparation and care, showing how the Church perpetuates an adversarial culture in their dealings with us.
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Restrictions on movement, denial of access to land, demolitions of agricultural buildings
Saturday 31st October 2020
violent attacks and harassment by extremist settlers harm Palestinian farmers and their families
In 2020, Covid-19 has left many communities more vulnerable than ever to human rights abuses, since many Israeli and international peace activists who would usually provide protection during the harvest are unable to be present.
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Church of England – Please Mind the Gap! by Anne Foreman, Member of General Synod
Sunday 25th October 2020
it’s a bit of an uphill task to enthuse people about stuff that does not appear relevant to the day to day concerns of their own parish life
“If elected I will serve with the interested of parishes always in mind….” So said my election address for the Church of England’s General Synod in 1999. Now, as I approach my final few months on General Synod, having served on it for two very different Dioceses I have come to the conclusion that the gap between Synodical Structures and Pastoral Parishes is wider still. The central structures have come up with a plethora of initiatives, such as Renewal and Reform, Simplification, Mission Shaped Church, Strategic funding for Resourcing and Planting new church communities, Estates Ministry, Everyday Faith. However, questions need to be asked about how these fine sounding initiatives actually connect with existing neighbourhood schemes of care, advocacy and support? What is more, it often seems to be forgotten that parishes run on shoestring budgets, unlike the eye watering budgets behind these national projects! The relevance of such initiatives to parishes is questionable and so the gap remains. A gap brought sharply into focus by the response of the Institutional Church to Covid-19.
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Resignations, Dysfunctionality and the House of Bishops by Jayne Ozanne
Wednesday 14th October 2020
it’s time the House of Bishops had an OFSTED inspection
I resigned from my Bishop’s Council this week.
The decision has been a long time coming – I’ve felt I’ve been hitting my head against a brick wall over our failure to prioritise the poor and disadvantaged, especially given we are such a rich diocese, for years. In fact, I’ve been banging the drum since I got onto Council five years ago. Interestingly, even though we constantly rated serving the poor in our diocese as a “the top priority” during our discussions, it rarely seemed to make the cut into any paperwork . In virtually every meeting I can remember I have had to remind those in authority of the commitments we had agreed as a Council.
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Archbishop of Canterbury: Fund schools properly, now
Thursday 1st October 2020
Teachers are doing their best for the disadvantaged – but they need funding, say the Archbishop and the Bishop of Durham
For many of us, this time of year brings that back-to-school feeling, no matter how old we are.
While this year has been difficult for children, teachers and parents, we have seen many heroes come together to look after our young people: from Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign to Norwich Diocese’s “Filling the Gap” project, which provided 128 families with a staggering 26,082 meals over six weeks.
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Stop this trade deal with the US - Nick Dearden writing in The Church Times 11 SEPTEMBER 2020
Monday 14th September 2020
It would slash standards and reshape Britain in damaging ways, argues Nick Dearden
A part of Britain’s Establishment has always looked to the United States for leadership. They view the US as a model economy in which the market rules, big business can behave as it sees fit, and rich individuals are free from irritating “burdens” such as redistributive taxes.
We have more than a few such figures in our Government, including the Trade Secretary, Liz Truss. That is appropriate because an important vehicle for pulling our economy closer to the US is the controversial trade deal currently being negotiated. This deal is not so much about importing more American products as it is about importing the American economic model.
Trade deals today go well beyond tariffs. They interfere with how we regulate food- production, provide public services, and constrain big business. For once, President Trump was right when he said, “Look, I think everything with a trade deal is on the table. When you’re dealing in trade everything is on the table. So NHS or anything else, a lot more than that.”
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The Trussell Trust network will give out 61% more food parcels than last year.
Monday 14th September 2020
Findings of Trussell Trust new research with Heriot Watt University
Trussell Trust new research with Heriot Watt University estimates that food banks in the Trussell Trust network will give out six emergency food parcels every minute this winter, a 61% increase on last year.
The report, Lockdown, lifelines and the long haul ahead: The impact of Covid-19 on food banks in the Trussell Trust network, also shows that families have been hardest hit, and during the start of the pandemic there was a significant increase in the number of people receiving support from a food bank for the first time.
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Fifty-two Sundays to rescue creation - byMADDY FRY 05 SEPTEMBER 2020 in The Church Times
Monday 7th September 2020
Climate Sunday initiative, launched this weekend, .. a “brilliant resource”
THE Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, has described the Climate Sunday initiative, launched this weekend, as a “brilliant resource” to help parishes reach the target of zero emissions by 2030 and campaign for more government action.
The Climate Sunday initiative was announced in June (News, 12 June) by a coalition of Churches and charities calling for more action on global warming. This Sunday, 6 September, is the first in a year in which individual churches are encouraged to choose their own Creation Sunday.
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The uncertain future faced by Palestinians in the West Bank cannot be underestimated. - article in Quake
Sunday 30th August 2020
“In Palestine normal life is complicated, we don’t have the space to allow kids to discover their worth. Now Coronavirus is another obstacle to young people.” Omar, a social worker in Bethlehem
As children, parents and teachers around the world adapt to home-schooling and half-empty playgrounds, the worry of how external forces will impact their children’s education and opportunities is not a new experience for parents and teachers in the West Bank. Daily barriers can include military presence on school routes, military checkpoints and intimidation from settlers, Israeli citizens living in communities built on occupied land in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) estimates that more than 8,000 children and 400 teachers in the West Bank need some form of accompaniment in order to safely get to school. This usually comes from nonviolent international monitors whose visibility can act to deter soldiers from more aggressive behaviour. For some schools in the West Bank, children are required to walk past Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers every day on their way to and from school making these monitors important in helping children to access education. Currently the lockdown situation has made the presence of international monitors in the West Bank more difficult.
