Wales: Bishop’s Lent Appeal to help three charities; Christians urged to fast from tax-dodging companies during Lent; Leicester Cathedral announces first step in interment of King Richard III; Churches lead the way in providing compassionate health services
Wales: Bishop’s Lent Appeal to help three charities
Children scarred from burns, people with drug or alcohol addictions and repressed communities in Zimbabwe will benefit from a six week appeal launched by a bishop this week to mark Lent, which starts today.
The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Davies, has chosen three charities for his Lent Appeal and is urging people to support them in the six weeks leading up to Easter. He hopes this year’s appeal will top the £17,000 raised last year.
The charities are: Welsh Dragons Burns Club, based at Morriston Hospital Burns Unit, which helps children scared from burns or other traumatic injuries; The Kaleidoscope Project which runs projects in many places, including Llandrindod Wells and Brecon, for people with drug and alcohol problems, enabling them to make positive changes in their lives; and ZANE, which helps regenerate communities in Zimbabwe which have suffered oppression.
Bishop John said, “This is the fourth Lent Appeal the Diocese has embarked upon. We raised more than £4,000 in year one, £10,000 in year two and £17,000 in year three – all reflecting people’s generosity of spirit during a difficult time for many parishes.
“All three causes I’ve chosen this year once again address the reality of human need and suffering in very different ways and circumstances. I hope people will give them prayerful and practical support.
“I received more than 20 suggestions for charities thought suitable for support from this year’s appeal. Without question, each one of them was a worthy cause, and selecting three was no easy task. All of the other charities suggested will receive donations from my Mission and General (Discretionary) Fund and a list of all of them will be published when the final result of the Lent Appeal is announced.”
For more details about the charities, please visit: www.welshdragonburnsclub.co.uk www.kaleidoscopeproject.org.uk www.zane.uk.com
To donate to Bishop’s Lent Appeal, please send cheques, made payable to the Bishop of Swansea & Brecon (Emergency), to Ely Tower, Castle Square, Brecon, LD3 9DJ
Christians urged to fast from tax-dodging companies during Lent
Christians are being encouraged to do no business with tax-dodging corporations such as Amazon and Starbucks for the duration of Lent, as a public witness against the sins of corporate tax avoidance.
As Lent began, the Rev Chris Howson, a Church of England priest in Sunderland, anointed his local branch of Starbucks with ashes, traditionally used as a call to repentance – turning around and heading in a new direction.
Christianity Uncut, a network of Christians opposed to the injustices of neoliberal capitalism, suggest that a crackdown on tax avoidance is a better way of reducing the national deficit than cutting public services and the welfare state.
They recognise that individual Christians will reach different conclusions about which companies to target and whether to continue with the boycott beyond Lent. But they suggested that lots of Christians acting on the issue in their personal spending could be both an important witness and a form of economic pressure.
The Rev Chris Howson commented: “Tax justice is a pressing issue. Amazon, with its aggressive tax avoidance policy, can easily out-compete British-based high street firms. For Lent, there will be no more cheap books for me from this tax dodger! As for Starbucks, not only has it avoided millions of pounds of corporation tax over the last few years, it has tried to publicly bribe the government, instead of simply paying its tax.”
Other ideas for the ‘tax justice fast’ include moving money from banks that have avoided tax, such as Barclay’s, and committing to shopping locally.
Howson added: “Join me, and let’s support those who pay their taxes so that our kids get a decent education, bins are collected, and people can be looked after by the NHS. Make up your own version of the Tax Justice Fast for Lent.”
Christianity Uncut (http://www.christianityuncut.wordpress.com) is an informal network of Christians campaigning against the UK government’s cuts agenda and the injustices of neoliberal capitalism.
The groups says: “We are inspired by the example of Jesus, who took nonviolent direct action in the Jerusalem Temple, in solidarity with people who are poor, exploited and marginalised.”
Leicester Cathedral announces first step in interment of King Richard III
Leicester Cathedral is starting preparation for the interment of King Richard III. The cathedral has been working hard on initial plans and we are now announcing the first major step in the process.
