Arranged for rapid reading with links to original reports
Cardinal criticises gay marriages
BBC – The government’s plans for gay marriage are criticised as “grotesque” by the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Britain. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, said the plans were a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”. He said the idea of redefining marriage, which David Cameron has said he supports, would “shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17249099
See also – Media summary in Blog on this site
Bishop responds to safeguarding report – Chichester diocese
Chichester diocese – The acting Bishop of Chichester has issued an apology as the text of an enquiry into failures in the diocsee was published. Bishop Mark Sowerby said, “I am very glad that we have now published the full text of the Baroness Butler Sloss Report along with its addendum together with the Roger Meekings Report and the baroness’s comments upon it. This is in line with our desire to be open and honest about the cases that have come to light in the Chichester Diocese. I am grateful also to Bishop Paul Butler for the apology he has issued on behalf of the wider Church of England. I should like to underline, once again, the regret we feel in this diocese about past failings and which was expressed in Bishop John and Bishop Wallace’s apology to all the victims. The Chichester Diocese wishes to be transparent about the past and to be rigorous and cooperative in its safeguarding today and into the future.”
The report and a joint statement from Bishop of Chichester John Hind and Bishop of Lewes Wallace Benn are accessible on the diocesan web site at:
http://www.diochi.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=activities.content&cmid=520
Discussing faith and belief
BBC – Andrew Marr on BBC Radio 4 discusses the nature of faith and belief with Jonathan Safran Foer, Richard Holloway, Karen Armstrong and Helen Edmundson, who all live outside of their traditional faiths and in the agnostic middle ground. On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses faith and doubt. Richard Holloway started training for the priesthood from the age of 14, but as the former Bishop looks back on his life he reveals a restless spirit, always questioning his beliefs. Karen Armstrong has had similar crises of faith, and asks in a forthcoming talk, ‘What is Religion?’ For the 17th century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, faith was wrapped up in her love of writing and poetry – her life is brought to the stage by the playwright Helen Edmundson. And Jonathan Safran Foer celebrates the Jewish text Haggadah which tells the story of the Exodus to the Promised Land. See BBC iPLayer here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cjm4c/Start_the_Week/
Vicar’s wife and Radio 4 regular Anne Atkins confesses to being an alcoholic
Daily Mail – Lent is the date in the Christian calendar which proclaims it’s time to give things up, to remember Jesus going without food for 40 days in the desert. So, being the clergyman’s wife that I am, I am relinquishing booze. Just over a week in, however, I’m still not sure I can do it. I realise this may sound shocking. I am a mother-of-five, thoroughly middle-class, and an Oxbridge graduate to boot.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109467/Vicars-wife-Radio-4-regular-Anne-Atkins-confesses-alcoholic.html#ixzz1o5CRwjOK
Church buildings help to tell nation’s story
Christian Today – Education Secretary Michael Gove has asked English Heritage to compile a list of local historical sites that will help tell “our rich island story” to schoolchildren.
The focus is on helping students discover the places of historical significance on their own school’s doorstep.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/church.buildings.help.to.tell.nations.story/29397.htm
Kent Charity welcomes a band of Archbishops
Kent local – A small church-backed community project in the heart of the Buckland estate played host to not one, two or three but four Archbishops and the Bishop of Dover last weekend.
Cross Links, based in a shop unit in Sheridan Road, welcomed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and his three guests, the Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, the Most Reverend Ian Ernest; the Archbishop of Rwanda, the Most Reverend Onesphore Rwaje; and the Archbishop of the Southern Cone and Bishop of Chile, the Most Reverend Hector Zavala Munoz on Saturday.
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Charity-welcomes-band-Archbishops/story-15361908-detail/story.html
Fury as Romanians who stole £50,000 church lead escape prison sentences
Daily Mail – Romanians Florin Stan, Vergil Stan and Nicolae Birsan broke through the main gates at the church of St Mary in Hinkley, Leicestershire on two consecutive nights last month, helping themselves to a huge amount of lead.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109579/Fury-Romanians-stole-50-000-church-lead-escape-prison-sentences.html
2030: The year Britain will cease to be a Christian nation with the march of secularism
Daily Mail – If trends continue, the number of non-believers is set to overtake the number of Christians by 2030.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109488/2030-The-year-Britain-cease-Chrsitian-nation-march-secularism.html
Can Jewish and Christian values last without belief in an omnipotent God?
Guardian – Religion-based morality will survive in the secular world even if people no longer believe in the resurrection or the story of the Ten Commandments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/mar/02/jewish-christian-values-survival