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Why compassion needs to be at the heart of our response to Channel crossings -
Sunday 30th August 2020
Bridget Walker in Quake outlines why safe routes and a culture of belief need to be central to the UK's response to Channel crossings.
People take dangerous routes because safe ones are not available.
Over the past months hundreds of fragile, overloaded boats have made the perilous crossing over the English Channel in search of refuge. For many of the men, women and children on board this is the last stage of a dangerous journey that may have taken them months or even years. They have been fleeing from war torn countries such as Syria, Sudan, Libya and Iraq, from repressive states such as Eritrea, and from countries like Mali where climate change and political unrest put lives at risk.
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Women in the Church - so tired of waiting - by Joanna Moorhead, The Tablet
Friday 28th August 2020
for many of those hoping for change, this papacy has so far proved a bitter disappointment
Since his election, the Pope has made noises about wanting to see a greater role for women in the Church. But for many of those hoping for change, this papacy has so far proved a bitter disappointment, with Francis talking the talk but failing to walk the walk
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McAleese Once Again Calls Out Church Teaching on Homosexuality In No Uncertain Terms
Friday 28th August 2020
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese recently denounced the Church’s teaching on homosexuality
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese recently denounced the Church’s teaching on homosexuality saying the doctrine “empowers the homophobic bully,” and that it is the church teaching, not homosexuality, which is “intrinsically evil.”
Novena News reported that McAleese, who served as president from 1997 to 2011, made the remarks on a podcast entitled Dive Into Pride during Dublin’s Pride celebrations. McAleese holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. She currently serves as chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin.
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Westminster fails the test (and trace) says Paul Vallely writing in The Church Times
Friday 21st August 2020
Local links are crucial to limiting the transmission of Covid, says Paul Vallely
Paul Vallely said in his article that "one thing that can be said in favour of Boris Johnson’s Government is that it is unafraid to change its mind when yet another of its strategies proves disastrously wrong."
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Covid 19 and financial challenges facing the Anglican and RC Churches
Monday 17th August 2020
“working together in the coming months to collectively re-shape our use of resources and ministry structures”
Collections in churches are badly hit by the pandemic writes Catherine Pepinster in The Tablet with the RC Church experiencing a catastrophic drop in income after churches closed in March. The experience so far, Catherine Pepinster said, is that priests who rely on church collections for their livelihoods have endured a catastrophic drop in income after churches closed in March because of the coronavirus lockdown. Even as lockdown eases given the limited numbers of people who have returned to Mass, the financial situation still remains precarious. In some Southwark parishes income dropped by up to 70 per cent.
In the CofE the Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, told the Yorkshire Post that the finances of the diocese would take a “big hit” as rental income halted, donation plate giving stopped and other income streams, such as tourism and that gained through weddings and baptisms, dried up. “It won’t be until the end of the year when we know what the true impact will be.”
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Faith leaders' call to action on climate crisis
Thursday 9th July 2020
faith leaders are urging all to work together to create a better world
As the lockdown to combat COVID-19 eases, faith leaders are urging every sector of civil society to use this opportunity to work together to create a better world.
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How HR is strangling the Church of England - Giles Fraser writing in UnHerd
Thursday 9th July 2020
Financial pressure stimulates panicky missionary initiatives with inviting sounding names
Giles fears that what is dangerous to the overall mission and credibility of the church is the fearful reaction that often accompanies reductions of clergy and closures. Financial pressure, he states, stimulates panicky missionary initiatives with inviting sounding names dreamt up in the religious PR department. Bishop Cedd managed with the Bible, faith in the living God and a good pair of shoes.
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Radical Welcome: What does it mean to be an inclusive church?
Wednesday 8th July 2020
Open Table's Kieran Bohan was interviewed by Revd Phillip Johnson, vicar of the Parish of Malvern Link
Radical Welcome: What does it mean to be an inclusive church?
Open Table Network Coordinator Kieran Bohan was interviewed by Revd Phillip Johnson, vicar of the Parish of Malvern Link With Cowleigh in May. This parish is discerning whether to host an Open Table community.
Watch on YouTube (24 mins).
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People leaving German church at record rate - reports Christa Pongratz-Lippitt (The Tablet)
Tuesday 7th July 2020
272,771 people left the country's Catholic Church in 2019, and 270,000 people ended their membership of the Protestant Church.
The German bishops’ conference announced on Friday that a record 272,771 people left the country's Catholic Church in 2019. The number represented an increase of more than 56,000 on the 216,000 who left in 2018, and exceeds by a large margin the previous record of 218,000 leaving in 2014.
The figures are part of a growing countrywide exodus from the Christian Churches. The German Protestant Church saw a similar loss of members, with 270,000 people ending their membership in 2019, an increase of 22 per cent on the previous year. The figures in Germany are easy to record, because those leaving officially opt out of the otherwise compulsory church tax.
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Launch of our PCN films
Friday 3rd July 2020
the five short films commissioned by PCN are now available for you to see!
I am delighted to let all PCN members know that the five short films commissioned by PCN are now available for you to see! You can access the films by using this website address :
https://madeofstories.uk
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Occupied Palestine - few outside observers watching and reporting what is happening.
Monday 29th June 2020
No palm-waving Christians, no donkey. All was still. No pilgrims in the holy places
The coronavirus pandemic means that many people in the UK and Ireland are experiencing new restrictions on their everyday lives. But for people in occupied Palestine, living with restrictions is
a part of daily life, and human rights violations are common. Annexation of Palestinian lands, threatened by the Israeli government from 1 July, would make this
situation permanent.
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