A date has been set – 12th March – when the Architect’s brief will be agreed by the Cathedral Chapter, with whom the decision about a final memorial legally lies. This brief will then be made public.
A statement from the Cathedral affirms – King Richard III will be interred inside the cathedral in a place of honour. There is already a lot of interest expressed about the location and about the nature and character of the lasting memorial.
There is an agreed process to make this decision and it will ensure all views are heard and considered. No proposals will be considered outside of this process.
This process will give us a design that will be appropriate for a working, public, worshipping cathedral and for all those who come in future generations to visit King Richard’s final resting place.
We will take note of any proposals made by others including those of the Richard III Society. The decision process will come to its own conclusions, and until then no agreement has been made about any proposed tomb
Churches lead the way in providing compassionate health services
“Faith in Health and Healing: Integrating the church with health services” is the theme of conference on 24/25 April, in Birmingham
The organisers state – If compassion is ebbing away from the National Health Service (NHS) then churches are stepping in to redress the balance. Contrary to popular assumptions, Churches and Christian agencies provide health services up and down the country. These are shaped by attention to the whole person, bringing spiritual inspiration and compassionate care in communities throughout the United Kingdom.
A conference in April will make visible the wide range of services offered. It will confront policy makers and church leaders with this growing trend. Revd Paul Holley, Conference Director and Coordinator of the Anglican Health Network, said ‘After a modest absence of 65 years, the churches are returning to their 2000 year old role in health services’.
For example:
Burrswood Hospital in Kent (http://www.burrswood.org.uk) offers an integrated team of nurses, chaplains, doctors, physiotherapists and counsellors to bring greater depth to the healing process. With its Christian foundation and atmosphere, it nevertheless provides a compassionate healing environment for all its patients, half of whom make no claims to faith.
At primary care level, there is a quiet revolution going on. Christian GPs are growing in confidence and providing spiritual care to their patients. Karis Medical Centre in Birmingham (http://www.karismedicalcentre.co.uk) has provided chaplains to its patients for the past 15 years. It established the Karis Neighbour Scheme to promote health and wellbeing through community activity, and Sport4Life to promote fitness and motivation amongst young people.
Congregations too are playing their part: A healthy living centre in Dartford (http://www.stedmundsdartford.org.uk). A community mental health programme in Peckham (http://www.coplestoncentre.org.uk). A social care enterprise in East Sussex (http://www.rotherfieldstmartin.org.uk). A post natal depression service in Birmingham (http://www.acacia.org.uk).
Increasingly, churches are responding to health issues in their communities by setting up new services, often in partnership with the NHS or local government. With them they bring compassion, a sense of dignity for the individual and a capacity to generate community-based action.
Revd Holley added, ‘NHS reforms have opened new space for community-based health enterprise. Churches and Christian entrepreneurs have established projects that respond directly to local needs. The values generated by the Christian faith ensure that compassionate care is at the heart of this work. The conference marks a tipping point where policy makers now increasingly recognise and support the integration of church with health services.’
To supplement the 40 speakers from UK initiatives, the conference will draw presentations of church-based health services from other parts of Europe and the United States. A church-owned hospital in Norway will outline its comprehensive values-based training process for all staff. A German medical agency will present its work with congregation-based mental health services. A major Anglican health system in Houston, Texas will share its learning following the development of its public health initiatives in poor neighbourhoods.
The conference will be shaped around three themes:
• Health, dying and human flourishing
• The healing ministries of the church amongst individuals and communities
• The church in the governance and delivery of health services
To prepare for the conference, the planning group today published a report to outline learning so far. This provides further detail on the nature and extent of church health services, and offers insight into the opportunities ahead. The report can be downloaded on the following link:
The conference will take place at the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham International Airport on 24th and 25th April 2013.
For further information, visit the conference website: http://www.anglicanhealth.org/ConferenceHome.aspx
Or contact Revd Paul Holley on: paul.holley@anglicanhealth.org